So, I would love to go into detail about the NFL Experience, a giant travelling tradeshow attached to Super Bowl 42. And so I slogged out the 30 miles to God forsaken Glendale to file a report at 1:00pm on Friday.

 
However, much to my chagrin, the NFL didn’t have an experience for the public from 1:00 to 3:00pm. During those hour, it’s only experience is for season ticket holders and special guests. Since I had already burned a half day and $10 in parking, I gamely decided to see what else the NFL had for me.

Unfortunately, the only experience I was allowed, was Westgate Center.

Now I need to properly frame Glendale Stadium. And I think the best way to do this is to weave in a popular conspiracy theory. You see, 10 years ago there was this giant expanse of desert wasteland far west of Phoenix. The conspiracy theory is that a bunch of rich guys bought up this worthless property. Then, for some unexplained reason, a highway was built through this wasteland, a giant loop that ran around Phoenix, from I-10, all the way around the city and back to I-10 on the other side. Shortly thereafter, legislators decided all this open land with this convenient highway would be an ideal place for a new sports stadium. And since the stadium was so far removed from ANYTHING, the natural solution was to build a hockey arena as well, and build up the property around the stadium with hotels, bars, restaurants, condos and shops.So if you google Glendale, what you will see is 2 huge stadiums, a shopping mall, and then acres of empty land in all directions.  Desert wasteland which is now worth a fortune.

But I digress.

Now I’m out amongst the cacti and my only option is to go hang out by the shopping mall and hope for the best.  To be fair, Westgate is pretty cool if you are looking for a place to grab food and drink before a game.  All the standard chain bars are there (Margaritaville, Bar Louie, Fox Sports, etc….)

But this really re-iterated the point that at Super Bowl Weekend, you need VIP or Insider Status if you want to do anything cool.  Sure, they have parkinglot exhibits and stuff liek that, but without any kind of priority access, you are really getting about 10% of the total experience.  That’s not a lament or complaint, just a realization.  And now that I think about it, I kind of remember things like the NBA and MLB All-Star Game being the same way (but I had the access then, so I didn’t care…)

So, no great report from NFL Experience.  I heard secondhand stories that it was crowded, there was no food and the exhibits were so so.   So, i probably lucked out.