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The NFL’s Gamble on Beyonce and the Black Panthers

Written by Mike Ozanian at Forbes.com

Why would the NFL put its $63 billion industry at risk by giving the green light to Beyoncé‘s shout out to the Black Panthers–an organization responsible for murdering policemen, degrading women and other crimes–during Super Bowl 50′s halftime show on CBS CBS -0.90%?

Because the league is constantly looking to increase its audience and Roger Goodell and his 32 bosses were betting the NFL would gain more support than it would lose. The simple fact is the composition of Super Bowl 50′s halftime show is a microcosm of the league’s strategy.

Indeed, the entire production of a football game has evolved into less about the sport and more about fantasy sports, the hours of pregame programming featuring former players and all the things to do in and around the modern stadiums. But the league has been betting–and winning big–that for each purist it loses it will gain many more fringe fans who view the league as one huge reality television show.

Super Bowl 50′s halftime show featured Cold Play, Bruno Mars and Beyoncé. That says it all: a British band (the NFL may be in England one day) for your middle-aged fans who seek something uncontroversial; a young, unthreatening pop star safe for kids of all ages; and Beyoncé, a performer with an edge and the superstar with the greatest global audience.The Beyoncé shout out would appear to be a bet that the NFL should lose. New York Post Columnist Phil Mushnick, for one, wrote: “Think Beyoncé and her young troupe had any historical understanding of who and what they were honoring? Do you think any knew that one of the two NYPD officers set up to be randomly executed by Black Panther graduates in 1971 was a black cop, Waverly Jones? Beyoncé, on top of the world, is 34. Officer Jones was assassinated at 33.”

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