More Than the Game

Amid the congratulatory hugs and big contracts handed out last night during the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft, each team tried to take its best first step towards earning a spot in Super Bowl XLVII. After a long season of big plays and outstanding performances, two teams – along with fans, media personnel, business men and women– will find themselves in New Orleans on February 3, 2013 in the biggest sporting event of the year. Over 100 million people will watch the game on television, companies will spend over $4 million for every 30-second commercial spot, and many of you will enjoy some great-tasting guacamole.

That is what you do know. Here is what you don’t know. For Super Bowl XLVI, officials for the host city of Indianapolis had more than the game to worry about. Every year, at major sporting events across the country, women and children are trafficked, prostituted, and enslaved for sex tourism during these glamorous, money-hungry events. With restaurants and bars packed each night leading up to the game, cash is not just spent on food and drink. The demand for sex is greater than the supply. Thousands of women are transported every year to the host Super Bowl city for what many believe is the largest sex-trafficking event in the United States.

The world stops to watch and then spends hours in conversation about the game afterwards around the water cooler and at the dinner table. But, as fans, we need to understand what else happens. The sex industry, which takes advantage of vulnerable people, is a $32 billion business, and it is increasing rate all over the world. The following story of A.H. doesn’t make you cheer as you would for a touchdown or laugh at the best million-dollar commercial. However, it does bring you back to the reality of thousands of women and children that came to the host Super Bowl city, only to be sexually exploited. A survivor, A.H. reached out to the NFL Super Bowl host committee in 2011 in a letter asking for the committee to support the I’m Not Buying It Campaign.
Here is her story.

My name is A.H. and I’m a survivor of sex trafficking. I’m not a big football fan, but I’ll never forget my first trip to Dallas/Fort Worth several years ago. It was 2006 when I was dragged there against my will by a pimp. I was forced to dance, strip and sell sex (along with five other young girls) for over a month while he pocketed the cash ($1,000-$3,000/night from each girl) and planned our next gig. I was trapped in a life I never wanted without any hope of escape.

A.H.’s story is just one of thousands. In 2010, an estimated 10,000 women were transported to Miami. Despite the city of Dallas’ efforts the following year, women and children were still exploited throughout the lead-up to the event. This year, a group of nuns in Indianapolis distributed thousands of bars of soap branded with a phone number to call for help along with tutorials on how to recognize a victim to area hotels and motels. Even government officials passed a law just prior to the Super Bowl, increasing the penalty for not the victims, but the pimps and “Johns” caught transporting, coercing, and selling the women and children.

The United Nations defines human trafficking as “The recruitment, transportation, harboring, or taking of people by means of threat, force, coercion, abduction, fraud, or deception for the purpose of exploiting them.” In other words, human trafficking is modern-day slavery. These women and children are promised a better life, an opportunity away from the struggle and abuse they often already face. Do you remember what you were doing at age 13? This is the average age of a sex-slave, often forced to have sex with at least five or six men in one night. Even driving to work, you might spot one of these girls. You judge this girl, believing she has made the choice to stand on the street corner for work. This is most often not the case, as she fights for her life each day. Even when she is rescued, the physiological and emotional walls she has built up after her life on the streets take years to knock down.

The world of sports is a powerful influencer. As fans, we are more engaged than ever. Our children learn some of life’s most valuable lessons from athletics. But, as we cheer, decide on our fantasy teams, and sit in front of the television, more of our attention, understanding, and influence need to be directed towards ridding our cities of this awful industry.

Every February, we will gather with a host of friends to watch the big game. Between now and next winter, we have plenty of time to consider ways to ensure that we work just as hard to advocate for and help those who need us more than we can ever imagine – as we work to support the teams that can get along without us just fine.

Holcomb, Justin. “Sex-Trafficking at the Super Bowl.” February 5, 2012.
http://theresurgence.com/2012/02/02/sex-trafficking-at-the-super-bowl

Kloer, Amanda. “A Trafficking Survivors Plea to Super Bowl Hosts and NFL.” January 25, 2011.
http://news.change.org/stories/a-trafficking-survivor-s-plea-to-super-bowl-hosts-and-nfl

“Pedophiles and pimps score at large sporting events like Super Bowl XLVI.” January 17, 2011. http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/heart-without-compromise-children-and-children-wit/2012/jan/17/pedophiles-and-pimps-score-large-sporting-events-s/

“Super Bowl brings sex traffickers to Indianapolis.” January 30, 2012. http://www.charismanews.com/us/32737-super-bowl-brings-sex-traffickers-to-indianapolis