St00pid Bowl LV/Corona Bowl I: Day 1 of the Prep

• Not sure if this is going to be the formal "Day 319" or not, but my anonymous friend's characterizations of the game cannot be left alone.
• Partially due to the 22,000 people in the stands (and only a third of them vaccinated first-responders)...
• Partially due to Brady vs. Mahomes, as much as all outside Tampa now hate Brady...
• and partially due to throwing away, WITH REFBALL, the biggest remaining fanbase you had left to absorb the ratings losses.
• And now, in a move that the White Right will state as evidence that the league is falling, Budweiser will not have an ad at Super Bowl LV at all.  They will take their entire ad budget and give it to COVID relief.  (Esquire)  It will be the first time Budweiser will not be part of the Super Bowl since 1984.
• Coke and Pepsi-Cola are also joining them. (KUSA)
• A 10% ratings loss over last year for the Super Bowl would be an audience of 90 million.  That is my current over-under, now that Packer Nation will probably largely sit this one out.
• 90 million would take us back to Super Bowl XL, and numbers only surpassed very occasionally over the course of Super Bowls XXVII-XXXIX.
• Even so, CBS is still asking $5.5 million for 30 seconds for the Tampa-Kansas City game.