Recapping our Super Bowl 52 Coverage

The preparations for and build up towards the Super Bowl left an indelible mark on our city and work. For workers tied to the game, there were opportunities to make extra money. Certainly, for major corporations tied to the Super Bowl Host Committee and tourism, there were significant profits to be made. Moreover, the NFL is a multibillion-dollar industry that stood to gain millions by hosting their marquee event in Minneapolis, extracting millions of dollars from the city.  
 
What was surprising was the muted response from larger media outlets. It almost goes without saying that the media landscape has changed dramatically in the last several years, and the week leading up to the Super Bowl accentuated these dynamics. As noted in MPR recently conventional media was fixated on the circus of the Super Bowl, largely ignoring events that would otherwise have been reported. Therefore, Workday Minnesota, along with Unicorn Riot and others were left to draw attention to workers and everyday people as they asserted their perspective and visions for the future of Minneapolis. 
 
Our reporting was broad. Our coverage ranged from union workers volunteering their time to build the Ice Palace in St. Paul to activists shutting down the green line on Super Bowl Sunday. In particular we spent a considerable amount of time covering those who were drawing attention to inequities in the Twin Cities made manifest by the dynamics of the game and the resources devoted to it. 
 
To recap:
 
Teamsters averted a possible strike shortly before Super Bowl-related events started.
 
We reported on the series of protests that were planned for Super Bowl week and the context they arose from. 
 
Accordingly, we were on the scene and created a series of short videos documenting the tenor and aim of the protests.
 
We paid special attention to the enhanced surveillance apparatus installed by the federal government in cooperation with municipal security forces. 
 
We developed a lengthier piece on Wayne Kostroski and the harmful conditions at his co-owned business Franklin Street Bakery. Kostroski is synonymous with the Super Bowl because of his charity event, “Taste of the NFL.” Workers at the bakery had recently succumbed to Carbon Monoxide poisoning. 
 
Slowly, larger media outlets are beginning to raise questions about costs. Here at Workday Minnesota, we will also explore the ongoing impact of the Super Bowl from the perspectives of workers and everyday people. 

Filiberto Nolasco Gomez is a former union organizer and former editor of Minneapolis based Workday Minnesota, the first online labor news publication in the state. Filiberto focused on longform and investigative journalism. He has covered topics including prison labor, labor trafficking, and union fights in the Twin Cities.

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