Payola, not Paola. You search for Paola and you probably get a lot of pics of women. And payola is illegal.

But again, I'd ask you, without the acts, does the NFL have the most watched 15 minutes on the planet?

Lest we forget why the NFL started featuring artists who were well known internationally back in the early 90s, without the acts, most of the 115 million viewers probably change the channel to any of the other network's special programming, and if the game sucks or is a blowout, most of the 115 million viewers don't come back after the second quarter ends.

So the NFL has a vested interest not only in keeping its viewers during the half time, but even grabbing those viewers who just turn to the half time show to see an artist. You remove the acts, the value of the half time drops significantly.

As for reaching millions of people, sure.. but not because you reach them, it means they are going to buy your album or go to your concert and buy the T-shirt and be your fans forever. So Bruno Mars allegedly reached 111.5 million people during the half time.. ok.. that translated into 25,000 more songs (not albums) sold than expected the week after of the SB... so a whole $32,000 of impact (if you go by iTunes prices)... as for future impact, how long until Bruno and his record label can recoup $10,000,000 from that one show? Show business has never been a long term investment.

Miley Cyrus's album went top five in album pre-sales after sucking on a foam finger in the MVA's, all while giving that other dude's song a 300% bump in sales. That cost them $0.