Big-Screen Pass

If this Sunday's Super Bowl bout between the Carolina Panthers and the New England Patriots appears heated, that's nothing compared to how rivals Best Buy (NYSE: BBY  ) and Circuit City (NYSE: CC  ) are slugging it out for your big-ticket business.

Order any plasma or projection television set from Best Buy by Saturday afternoon and the leading consumer electronics superstore chain will have it delivered to you by Sunday's kickoff. Circuit City is making the same guarantee, only widening the buyer options to any set with a 30-inch screen or better.

As the country's most-watched event, with sponsors such as Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD  ) and Motley Fool Stock Advisor pick FedEx (NYSE: FDX  ) willing to pay well over $2 million for a 30-second commercial slot, we all know that the Super Bowl is big business -- 138.9 million viewers tuned in last year alone. But with Viacom's (NYSE: VIA  ) CBS broadcasting the game in digital, it's easy to see why the high-definition television sector loves the game of football.

Earlier this month, when Gateway (NYSE: GTW  ) offered LSU and USC $30 million in scholarship money to play one final game to settle their split college football championship titles, the motivation was obvious. Gateway has become a leading direct-seller of plasma television sets.

It was also no coincidence that Consumer Reportswidened its coverage of larger sets this month. While makers Sony (NYSE: SNE  ) , Hitachi (NYSE: HIT  ) , and Gateway scored winning marks, the publication cautioned against buying now. It is concerned over the life expectancy of plasma sets along with the logical notion that prices will drop, perhaps precipitously, over the next few years.

In other words, like Patriots quarterback Tom Brady on third and long, it's probably best to go for a pass.

How surprised are you with this year's matchup for Super Bowl XXXVIII? The Patriots are favored to win by a touchdown, but do you see things differently? All this and more -- in the 77's Foolish House of Pigskin discussion board. Only on Fool.com.