They Aren't Televising The Super Bowl?

How do Americans react when they learn that one of the most important events in their lives is surrounded in a media blackout?

You’ve already heard that Congress could’ve accidentally canceled the Super Bowl by letting partisan gridlock get in the way of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. Now Americans are confronted with news that the Super Bowl — the most watched television spectacle of the year — will not be broadcast this year (I know what you’re thinking, and it was the most pressing question I had too: “What about the Pro Bowl?”).

As you might imagine, people were a little shocked and confused about the report. But note that none of them completely laugh off the news because at first it sounds unbelievable, but then you remember the League has an exclusive deal to only give football games to the sliver of Americans with DirectTV and Sunday Ticket and you recall that the NFL hates its fans for the right price.

Well, it turns out that the NFL is not blacking out the Super Bowl, but Fix The Court took advantage of the incessant Super Bowl hype machine to perform a little experiment. It turns out that Americans don’t appreciate being locked out of important events, and while they were relieved to hear that we’ll still get to see Aaron Hernandez’s team try to murder Seattle in a couple weeks, they were more than a little peeved to learn that the Supreme Court pulls a blackout every day.

Well played, Fix The Court. The “Cameras in the Supreme Court” debate includes a wealth of material, almost entirely one-sided. But while lawyers and academics can enjoy their private bitchfest, it’s hard to get much traction for change when most of the country takes for granted that they could watch the Supreme Court if they ever bothered to change to C-SPAN 8 (for the record, “The Ocho” shows Nebraska Unicameral proceedings). That why you’ve got to hit the average American symbolically right where they should be wearing a cup by threatening to take away the Super Bowl. Get Joe and Jane Six-Pack on board and the Supreme Court can’t credibly stick to its guns without risking the sort of collapse in public confidence that Chief Justice Roberts claims to fear the most.

But for now, we’ll just have to keep watching the Supreme Court make decisions that impact the entire country by watching a bunch of dogs act out oral arguments. Which isn’t the worst trade-off in the world.

Actually, I wonder if people would’ve been as peeved about the Super Bowl report if they’d been promised a recreation with a canine Bill Belichick stand-in.

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Congressional Incompetence Could Cost Us The Super Bowl [Redline]

Earlier: You Must Watch Dogs Reenact Supreme Court Arguments Right Now

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