Every year, hundreds of Americans in a select U.S. city volunteer their time to help produce the Super Bowl. These volunteers are essentially the Super Bowl halftime show stage crew, helping to assemble the stage for that year's halftime musical act.
Now, however, a group is trying to get those volunteers paid and awarded with suitable compensation for their efforts leading up to and during the Super Bowl.
A Change.org petiton has been started with the intent of getting the NFL to "offer halftime workers at the Super Bowl minimum wage for their work and protection if they are injured on the job."
Despite those efforts, SuperBowlProductions.com is having no problems recruiting volunteers. They have filled their desired number of volunteers and have now set their sights on the big game on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis. According to the site's schedule, preparations began Wednesday with orientation, and real preparations will begin in the week leading up to the Super Bowl starting on Jan. 23.
The group seeking compensation for those volunteers alleges that "500 Americans are being solicited as volunteers to be available for 43 hours of rehearsal work and gameday activities with no wage compensation given, no injury liability protection afforded them, nor any opportunity granted to them to watch any part of the game live in the stadium or given access to tickets."
The petition is aiming for 63,000 "signatures," a number equal to the capacity at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis.
