Ticketholders looking to see the New York Giants and New England Patriots face off at Lucas Oil Stadium this Sunday will be greeted with more than your typical tailgate with beer and wings.
Indiana labor unions in the spirit of the Occupy movements have already begun protesting in front of the site of this year’s Super Bowl, criticizing the state’s new right-to-work law.
Signed by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who gave the Republican response to Obama’s State of the Union Address, the law does not allow labor unions to force workers to pay mandatory union fees. The dissension surrounding the new law once again begs the question whether politics and sports should collide, and in particular, whether protesting at a nationally recognized event like the Super Bowl actually benefits a political movement.
The Super Bowl, as well as any big sports event, generates significant revenue to cities that fortunate enough to host them. Sports have the unique ability to unite people not just of the same region, but of different social classes. However, people head to baseball fields and the basketball courts, or turn their television sets on Sunday nights to forget their personal problems for two to three hours.
Some laws possess such importance that they must be passed immediately, but clearly this one could have waited. The law already comes at a daring time, seeing that it is an election year and politicians never seek to disrupt the status quo to destroy their chances of re-election. Limiting the unions disturbs the status quo and clearly leads them to do what they do best — protests — but to do it days before a national event is even bolder.
The protests throw in specs of reality people attending the Super Bowl seek to avoid. No one wants to think about their jobs back home or really care about what’s going on in Indiana politics at that time; they just want to see the teams move the chains and Madonna sing. What good comes from passing out protest pamphlets when people will toss them aside or throw up on them?
The Occupy Wall Street protests held such vigor in its beginning, only to lose its steam due to differing motivations and ideologies. While the initial concept has such promise and justifiable cause, the people involved and the location of any protests gauge its success. In this case, leave the laws at the legislators’ offices and the defensive schemes at the gridiron.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The Discussion
Absolutely disagree with the premise of this article entirely. Those individuals have every right to protest when and where they please, regardless of the venue. I can't imagine anyone attending the game was offended by this very reasonable protests, and TV viewers probably had no idea it was happening.
Sure, maybe athletes shouldn't use their fame as a political platform, but people exercising their right to demonstrate while taking advantage of some huge exposure poses no threat to those seeking to "relax."
They should definitely be ALLOWED to protest at the Superbowl, but the really just shouldn't CHOOSE to protest at the Superbowl.
Also as Hoosier, I'm just glad that this fight is over and our legislation can get back to work. This whole right-to-work ordeal held up too many other important bills for far too long.
Putting off governing so one doesn't upset a sporting event? We let sports get in the way of education, now you want it to get in the way of legislating? I know that's not your premise, but that's my perception of your wording. People who protest, besides it being their right to do so, have the right to protest where their message will be heard. To suggest that people shouldn't protest at the Super Bowl because it will upset the fans, whether you agree with their position or not, is disturbing. Isn't one of the purposes of protest to get people to think about your grievance? If I were attending, would I be a little annoyed, yes, but supporting the right to protest far outweighs my discomfort. One can always ignore the protest.
The beating heart of America is not in the walls of Congress or any other D.C. office building. But, it is on the field of Lucas Oil Stadium. - my input, hybrid with humor from "Gladiator".
Perhaps, they should join PolicyMic and contribute meaningfully to the debate instead of disturbing hard working Americans who just want to enjoy the Super Bowl
Agree 100% Politics and sports shouldn't mix. Also, now that the economy seems to be finally improving, it's time for this protesters to OCCUPY A JOB
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