PayPal

Since PayPal only works in certain countries, Ebay's policy limits participation to the countries that PayPal supports. Bud Grant coached four Vikings losses in the 1970s, Marv Levy coached four consecutive losses with the Buffalo Bills in the 1990s, and Dan Reeves coached four losses between two teams (three with the Denver Broncos and one with the Atlanta Falcons). Ebay's new policy states that accepting a non-PayPal online payment system could result in the user's account being banned. Don Shula, Bill Parcells, Dan Reeves, Dick Vermeil, and Mike Holmgren all took more than one team to the Super Bowl. EBay specifically prohibits E-gold, a PayPal competitor with high fraud history. And recently, Bill Belichick won three with the Patriots. Questions of illegality and antitrust have been raised over this new rule, mostly by merchants who believe they shouldn't have to pay for a legitmate service and abused the personal account status on PayPal. Joe Gibbs also won three Super Bowls with the Washington Redskins.

EBay lists Bidpay.com as the only alternative, but that company's demise predates this policy. Bill Walsh won three with the San Francisco 49ers. This is due to the wide numbers of fraudulant online payment methods. Chuck Noll won four in the 1970's with the Pittsburgh Steelers. [8] Beginning in January 2006, eBay now prohibits any online payment system other than Paypal, as stated here[9]. Tom Landry also coached two winners and three losers with the Dallas Cowboys. In August 2005 eBay required that sellers who accept PayPal not refuse credit card payments, which result in transaction fees. Don Shula coached two different teams: a loss with the Baltimore Colts and two wins and three losses with the Miami Dolphins.

This has brought criticism from people from within these countries.[7]. Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers won the first two. PayPal does not allow people from certain countries to use its services, and in some occasions where it does, it only allows the participants to send and not receive. Super Bowl wins and losses tend to cluster around a few head coaches. PayPal's Seller Protection policies do not cover intangible goods or goods that are "not as described". The most recent is the Philadelphia Eagles, who lost Super Bowl XXXIX to the New England Patriots in the 2004 season (played on February 6, 2005), who posted a 6 wins, 10 losses, no ties record in the 2005 season. [4] [5] [6]. There are notable exceptions to this pattern, such as the Buffalo Bills who went to the Super Bowl and lost four years in a row, from XXV to XXVIII.

It's unclear whether simply waiting for PayPal to reach a decision in regards to the account would have resulted in PayPal allowing the money to eventually reach the Red Cross. This effect can be traced to the loss of momentum a team has built up, accumulating injuries, losing successful free agents between seasons, and the aging of talented players. Kyanka originally agreed to this, but after learning of the United Way's prior legal troubles, he asked PayPal to refund all the donations. The season after a Super Bowl loss, a team usually returns with a losing, or mediocre at best, record. Kyanka asked PayPal to transfer the funds to the Red Cross; PayPal said they couldn't do this, but could give the money to United Way (a rival charity collecting for the same cause, that had an undisclosed agreement with PayPal). Commentators and sports analysts note a tendency for teams that have made it to the Super Bowl and lost, to collapse the following season. To re-activate the account, PayPal demanded "proof of delivery", even though no products were being sold. With the new television contracts beginning in 2006, NBC, which last telecast Super Bowl XXXII in 1998, will take ABC's place in the network rotation starting with Super Bowl XLIII in 2009.

After receiving over $30,000 USD in donations in 9 hours, PayPal locked-down the account. Super Bowl XXXVIII was shown on CBS, Super Bowl XXXIX was shown on FOX, and Super Bowl XL will be shown on ABC, which will be the final NFL game broadcast on that network for the foreseeable future. In September 2005, PayPal suspended an account (opened by Something Awful owner Richard Kyanka) used to collect donations for the American Red Cross to help Hurricane Katrina victims. In the United States it is currently shared among three of the four major television networks: ABC, CBS, and FOX. PayPal denies any wrongdoing. The television network showing the game changes from year to year. The settlement requires that PayPal change its business practices (including changing its dispute resolution procedures to make them EFTA-compliant), as well as making a $9.25 million USD payment to members of the class. While most home teams in the Super Bowl choose to wear their colored jerseys, only the Cowboys in XIII and XXVII, the Washington Redskins in XVII, and the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL have worn white as the home team.

