It’s official; the unbeaten New England Patriots and the upstart New York Giants will meet in Super Bowl XLII (42, for those of you who can’t read Roman numerals) on February 3 in Glendale, Arizona to see if (a) the Patriots can complete their quest for an unbeaten season and set an NFL record by going 19-0, or (b) the Giants can top off an amazing wild-card run through the playoffs by pulling off the upset of the decade.

This game involves two of the more popular NFL teams, representing the #1 and #7 TV markets. And that’s potentially great news for retailers of HDTVs in the northeastern United States.

Why? Because the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl are the busiest for selling big screen TVs. Fans who dig football want to see the "big game" on an equally big screen, and yesterday’s newspaper flyers were chock full of advertised specials on plasma, LCD, and rear-projection sets.

The next two weeks are crucial for retailers, particularly Circuit City. They stumbled badly during the 2007 holiday selling season, with sales declining almost 9% and stores open at least one year down 11%. So, it was no surprise to see CC offering a 36-month, no-interest deal on all TVs costing $999 and up.

The front page of their January 20th circular featured Samsung’s 50-inch 720p HPT5054 plasma HDTV for an attractive $1,499 with guaranteed delivery and installation in time for the game if purchased by 4:00 PM on Wednesday, January 30. Other featured Samsung deals included the LNT-4061F 40-inch 1080p LCD HDTV for $1,300 and the HLT5676S 1080p 56-inch DLP RPTV for $1,800.

Sony packages were also showcased, with a 46-inch KDL46V2500 Bravia 1080p LCD and PlayStation 3 bundled for $2,000. Sony also had the KDL46W3000 (also a 46-inch 1080p LCD set) for $2,500 with their BDPS300U Blu-ray player.

Over at Best Buy, the big news was a package consisting of Samsung’s 40-inch LNT-4071 1080p LCD HDTV, plus a 5.1-channel HTIB sound system and Samsung’s universal BD-UP5000 Blu-ray player priced at $2,800, including Geek Squad installation. A similar guarantee of delivery and installation by kickoff was also advertised, although no cutoff date was specified.

Samsung is the official HDTV of the NFL, and their specials reflected aggressive discounts on larger screens for the Super Bowl. Check out the LNT5265F, a 52-inch 1080p LCD HDTV that was advertised at an eye-opening $2,199, and contrast it with their 46-inch LNT4665F 1080p set, just $50 less at $2,149.

Other big discounts were offered on Hitachi’s P50S601 1080p 50-inch (Matsushita) plasma HDTV for $1,999 and their half-resolution (1280×1080) P50H401 50-inch set for $1,499. Dollar-for dollar, the best deal on a big-screen 1080p HDTV was Samsung’s HLT5076S 1080p RPTV at $1,599, just $100 more than their 50-inch 720p plasma.

Sharp, who isn’t known for nationally advertised package deals, made a splash by tossing in a free BD-HP20U Blu-ray player (SRP $499) with the purchase of any "qualified" D64-series Aquos HDTVs, in a special Best Buy flyer earlier last week. However, yesterday’s Best Buy circular amended that to say "any Sharp 1080p HDTV 42" and up!"

Even Tweeter’s "football frenzy" flyer had Mitsubishi’s WD-65833 65-inch 1080p RPTV for $2,499, with the 73-inch WD73833 hacked down to $3,499. Clearly, CE retailers are hoping that the next two weeks will offset some of the pain caused by lower-than-expected December HDTV sales.

That may be wishful thinking, what with the Dow tumbling to near-2005 levels through the first eight trading days of 2008, and all economic indicators pointing to a recession as we stumble through January. It will take much lower prices to drive HDTV sales this time around, even with the heightened interest in and potential ratings bonanza presented by the Patriots-Giants tilt.

Reply to the author