When the Super Bowl came to jazz-famed New Orleans a few years back, it was Irish band U2 that headlined the notoriously over-the-top halftime show. In a similarly perplexing billing, Cuban-born Gloria Estefan took center stage when Minneapolis hosted its first ever Super Sunday in the '90s, not native son and pop legend Prince.

Likewise this year's NFL championship game in Detroit was rocked not by the Motor-City sounds of Motown, Madonna, or Eminem, but by aged British-Invasion group The Rolling Stones. City officials and journalists groaned about the NFL's halftime pick, wondering why the glitziest show in the nation couldn't have done more to tout Detroit's fine musical heritage.

For cities selected to host the biggest sports event of the year, the Super Bowl may seem like a super bust--at least from a marketing standpoint. Sure, the king of championship games bestows thousands of cash-rich visitors and enormous buzz upon a host city, but it is stingier with the more prized treasures of the kingdom, like the halftime show.

Ultimately, as the marketer of the world's greatest show on earth, the NFL calls the shots. The Super Bowl comes to town with its own schedules, its own traditions, its own personnel and its own idea of entertainment. Given that the Super Bowl's money-making potential dwarfs the marketing output of any city's Chamber of Commerce or tourism industry, it is likely that towns hosting Super Sunday will have to accept their supporting role and not try to play the lead.