The NFL's extravagant demands for Super Bowl host cities

I'm a sports fan but this is ridiculous.

Two years ago, the Minnesota State Legislature and the city of Minneapolis were ready to walk away from a plan to provide approximately $500 million to Vikings owner Zygi Wilf to pay more than half the costs a new stadium. It took a veiled threat to move the team to Los Angeles and a dramatic last-minute lobbying campaign from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, but the will of a few people prevailed. The Vikings got their stadium and eventually the 2018 Super Bowl. Now, the NFL has a few demands of its own, 153 pages worth of them.

Minneapolis and the two other finalists for the 2018 Super Bowl were presented a list of demands by the NFL prior to voting on which city would get the big game, a list the Minneapolis Star Tribune was able to get a copy of along with confirmation that the city agreed to meet a "majority" of the league's demands.

Ranging from police escorts to billboards, the NFL's requirements turn the city into one giant green room for league executives and billionaire team owners.

What the NFL wants
•Free police escorts for team owners
•Use of Presidential suites at the city's top hotels at no-cost
•35,000 free parking spaces
•All revenue from ticket sales to the game
• Free curbside parking at the NFL House, a "high-end, exclusive drop-in hospitality facility for our most valued and influential guests to meet, unwind, network and conduct business."
•Local police dedicated to anti-counterfeit enforcement, provided at no cost
•Installation of ATM machines at the stadium that accept NFL preferred credit and debit cards, along with the removal of ATMs that "conflict with preferred payment services."
•Two top quality bowling venues for an NFL celebrity bowling event
•Portable cell phone towers
•Free promotional space from local newspapers and radio stations for the "NFL Experience" in the month before the game
•Creation of "clean zones" around the stadium and the hotel for NFL execs that prevent "certain activities" as well as suspend new and existing permits for those activities
•Free access to three top golf courses in the months before the game
•Exemption from state, county and municipal taxes


http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2014/6/8/5790704/nfl-super-bowl-demands-host-cities-minneapolis