>> what's that on your dress? >> oh, great. look at that. super saturday. one day before the big game and already a shaoupblg security undertaking. a new health concern is raising questions today as well. >> who's next? mitt romney says he's not running for president again. which potential gop candidate does that help the most and does that change the equation for democrats round two. another big storm headed for the northeast. this one could be more widespread. details where it's going to hit and when? super food super ads, super gambles. a guide to unique aspects of the spectacle in big money headlines.

hey there. good morning, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt". anticipation is growing as the countdown begins to super bowl xlix. look at the live shot. it's dark. only 4:00 in the morning there. we are still keeping an eye on things. security concerns. the biggest game in america, of course. hi sarah. >> reporter: well, alex good morning. forget about ticket prices and deflate. here is all you need to know. the top two teams in the nfl getting ready to play. sports analysts say it's going to be a great game. super bowl weekend arrives gray and dreary. wet and wild times in the add add desert not putting a damper on fans's enthusiasm.

>> repeat. >> reporter: no worries for the teams. sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s are expected sunday. >> we're excited for the opportunity. and i think it will be a great matchup. >> we're ready for it. it's really getting close. we're ready for game time. >> a review of the nfl's past season. >> it's been a tough year. >> chairman roger goodell discussed recent problems and pledged a continued focus on the new personal conduct policy. he also pledged a thorough investigation into deflategate. >> this is my possibility to protect the integrity of the game. i represent 32 teams. all of us want to make sure that the rules are being followed. >> goodell promised to release investigators's final report to the public. transparency between the nfl and the fans who invest so much into the teams. ticket prices soar now, averaging more than 10 grand apiece making this the most expensive super bowl ever. >> no surprise there.

thank you so much, sarah. fighter pilots will be one part of the security around the super bowl. ron mott has more from the airspace over university of phoenix stadium. >> reporter: super sized security is now in motion with officers and stadium personnel preparing to protect the 25 acre facility and 70,000 fans. a team of local, state, and federal agencies in uniform and undercover screening virtually every square inches. they will keep close watch of the skies above the stadium. this black hawk helicopter from homeland security is one of the assets that will be safeguarding the most secured restricted airspace on the planet. >> the skies around the stadium are a new fly zone on game day. they can expect an f-16 fighter escort muscular show of force already in the wake of recent terror a attacks around the world. ? i think the key is vigilance. and we devoted a lot of

resources and a lot of effort to making sure this event is safe secure. >> all right. ron mott, thank you so much for that. another concern for fans arriving for the super bowl. the reese else. there's a warning from doctors to those who haven't had the shot and plan on going. we'll talk about that coming up in 10 minutes from now. let's head to the weather. and the brutal cold hitting the northeast this weekend. windchills from northern new jersey to western massachusetts. towns throughout connecticut are opening warming centers for those who can't get enough heat in their homes. the rain is a problem for super bowl fans. they have braved muddy conditions for several free concerts after thunderstorms on thursday and friday. they didn't see it as a problem. >> i have muddy shoes too. i ain't going to feel that bad for them. i'm in the same condition they in. what i am going to do is make them feel good when they're out

there in the mud. >> okay snoop. let's head to the weather channel's reynolds wolf. reynolds? good morning. let's take a look at what we can expect from winter storm linus. we talked about parts of the northeast due for another round. take a look at the cities we have in terms of the timing. some locations seeing the snowfall saturday and sunday. others into saturday sunday and even into monday. radar shows things pretty active in the west, the high mountains of the central and southern rockies. the moisture that system will pull up from the gulf of mexico combined with the cold air from the north. the two of those coming together will give us a wintry scenario in the great lakes and eventually into the northeast. the question is how much are we going to see? believe it or not, some locations a we make the jump from later today, into tomorrow snowfall totals beginning to mount up in the great lakes. chicago might be dealing with a foot of snowfall through the

weekend and early morning hours. into monday yes, monday another round of snow possible for the northeast. some locations getting close to a foot of snowfall. guys, hate to be the bearer of bad news. >> i know it's coming. thanks so much republican policy. >> the race for president in 2016 is once again wide open. mitt romney who just a few weeks ago, signaled he might consider a run ended the speculation yesterday in a conference call to supporters. >> after putting considerable thought into making another run for president, i've decided it is best to give other leaders in the party an opportunity. i am convinced that we could win the nomination. but i realized it was a difficult task. >> political reporter for the "washington post". good day to you. a as we were saying in the commercial, fun while it lasted. it was a great discussion point for three weeks. who do you think is breathing the biggest sigh of relief?

