Football, Super Bowl | featured news

Despite a steep increase in advertising prices and a lackluster economy, commercial spots for Super Bowl XLVI are all sold out, showing yet another sign of the increasing influence of sports TV on Madison Avenue.

When Aaron Rodgers needs to rekindle the feelings that drove his rise from a junior college quarterback to Super Bowl MVP, he doesn't have to look too far. Rodgers held on to the many rejection letters he received from marquee college programs as he was coming out of high school. Even today, he leaves a few of them sitting out at his house.

The biggest draw in television is going mobile. The Super Bowl will be streamed online and to phones for the first time, the NFL said Tuesday. NBC's broadcasts of wild card Saturday, the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl will be available on the league's and network's websites and through Verizon's NFL Mobile app.

The Material Girl will be taking the stage on football's biggest night. Madonna, who has sold more than 300 million records, will perform at halftime of the Super Bowl in Indianapolis. The NFL and NBC announced Sunday during the Detroit-New Orleans game that the Grammy Award-winning singer will highlight the show at Lucas Oil Stadium on Feb. 5.

Indeed, Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN -- home to "Monday Night Football" -- extended its deal through 2021 for the franchise on Thursday morning. The new deal will cost ESPN an average of $1.9 billion per season, according to a person familiar with the deal. ESPN had been paying about $1.1 billion under its current deal.

Football fans have filed a lawsuit accusing the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys and team owner Jerry Jones of deceiving hundreds of people who bought Super Bowl tickets and had no seats, or got seats they felt were inadequate.

The 400 fans who were forced to watch Super Bowl XLV on TV because their tickets were for temporary seating in Cowboys Stadium that never got finished will get in to Super Bowl XLVI for free.

Forget Lombardi on Broadway. Green Bay has the newest Super Bowl hit: Aaron Rodgers. Capping one of the greatest postseasons for any quarterback, Rodgers led the Packers to their first NFL championship in 14 years Sunday, 31-25 over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Packers reclaimed the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named for their legendary coach who won the first two Super Bowls and is making his own star turn in New York these days in the play named after him.

The Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears 21-14 to win the NFC Championship and advance to Super Bowl XLV.

A most fitting comeback for Ben Roethlisberger. With the kind of playmaking that put two Super Bowl rings on his fingers, the Steelers quarterback connected on a 58-yard pass to rookie Antonio Brown with less than two minutes to go. The go-for-broke toss set up the winning touchdown in a rough-and-tumble 31-24 victory Saturday over the archrival Baltimore Ravens.