The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 126

Cover Story for Motown Super Bowl halftime show celebrates 40 years of Detroit's hen Super Diego teams Bowl head at for XXXII this the in year's dress- San ing room at halftime, the hits will keep on coming. And it's likely more viewers will tune in to the halftime show than to the game itself. A 10-minute musical tribute to Motown Records will officially kick off its 40th anniversary celebrations with a lavish stage show featuring performances by Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, The Tops (formerly 1 The Four Tops), and one of the newest Boyz Il Men (above), Motown sensations, Boyz II Men. Smokey Robinson: "We are honored to once again be all-star lineup associated with the Super Bowl," says an exciting, fast-paced and enjoyable halfMotown president and CEO George time show on Super Jackson. "Being able to kick off The 1998 edition is being produced by Motown's year-long 40th anniversary the New York-based firm Radio City celebration Motown 40 Forever with a Productions, the same company responsiSuper Bowl performance is truly an excit- ble for 1997's Blue Brothers show and ing opportunity." In recent years, former Diana Ross's appearance at Super Bowl Motown luminaries like Diana Ross and XXX in 1996.

Radio City also produced Michael Jackson have sung at Super Bowl the opening ceremonies of the 1996 halftimes. Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Global again has national Canadian According to Michael Bernacchi, a rights to the Super Bowl this year. (In Detroit-based marketing analyst, Super Alberta, the game is carried on WIC Sunday has always been more than just a stations.) The originating network is ball game. It all started, he says, with Pete NBC.

Kickoff is approximately 6 p.m. Rozelle, onetime NFL commissioner and ET, and an estimated audience of 800 a former advertising executive, who was million in 180 countries will take in at largely responsible for creating the Super least part of the game. Bowl in the 1960s. Traditionally, the halftime show "Rozelle had a vision of duplicating accounts for a major chunk of that halftimes at college bowl games," says audience, sometimes even more than the Bernacchi. "Now, it's the entertainment game itself.

value of halftime and the advertising that A case in point is last year's Super Bowl is really what Super Sunday is all about." in New Orleans. According to Global Motown was founded in Detroit in 1957, spokesman Shea Warrington, the 1997 but its connection to the city has been halftime show a Blues Brothers extrava- tenuous since it moved its corporate ganza with actors Dan Aykroyd and John offices to Los Angeles in the 1970s. The Goodman, and rockers ZZ Top drew a company, cobbled together by friends peak audience in Canada of 1.8 million. Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson in the The game itself peaked at 1.6 million. late 1950s, revolutionized popular music This year's high-energy Motown music and became a major crossover phenomeis a natural fit to anchor Super Bowl half- non, appealing as much to middle-class time, a fact not lost on the league.

Says whites as blacks. NFL president Neil Austrian: "The 40th Among the many million-sellers that anniversary tribute will blend the music came out of Motown through the 1960s and sounds of a Hall of Fame lineup into and '70s were Papa Was A Rolling Stone by Ted Shaw Windsor Star TV Critic musical success story by The Temptations, Stop! In The Name Of Love by The Supremes and I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) by The Four Tops. Like Gordy and Robinson, many of Motown's early success stories, such as Diana Ross, came from the streets of Detroit. But the company soon expanded into an entertainment empire that included motion picture production. Today, a small and poorly funded museum in Motown's former Detroit recording studios is all that remains of that rich musical heritage.

But Bernacchi says there's still strong nostalgia for the name. "Motown still conjures up a certain image of the city of Detroit as a place where dreams can be realized. It's an image that has plenty of proponents today." Super Bowl XXXII, Sunday; NBC, Global, ITV, CICT SUPER SUNDAY STATS Here are some quick hits on the 1998 Super Bowl: NBC sold out all of its 30-second commercial spots 58 of them by early November, a record. At an average of $1.3 million (U.S.) per commercial, that's a whopping $75.4 million in gross revenue. By comparison, the cost of 30 seconds on Global is about $45,000 (Cdn).

Royal Caribbean International has paid through the nose an estimated $5 million (U.S.) to be exclusive sponsor of the halftime show. Coca-Cola will return as a Super Bowl sponsor after a seven-year absence, prompting an on-air rivalry with longtime sponsor Pepsi-Cola. At $1.3 million for 30 seconds, a Super Bowl commercial is about four times the average cost of an ad on primetime U.S. television. H.J.

Heinz, the ketchup maker, will join the throng of corporate sponsors this year as part of the company's marketing strategy that includes promoting the sauce as healthy and sexy. The NFL estimates Super Sunday means as much as $300 million in economic benefits to the host city. Super Bowl XXXI in New Orleans last year attracted 21 international broadcasters in 11 languages. More than 800 million households worldwide tuned in..