>> it's hard to say. we're so early. a lot of the polling and the lining people up is still vague. no question that jeb bush has an easier way to get money now. it was -- i think part of the reason romney ended up not running is because they knocked down key staff, a lot of supporters. i think it's probably even better for scott walker, who is on the fringe of a hard-core conservative and someone who can appeal to the big donors and overshadowed by romney. now they are looking for someone else. that may be walker. >> who do you think will be the gop members on stage when the debates begin? >> oh, man. it's hard to say. it seems as though every -- >> what are you sure about? >> we're sure about jeb bush. >> okay. >> jeb bush said i'm going to do this. he's moving forward with it. i think it's safe to assume ted

cruz, scott walker. i think it's safe to assume rand paul. we know donald trump won't be there. sarah palin won't be there. there are people it is safe to ex clued. it's hard to say who to include. >> but he said you know jeb bush will be on the stage. is he the clear front-runner? >> i would say so. but front-runner i have used the analogy before of this being a very very long race. it's like the olympic marathon. a big cluster tkpwepts out of the gates and starts running. we see jeb bush trotting along and he's ahead of everybody else. >> at what point do other people make it official? what's the timeline? >> a lot of machinations going back and forth. behind the scene everyone is doing things. they're already hiring staff, already talk to go donors. there's an official moment that says i was running for

president. it has specific legal significance in the eyes. they can collect money and so on without having to report it. everyone is in that phase except for jeb bush who said i'm doing these various committees and i'm moving forward. >> you wrote an article about hillary clinton. how does this impact hillary clinton or the democrats in general? what's her strategy? >> i don't think this impacts here. she feels she has a clear path in front of her. totally justifiably. a report from politico said she will kick out her launch the middle of the year a big fund-raising splash. if i were the democratic party i would be getting a little nervous. if hillary clinton decides not to run, they are going to be reaching a point in the next couple of months before they could potentially lose the election in 2016 early because they don't have any good candidates. they don't have anyone lining things up. they don't have anyone talking

to anybody except hillary clinton. >> he we love talking to you. thank you so much. ohio postpones executions of seven. it was made in order to give the state time to obtain a new supply of lethal injection drugs. it comes amid controversy over how states execute death row inmates. suge knight is being held on $2 million bail. he is accused of a fatal hit and run following an argument on a film set in compton, california. knight's attorney says his client was attacked and trying to escape in his truck when the incident happened. the co-tpourpd of death row records spent several years in prison for assault abbott calls the navy s.e.a.l. sniper a true tpherpbamerican hero. it stirred controversy after

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turning the tables on isis. today jordan is reportedly threatening to execute inmates if it does not follow through on the exchange of a would-be suicide bomber. the sunset deadline for the exchange has now come and gone twice with still no movement. joining my from amman, jordan is bill neely. are they certain the hostages are still alive? >> reporter: good morning, alex. no not at all. no word from the terror group isis. we will hear from the japanese embassy. no word to the deputy foreign minister. the efforts to free their hostage kenji goto are in a state of deadlock. the family of the jordanian air

force pilot has had no news. it has been more than 48 hours since they said they believed he was alive. last night his brother said we are still waiting. we heard nothing from the government or from other sources. as you say, jordan's government and it quite extraordinary. it seems their negotiating team has somehow got a message through to isis that it has many people death row linked to isis and al qaeda. that includes the woman that isis wants freed. but it seems a pretty dangerous tactic for a nation to be almost stooping to the level of a terror group and atlantaing immediate threatening immediate executions. but jordan feels powerless and angry. >> it's a difficult situation, obviously. but in terms of legal ability to do this can jordan push up

these executions? >> of course these people are on death row. more than 100 of them. they have been convicted, sentenced. last year they had an eight-year moratorium. it proved last year if i wants to do these executions quickly, it can. and legally also it can do it. because they have already been convicted. >> what about the reaction of regular jordanians. the idea of releasing someone tied to these devastating 2005 bombings there and also just being involved in this war in germ? >> reporter: the 2005 ballings were a traumatic event here. it's bit of a cliche but let's say it was jordan's 9/11.

