Tech companies are donating millions to the 50th Super Bowl game

Apple has joined with some of its allies and rivals over a common cause: bringing the 50th Super Bowl football game to the new Santa Clara Stadium in 2016. Apple, Google, Gap, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Seagate, Virgin America and Yahoo have all pledged $2 million to help offset the public costs of the event, such as security and youth groups, to alleviate the burden on taxpayers. By coincidence, 2016 is also the year Apple expects to complete its new, $5 billion headquarters, known as “Campus 2.” Apple’s involvement in the civic fundraising effort, which has thus far raised some $25 million over its initial $5 million goal, does not necessarily portend the presence of a commercial from the iPhone maker — still remembered for its ground-breaking ad from the 1984 Super Bowl that heralded the Mac. Less well-remembered was a poor follow-up commercial called Lemmings that aired during the 1985 Super Bowl, which was seen as insulting to potential business customers.