An informal settlement was reached in November 2003, and a formal settlement was signed on June 11, 2004. The Dallas Cowboys wore their rarely used blue uniform tops in Super Bowl V, and lost to the then-Baltimore Colts, which has led to the widely held belief that the Cowboys do not play well in their blue shirts. The two lawsuits were merged into one class action lawsuit (In re PayPal litigation). Prior to that, the home team always wore the dark jerseys. Most of the allegations concerned PayPal's dispute resolution procedures. The home team is given the choice of either wearing their colored jerseys or their white ones; this started with Super Bowl XIII. In March 2002, two PayPal account holders separately sued the company for alleged violations of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA) and California law. The designated "home team" alternates between the NFC team in odd-numbered years (the Philadelphia Eagles in 2005), and the AFC team in even-numbered years (the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2006).

PayPal's account access limitations prevent the movement of funds until discrepencies, or terms of the limitation, are resolved. Neither of these stadiums has ever been a home to an NFL team. Banks and financial institutions provide chargeback rights for a specified period of time that varies by the institution. However, Super Bowl XIV (which involved the then-Los Angeles Rams) was played at nearby Pasadena's Rose Bowl stadium; and Super Bowl XIX (which involved the San Francisco 49ers) was played at the nearby Stanford Stadium on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto. This policy appears to protect PayPal from financial loss in the event of chargebacks or disputes. Coincidentally, no NFL team has ever played the Super Bowl on its own home turf. According to the PayPal user agreement, users agree to give PayPal the power to limit access to funds in the account for 180 days. Louis, Missouri.

Controversial aspects of PayPal include the terms of its User Agreement; particularly, for limiting account access and user access to funds. The last time the Los Angeles area hosted the game was Super Bowl XXVII in 1993; the area is currently not considered a possible venue after the league's two teams vacated the city in 1995: the Raiders moved back to Oakland, California, and the Rams moved to St. Because it considers itself to be an 'electronic money transmitter', user rights and safeguards vary. After Hurricane Katrina damaged the Louisiana Superdome and the city, the game might never return to New Orleans. PayPal is not subject to regular banking regulations. Miami has been selected to host two future games: Super Bowl XLI in 2007 and Super Bowl XLIV in 2010. As long as seller provides confirmation of delivery available online, they are protected from chargebacks and fraudulent item-not-recieved claims. Over half of the Super Bowls have been played in one of the following three cities: New Orleans, Louisiana (9 times), Miami, Florida (8 times) and the Greater Los Angeles Area (7 total, 5 times at Pasadena's Rose Bowl stadium and twice at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum).

PayPal also protects sellers by offering the Seller Protection Policy. The only three cold-winter-climate cities to have hosted the Super Bowl are Pontiac, Michigan, Detroit, Michigan and Minneapolis, Minnesota. If the buyer used a credit card, they are ensured a refund via chargeback. To this date, Super Bowls have either been played in cities with mildly warm winter climates, or in domed stadiums where weather is not an issue. If this doesn't happen, PayPal will try to take the money back from the seller and refund the buyer. Cities compete to host the game in a selection bidding process similar to ones used by the Olympic Games and soccer's World Cup. Buyers are ensured that they recieve the item they buy as it is described. The location of the Super Bowl is chosen by the NFL well in advance, usually 3 to 5 years before the game.

PayPal's business model involves providing safety to buyers and merchants/sellers. This also led to the FCC cracking down on indecency and fining CBS $225,000 for the incident, as well as fining each of CBS's then twenty owned and operated stations. PayPal's European subsidiary PayPal (Europe) is licensed as an electronic money institution and regulated by the UK Financial Services Authority. The NFL, embarrassed from the incident, permanently banned MTV from doing another halftime show in any capacity. Like Western Union, PayPal is considered a money transmitter in many states in the United States and is licensed as such where required. It also didn't help matters that the game was airing on CBS, and their then-corporate sister company within Viacom, MTV, produced the halftime show. Therefore it is not required to abide by the legislation that governs banks. Many conspiracy theorists think that this was done intentionally to get everyone's attention, possibly so that Janet could get the attention away from her brother Michael Jackson, who was facing child molestation charges at the time.

Due to the manner in which it operates, PayPal is not considered a bank. In 2004, it was during halftime at Super Bowl XXXVIII that Janet Jackson had her now-infamous wardrobe malfunction after Justin Timberlake "accidentally" ripped off a piece of her top, exposing her right breast with a star-like ring surrounding the nipple. PayPal also operates a large customer-service center in La Vista, Nebraska, just outside Omaha. John will perform the national anthem; and The Rolling Stones will play during the halftime show. PayPal operates locally in 13 markets, including: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and China. Super Bowl XL in 2006 is scheduled to feature Stevie Wonder, Joss Stone, and John Legend during the pregame ceremonies; Aaron Neville, Aretha Franklin, and Dr. Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Australian Dollars, Euros, Pounds Sterling and Japanese Yen. Because of the large number of viewers that the Super Bowl generates, a number of popular singers and musicians have performed during its pregame ceremonies, the halftime show, or even just singing the national anthem of the United States, "The Star-Spangled Banner".