the woman was an iraqi that was caught with her suicide belt on that failed to detonate. there is some degree of sympathy for her here. she is seen as a a minor pawn accomplice in the attacks. a jordanian journalist had a friend who died in those bombs. he said she was a pawn. they were willing to swap her for the captured pilot. as for the war in germ people are very very ambivalent about that. jordan is a staunch u.s. ally. it has taken part in the bombing. sunni muslims. many people don't like that. the father of the captured pilot says he was personally against the war. the government then asked him to please stop talking to the media. so people here are very ambivalent about a war. of course if their air force pilot is executed i think there will be a huge backlash here

against the government against king abdullah. it's a very fragile country. that will be difficult for this government to control or to stomach. so jordan is in a very very difficult position. we're almost 4 hours since the deadline for the deal expired and really there is only silence, alex. >> i know you're watching it closely. thanks so much. arizona getting ready for the biggest game of the year. how to keep a stadium of more than 70,000 people safe from a highly con stageous disease. that's ahead >> first, tomorrow's super bowl is coming with super sized ads. why the pricey commercials will be twice as long as you're used to seeing. it's up next.

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three big money headlines. party planning, seeing spots, and you bet. regina lewis with a good morning. it's never been higher right? >> it's actually record breaking. and it is big spending alex. $14.3 billion. to put that in perspective, it's about $77 per viewer. and that number goes up to 90 if you factor in the 9.5 million flat screen televisions that are purchased. we know it's the single biggest pizza delivery day, beer. and chicken wings. 1.25 billion. that is 572 wings on every seat in every -- all 32 nfl stadiums. just a crazy amount of food con

such consumption, partying. the discretionary income when is it going to show up? i think it might show up tomorrow. >> you have a good point given those stats. let's talk to seeing spots and how much the anticipated commercials have cost. i know they have sold out. also there's longer ones which is somewhat unique. >> it is very interesting. $4.5 billion for a 30-second spot. if you are a bulk buyer, that number goes down a bit. sales executives saying we wish we had more inventory. they think they could have sold it out. many like the ones that are funny. but to have an emotional connection takes longer. most ads were over 60 seconds last year. that's expected to hold true this year as well. we have the lost puppy from anheuser-busch. >> we have to roll some of that. let's go.

♪ >> it really pulls at your heart strings and takes more than 30 seconds to do that. it doesn't necessarily mean it's effective. the share of anheuser-busch has gone down despite their spending. clearly people are saying how else will you reach 111 million people, four cents per viewer. pretty good return on the investment. >> i'm always impressed how they can tell a whole story in one minute. fantastic. quickly, let's get to you bet. betting. >> $8 billion. only 2% of it legal. people are printing squares online. they're betting at home and in interesting categories.

what color hoodie will belichick wear. will idina mess up the words. >> some people have too much time on their hands. good to see you as always. measles square is becoming a big story in arizona this super bowl weekend. there is a warning to fans planning to go to the game. we have more from glendale. who is being told not to show up? >> it's not a warning from federal health officials. doctors say if you are, for example, not vaccinated and concerned can, you may want to consider thinking twice. anybody who is sick in general shouldn't be traveling. here at the super bowl officials are taking more precautions. they are monitoring any spikes in visits to urgentcare centers just to keep an eye on public health threats. that is standard for any events. it is not specific to this

outbreak. it may take on special importance given what we have been seeing. today thousands of people are arriving in phoenix for the country's most watched game during a closely watched measles outbreak. 1,000 people are being monitored in arizona after they may have been exposed to the virus. with neighboring california reporting 12 new cases in the last couple of days there's concern it could spread. >> i wouldn't take an intpapbt less than a year old. the cdc says people who are sick shouldn't travel. >> much of it goes on the person who has measles. if you do have measles, you should probably stay home. >> one of 14 states seeing measles cases, most linked to disland in southern california. he caught the disease from someone at the theme park. >> to see how weak he was.

