Photo courtesy of Digital Journal staff
The big game finally happened and football fan or not, there was something to be excited about: the teams, the commercials, and the hunky men in tights. No matter what you watch the Super Bowl for, it is one of the most talked about events of the year.
People are failing to talk about one giant problem though: the sex trafficking. Texas attorney general Greg Abbott says the Super Bowl is the “single largest human trafficking incident in the United States.” That’s certainly not something Coke or Pepsi makes a commercial to advertise about.
World sporting events like the World Cup and Olympics are infamous for their sex trafficking problems. Why should the Super Bowl be an exception? It draws in almost half a million people (mostly men) for a week of booze, partying, and celebration. The sex trafficking business cashes in on sex-hungry men looking for the ultimate party.
During Super Bowl XLIV in Miami, major industries shuttled in a combined 10,000 prostitutes. One former sex trafficking victim, Clemmie Greenlee, said she was expected to sleep with as many as 50 men per day—two men per hour—during the Super Bowl time.
There are some people who are skeptical as to the magnitude of the problem. Other former host cities such as Phoenix, AZ and Tampa Bay, Florida show no increase in reports or arrests involving prostitution. However, the New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking says, “Sex trafficking is a silent crime.”
In preparation for Super Bowl XLVIII in New York, police busted a high-end trafficking operation by advertising a combo pack of women and cocaine to help with the celebration in NYC. It came after an almost year long investigation in which they discovered the ring had been a multi-million dollar industry in the tri-state area.
The operation has been shut down, saving thousands of people and their assets. Let’s hope this silent crime stays out of the Super Bowl forever.