PayPal supports payments in U.S. [5]. Every second PayPal processes an average of $823 in total payment volume. If the television show Las Vegas stays on the air when NBC gets their next Super Bowl Broadcast (which will be Super Bowl XLIII in 2009), they may not be allowed to promote the series during the entire block of programming. As of the end of Q2 2005, PayPal operates in 57 countries (including China) and it manages over 86.6 million accounts. Many groups are denied the chance to run Super Bowl ads on various grounds, but Las Vegas is the only city to be denied in such a fashion; the NFL has stated that it does not want the Super Bowl to be associated with the perception of Las Vegas as a gambling mecca. In January of 2005 PayPal announced plans to pursue the Merchant Services opportunity, the online payments business 'off of eBay'. The ban includes the game, as well as the pre-game and post-game shows.

In 2004, the total value of transactions through the PayPal system was $18.9 billion, up 55% year over year. In recent years, the NFL has denied the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority the opportunity to run Super Bowl ads for the city as a tourist destination. BidPay itself ceased payment operations on the 31st December 2005 but the site remains to carry out any remaining customer service issues . Many people tune in to the Super Bowl solely to watch the very creative commercials. PayPal's only substantially similar competitor is now BidPay, after Citibank's c2it service closed in late 2003 and Yahoo!'s PayDirect service closed in late 2004. Prices have increased each year, with reports citing a record $2.5 million (US) for a 30 second spot during Super Bowl XL in 2006. eBay has phased out its BillPoint service in favor of retaining the PayPal brand. Famous commercial campaigns include the Budweiser "Bud Bowl" campaign, and the 1999 and 2000 dot-com ads.

(See GAMEY) PayPal had previously been the payment method of choice by over fifty percent of eBay users, and the service competed with eBay's subsidiary BillPoint. Following Apple Computer's 1984 commercial introducing the Apple Macintosh computer, directed by Ridley Scott, the broadcast of the Super Bowl became the premier showcase for high concept or simply extravagantly expensive commercials. In October 2002 PayPal was acquired by eBay. [4] Although the proliferation of cable and satellite television has undercut broadcast ratings somewhat in recent years, the game is still so popular that a number of networks actually schedule original programming, such as independently produced halftime entertainment, during the game, simply to take advantage of a large audience already in front of the television. [2] [3]. Super Bowl XVI is #4 on Nielsen's list of top-rated programs of all time, and 3 other Super Bowls (XII, XVII, XX) made the top 10. This paved the way for the company to eventually reconcile with its former rival, eBay. The highest rated game according to Nielsen was Super Bowl XVI in 1982 which was watched in 49.1% of households (73 share) or 40,020,000 households at the time.

Yet the company was able to turn the corner and become the first dot-com to IPO after the September 11 attacks — an accomplishment that ironically backfired when PayPal's new high profile status helped prompt a slew of class action lawsuits and regulatory probes, including one by NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. [3]. And worst of all, eBay launched a payments service named Billpoint to compete with PayPal. Approximately half of the remaining 2 million worldwide viewers watched from the United Kingdom. Foreign Mafia rings found ways to steal millions from the young company. In actual fact, Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005 was watched by 93 million viewers in total, of which 98 percent were in North America [2]. Though growing rapidly, PayPal was losing $10 million a month and was fraught with internal turmoil that led to three CEO changes in its first year of operations. There is a popular urban myth regarding the Super Bowl — that the game is watched in 234 countries by 1 billion people [1], a fact unlikely to be true considering the time of the event, and the lack of popularity American Football has outside of the United States.

[1]. It is also estimated that 130-140 million tune into some part of the game. This name was acquired by PayPal in early 2000, when x.com merged with PayPal. This means that on average, 80 to 90 million Americans are tuned into the Super Bowl at any given moment. As of Jan 2006, this URL still resolves to the PayPal home page. households, and 60 percent of all homes tuned into television during the game). Unknown to many people is the fact that PayPal is one of the few Internet companies which has a single letter domain name, (http://www.x.com) in use. The game tends to have high Nielsen television ratings which usually come in around a 40 rating and 60 share (i.e., on average, 40 percent of all U.S.

Coupled with aggressive marketing campaigns offering $10 (and later $5) for new users to sign up, the firm grew at a meteoric rate of 7–10 percent per day between January and March 2000. By any measure, the Super Bowl is one of the most watched television programs of the year. The PDA software was later discarded in favor of a web-based system that became popular with eBay's millions of buyers and sellers. Following his death in September 1970, the trophy was named the Vince Lombardi Trophy, first awarded at Super Bowl V in Miami. In its initial incarnation, PayPal was a service for users to send money via PDAs, with actor James Doohan, Star Trek's "Scotty," as its spokesman. The winning team gets the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named for the coach of the Green Bay Packers, who won the first two Super Bowl games. Most of the early engineers hailed from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, recruited by Max Levchin. The game remains his crowning achievement and was an important factor in him being selected by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century.