i had to be strong for him. i was holding him close to me. on the other side i'm crying. >> you see implications of people getting the vaccine and aren't. and what that looks like. >> if you are immunized and you want to head to phoenix, doctors say game on. alex, we're getting word this morning that the concern over measles now is spreading from coast to coast. in new york apparently a student boarded an amtrak train at penn state, one of the busiest in the country. so new york health officials are keeping an eye on that situation as well. alex. >> yikes to that. thank you very much for the update. more on the measles scare ahead with dr. tphalnatalie aza. mitt romney is out. where does that lead other gop contenders.

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super bowl xlix hours away now. the days leading up to the big game are filled with plenty of super bowl parties. dozens of events are scheduled with celebrities, either set to perform or host them. and our own celebrity, nbc's craig melvin is joining us from glendale, arizona. let's talk about what they've been like. >> oh, alex alex alex. in my younger days this would not have been a big deal. now not getting any sleep. this will catch up with me later today. so last night, as you know the game itself is a bit of a side show. last night we draw the short straw. we went to two. that's all i had in my system. the bud light party at the house of whatever. that's what it's called. that's where we spent time with nickiminaj. models showed me around.

my wife gave me a hall pass for the evening. it was a night to remember. >> the super bowl weekend itself, is it about the game is it about the parties? >> for me it's about the parties. of course. duh. >> grammy nominated niki minaj at bud light's house of whatever. guests had to earn their invitations proving they were up for whatever. >> are you going to wear this all weekend? >> might as well. >> from the rise of the red carpet we are at leather and lace the victoria's secret party. we're going to check it out. seahawks fan, does that make you a seahawks fan. >> john ledge end and his wife christy teegan weren't the only ones having a blast. it is lily aldridge's first

super bowl. aldridge is in the victoria's secret super bowl ad. >> i love the patriots. but the seahawks game blew my mind. >> i think we can all agree that i was the big winner last night. a special thanks to the party organizers who let me get on the ones and twos. the party organizers who let me dance. i should probably formally apologize as well to our viewers as well for dancing on television, alex. two things i learned last night. first of all, nikki minaj, a seahawks fan. the lion share folks who come to phoenix, to any super bowl they don't come for the game. they come for the parties and to celebrate. at last check the cheapest ticket was about $9,000. >> yah.

that's pretty expensive. all i have to say is oh, craig, craig, craig. thank you very much. good job. glad you're having fun well this year's half-time show getting a lot of buzz. katy perry is promising a performance you will not forget. >> i'm probably the only person in super bowl half-time history that will ever bring both a lion and sharks to the show. >> lions and sharks? >> it's going to be wild out there. >> she's so out there. she won't be performing by herself. she will have a surprise female guest in addition to the lion and the sharks. back to the measles concerns. 84 people have the disease across 14 states including arizona. nbc's medical contributor dr. natalie azar is joining me on set. we have been talking about the measles scare and you said you weren't concerned about it spreading. this presents a problem because there are 70,000 people there. >> it does. last week making that comment,

the concern and the idea here is that if you bring the measles illness to areas, the cluster that are unvaccinated, that will present a problem. it is "the perfect storm" really if you think about it. a lot of people congregating in an area. you have a very contagious decease. and you have you know, sporadic groups of people unvaccinated. it is the perfect trifecta to affect a lot of people. i think that our recommendation that people who potentially have been exposed are monitoring 1,000 of potential exposures. it is recommended they stay indoors tore 21 days. a softer recommendation is probably if you're fully unvaccinated, even your children and/or yourself you may want to reconsider going. >> how do the people in arizona be monitored? >> well they are basically asked to stay away from the workplace and stay away from school, to stay at home really. and they're having people local health officials keeping in contact with them and monitoring

their symptoms. >> any concerns of a cause for panic here? or do you think they're just going to go? >> first of all, alex remember the people are coming from all over the country and potentially all over the world in places that have higher vaccination rates than the localities there. pockets of areas in california i think that would be more concerning. if you take most of the attendees, the vaccination rates are high enough it will confer immunity. we say greater than 90% needs to be immune to protect the people not vaccinated. i think we will probably reach those numbers again. these are imported guests to arizona. these are not locals. >> can you do anything to take precautions other than be vaccinated? >> if you're truly, truly concerned about your own risk obviously you stay away from plates where you think there might be exposure.

