Monday, Feb. 2, 2004 | 10:50 a.m.
The National Football League may have tried to put a damper on Las Vegas Super Bowl parties with its threats to sue for copyright infringement if casinos charged for the gatherings or showed the game on movie-size screens.
But football fans in the Strip's sports books would not be reined in Sunday.
They cheered, cursed and jumped up and down as they watched the Patriots squeeze past the Panthers with a field goal in the last seconds of the game.
"The atmosphere is electric," Joe Momfortor, 26, of Denver said as he watched the game on multiple screens at the Imperial Palace's race and sports book.
Several hotels canceled party plans or changed the size of the screens they were using, but that did not stop thousands of tourists and Las Vegas residents from crowding around sports books and bars to take part in the atmosphere of watching the game in a crowd of fans.
"If you aren't in Houston or Vegas, you are nowhere right now," Jesse Vallado, 31, of San Antonio said as he and his friends rooted for the Panthers in a VIP room at the Palms.
The Orleans Arena and the Palms both canceled movie-theater size screen events because of the cease-and-desist order they received from the NFL.
Patrons at The Orleans were able to watch the game on big screen televisions in the sports book and at every bar, one of which features a television larger than the NFL's set limit.
"I'm always here on Super Bowl Sunday," Las Vegas resident Joe Castro, 43, said. "It's a good atmosphere out here; people are friendly. I love it."
At the Palms, more than 1,000 people watched the game on dozens of 42-inch plasma screen TVs in the VIP ballroom, the Fantasy Market Buffet and the Key West club, with a few hundred more crowding the sports book and even the food court of the casino.
Vallado's friend, Gabriel Rivera, 32, also of San Antonio, said they found out Saturday night that the party they had intended to go at the Palms was canceled.
The smaller screens in the VIP room, however, were not dampening the moods of Rivera and his friends, who were rooting for the Panthers.
"You can't complain about a 42-inch plasma TV," Rivera said.
Robert Binder, 31, of New York agreed. He was was ready to watch the game in his hotel room before he got one of the VIP passes at the Palms, where he spent the afternoon instead.
"Look at them," Binder said pointing to several young guys who jumped out of their seats, arms raised in victory up, over a tackle during the first quarter. "You'd think someone scored a touchdown. That's the difference between watching the game here and watching in my living room."
The VIP rooms at the Palms were free to specially invited patrons, but other casinos, including Harrah's Carnival Court and the Royal Hall Convention Center at Imperial Palace next door, got around the NFL's rule by stipulating they were charging for food, not the game.
Harrah's Carnival Court offered unlimited food for $35, and Imperial Palace offered unlimited food, draft beer and a T-shirt for $60. A sign at Imperial Palace advertising the Super Bowl Party said "free football viewing."
About 550 people were watching the game in the convention hall, Imperial Palace spokesman Jeremy Handel said. Another 600 were in an invitation-only party for VIP players and more than 200 watched the game in the sports bar, Handel said.
Several casinos also technically broke the 55-inch rule, as they continued to use the massive screens already installed in their sports books.
Most fans said the NFL mandate was "ridiculous." Ludicrous was another favorite word used by fans at the Orleans, the Palms, Harrah's, Imperial Palace and Sam's Town.
"It stinks, it is absolutely pathetic," said Joe Cordero, 55, as he watched the game near an Orleans bar. "The NFL is a money-making machine.
"I think they have a vendetta against Vegas, because (Mayor) Oscar (Goodman) speaks his mind and tells the NFL where to get off," Cordero, a Patriot fan, said. "And I admire him for that."
Las Vegas residents John Simmers and Chrissy Jarrett, both 33, had plans to go to one of the big ballroom parties at the Orleans before it was canceled. Instead, they said they would hang out at the main bar for a while and then probably head home. Neither understood the NFL's reasoning.
"We were like, 'huh?"' Jarrett said, as she and Simmers watched the first quarter.
"With all the advertising this is getting, they are going to worry about this?" Simmers said. "This is like the biggest game of the year."
Jarrett agreed, adding that the advertisements were part of the festivities.
"Who doesn't love the commercials during a Super Bowl game?" Jarrett said. "That's almost as exciting as watching the game."
Others thought the NFL just wanted a piece of the action.
"I suspect the NFL is trying to squeeze Vegas for money," Douglas Cox, 37, of Los Angeles said. "Vegas is making a lot of money on this and they want their cut.
Unable to get into the party at the Stratosphere where he was staying, Douglas Cox, 37, of Los Angeles said he "hunted all over the place" before ending up in the Imperial Palace race and sports book.
"I did not want to watch the game in my room," said Cox, who treks to Vegas every year to watch the game. "I like being with the bettors."
Cox and his wife, Josephine, had bet about $500 on the game, he said.
The couple said they wished the NFL had given Las Vegas and the city's tourists more warning that it planned to enforce its copyright on the game.
"As I told the guy at the Aladdin, I'm sure you guys will have this figured out for next year," Cox said. "If you don't, you are going to lose a lot of money from (tourists)."
A few fans, however, thought the NFL's policy was fair.
"I think they shouldn't be able to charge for the game," Las Vegas resident Stacy Byrne, 29, said as she watched the halftime show at Harrah's sports book. "This is on TV for free. Why should they be able to make a profit on it?
Las Vegan Rick Taylor, 45, said he could understand not being able to watch it on movie-size screens, as he had done last year at the Palms, but he thought the timing was unfair.
"They should have waited until after the Super Bowl and enforced their policies at the start of the next season," Taylor said.
Most of the fans interviewed by the Sun said placing bets was one of the highlights of watching the game, as it upped one's personal involvement and made watching more exciting.
"Like Oscar says, there no use watching the NFL game without betting on it," Cordero said at the Orleans.
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