“For Tom Benson, this Super Bowl has to be a very fulfilling moment, perhaps more than any of the first four he has been associated with as Saints owner" – SMG Senior VP/Stadiums & Arenas Doug Thornton, whose firm operates the Mercedes-Benz Superdome (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 2/3).
"I was never approached. My team was never approached. If someone in Atlanta, outside of the Atlanta Falcons was ever approached, I have no idea" – Falcons Owner Arthur Blank, on reports that he was contacted by L.A. officials regarding relocating the NFL team (ESPN.com, 2/1).
"I don’t know if this will have anything to do with the TV ratings … but the demand for tickets, if this is any indication, this game is not going to do well in the ratings. The demand for tickets is the least compelling I’ve ever seen for a Super Bowl" – YES Network’s Mike Francesa (“Football Sunday With Mike Francesa,” YES, 2/3).
"Who's our largest competitor? I'd say counterfeit. Some of these counterfeiters have gotten very, very sophisticated and they're creating sites that look very, very real and very, very good" – Fanatics President Jamie Davis, whose online retail company sells NFL-licensed merchandise ("Outside The Lines," ESPN, 2/3).
"They’re saying we can’t have legal sports betting, but they allow illegal sports betting to go on. I think the court will see the foolishness of that" – N.J. state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, on the U.S. Department of Justice dismissing the state's claim that the current sports betting ban is unconstitutional (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 2/3).
"If we have to go through a test every week, I don't see a problem with that if it's useful to fight what happened in other sports. I hope tennis can continue being a clean sport as it has been for almost all of its history" – Tennis player Rafael Nadal, on the sport's ongoing efforts to eradicate PEDs (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/3).
"Based on the last three years I’ve been in this business, you’d be crazy not to think about it. But it’s hard to model anything because you don’t know what to model" – Univ. of Michigan AD Dave Brandon, on the possibility of future Big Ten expansion (ESPN.com, 2/1).
