Excerpts from the article:
If you think the power game at Super Bowl XL is played on the field, you'd be mostly wrong. …
Yes, the Super Bowl is "just a football game" in the way the president of the United States is just another politician. It is bigger, more powerful and reaches further than any other of its ilk anywhere on the planet. The power of the National Football League brand, fiercely guarded, disciplines some corporations, enriches others and helps cities transform themselves.
The talk late last week and on game day among the people who matter -- the all-important NFL owners and the influential media types -- is that Detroit outdid itself with XL.
As much as Super Bowls are corporate events where money and exclusivity trump football and fans -- and they do -- here's the silver lining for a second-tier city like Detroit trying to get its mojo back: The corporate types make investment decisions.
They didn't get where they are by closing their eyes and missing opportunity.
Inside the corporate suites, inside the power crowd and inside the NFL, the refrain has been remarkably similar: This doesn't feel like the Detroit they thought they knew -- which is more than anyone can ask for.
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