On the business side, many of its initial recruits were alumni of The Stanford Review, which was also founded by Peter Thiel. His leadership guided them into the merger agreement and cemented the preeminence of the Super Bowl. One of its first premises was the 165 University Avenue office in Palo Alto, California, home of a number of other noted Silicon Valley startups. The NFL commissioner at that time, Pete Rozelle, is often considered the mastermind of both the merger and the Super Bowl. PayPal was founded in December 1998 by Peter Thiel and Max Levchin. As of December 2005, former AFL teams have won 10 Super Bowls, pre-1970 NFL teams have won 23 games, and two games have been won by teams created after 1970. . Since then, the Super Bowl has featured the champions of the AFC and NFC.

Corporate headquarters are in San Jose, California; it is now an eBay company. When the NFL and AFL merged into one combined league for the 1970 season, three NFL teams joined the 10 AFL teams to form the American Football Conference (AFC), and the other 13 teams became the National Football Conference (NFC). PayPal also performs payment processing for e-commerce vendors, auction sites, and other corporate users, for which they charge a fee. One year later, the American Football League's Kansas City Chiefs defeated the NFL Minnesota Vikings 23-7 and won Super Bowl IV in New Orleans, the last World Championship game played between the champions of two leagues. PayPal is an Internet business which allows the transfer of money between email users and merchants, avoiding traditional paper methods such as checks/cheques and money orders. That all changed with perhaps the biggest upset in American sports history, the AFL's New York Jets defeat of the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in Miami. PayPal Acquires Verisign's Payment Gateway. After the NFL's Green Bay Packers convincingly won the first two Super Bowls, some team owners feared for the future of the merger, since many doubted that AFL teams could compete with their NFL counterparts.

PayPal Releases Direct Payment API. Starting with the third contest in January 1969, the name "Super Bowl" became official. Not surprisingly, fans and media tended to use the shorter, unofficial name. Not having thought of one, the owners named the contest the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. Hunt only meant his suggested name to be a stopgap until a better one could be found.

The name was feasible because postseason college football games had long been known as "bowl games" (the term originates from the Rose Bowl Game, which was in turn named for the bowl-shaped stadium in which it is played). The ball is now on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. During the discussions to iron out the details, AFL founder and Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt had jokingly referred to the proposed interleague championship as the "Super Bowl." Hunt thought of the name after seeing his daughter playing with a toy called a Super Ball. One of the conditions of the AFL-NFL Merger was that the winners of each league's championship game would meet in a contest to determine the "world champion of football".

The intense competitive war for players and fans led to serious merger talks between the two leagues in 1966. After its inception in 1920, the NFL fended off several rival leagues before the AFL began play in 1960. The Super Bowl was created as part of the merger agreement between the National Football League (NFL) and its rival, the American Football League (AFL). .

food consumption day next to Thanksgiving. This is the largest U.S. In addition, many popular singers and musicians have performed during the Super Bowl's pre-game and halftime ceremonies. The last true day game (which ended before local sunset) of the series was Super Bowl XI in January 1977.

This has caused the starting time of the game to be pushed back later and later, to ensure the Sunday night prime time audience on the East Coast. The Super Bowl is one of the most-watched American television broadcasts of the year, attracting many companies to spend millions of dollars on commercials. Since then, the game has been played annually on a Sunday following the playoffs, originally early to mid-January, then late January, and in 2002, the first Sunday in February. After both leagues merged in 1970, the Super Bowl became the NFL's championship game.

The game began in January 1967 as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game in which the NFL championship team played against the champion of the younger, rival American Football League (AFL) for the "World Championship of Professional Football". The game and its ancillary festivities constitute Super Bowl Sunday (sometimes "Super Sunday"), which over the years has almost become a de facto American national holiday. In professional American football, the Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League (NFL) in the United States. New Orleans Saints.

Jacksonville Jaguars. Houston Texans. Detroit Lions - NFL championship in 1935, 1952, 1953, and 1957. Cleveland Browns - NFL championship in 1950, 1954, 1955, and 1964
(This refers to the team that the league officially views as one continuous franchise that began in 1946 but suspended operations from 1996-1998, and resumed play in 1999.).

Arizona Cardinals - NFL champions in 1925 and 1947. NFL league champions prior to Super Bowl I