you can wear a mask. we ask people who have been exposed wear masks. a mask prevent respiratory droplets from getting in your mouth. hand washing, sanitizeing and all the things we have been reiterating for a long time now. basic principles. >> we will watch the state. we have a couple weeks of incubation period. we will watch it with your house. thanks so much. mitt romney out of the 2016 picture, the republican field may be more wide open than ever. could it open the door even further for jeb bush? the "washington post" writes it will will now be bush's opportunity to move even more adroitly to consolidate his position. he has shown flashes of readiness as he has moved around. >> but there is another piece to romney's exit. a less crowded feel of gop establishment candidates. leaving chris christie is a

better on spot. casey hunt is traveling with governor christie on a trade mission. casey, my first question to you, with a welcome, did mitt romney jump out of the race or was he pushed? >> it's a combination of the two. remember he put himself into this from the beginning. we were thinking for so long there was no way he was going to run again. he told the "new york times", no, no no. all of a sudden this came out of nowhere at this donor meeting. they took two or three weeks to talk it over with family members. there was a lot of discussion in the hall ways. they were trying to take the temperature of the operatives, the donors and people who have have to come up in the romney campaign. i definitely found there was sort of a lack of enthusiasm for doing this again. that's not to say there was a lack of enthusiasm for romney himself because he commands a lot of respect from all of those corners.

but there was a sense that he was ready to jump aboard with a lot of other people i think that hemmed to contribute with this decision romney made. >> he really wants to be president of the united states. how tough a day do you think he's having today? >> i do think it's a tough day for him. i also think having talked with people who are close to him, this allows him to retape the role of kind of party elder. he's very popular. this will allow him to continue to do what he did in the 2014 campaign. he will be able to campaign on behalf of republicans. one source pointed out during the last cycle, republicans didn't have a popular ex-president to rely on like they did with clinton. the closest thing they have that is mitt romney. he relishes that role. they are sitting down and trying to figure out, okay what does that look like. >> i know you're following chris christie. he had dinner with mitt romney last night.

where does chris christie fit into all of this? >> that dinner was long planned, alex. don't read too much whether that is an endorsement. for people i talked to they seem to emphasize he will play this party elder role. tip is unlikely to endorse in the nomination fight. but i think for christy it opens up a long way. we talked about how jeb bush/mitt romney battle would affect the party and crowd christie out if you will. all the donors definitely with mitt have gone to jeb bush. some are still on the fence. christy's finance chairman has already been making calls to all of those people. and i think this gives christie a little bit more time to run should he decide to get into the race. >> i think you will agree if jeb bush is the gop nominee, it would be easy to see the extent to which romney campaigns for him given what he was saying in that conference call and what is a strained relationship right

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♪ ♪ good morning, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt". it is 5:45 in glendale arizona. there is a 70% chance of rain today but zero percent tomorrow for the super bowl. on the nfl ticket exchange website, the cheapest ticket is going for $9,100. the highest price, an astounding $68,888 apiece. if you buy a pair of available tickets, you have to pony up a peer $137,776. watch the big game tomorrow at 6:30 eastern on nbc.

a counteroffer they can't refuse. today jordan is threatening to execute death row inmates affiliated with isis if the terror group does not follow through on the negotiations to trade two hostages for a would-be suicide bomber. foreign editor for the bale beast. what are you hearing about the likelihood that the hostages are even alive? >> well i think there's ream questions about whether the jordanian pilot is alive. he was downed. he was injured. he was roughed up by the people who picked him up who were with isis. we don't know what happened to him after that. he did one video a few days after that. but from their point of view he's a prisoner of war and a war criminal in isis terms. we haven't seen any proof of life for weeks now. so i think the chances are

substantial that he could be dead. >> do you think all of this sets a newive for isis to take hostages, or did they have all the incentive they needed which is to instill fear? >> alex, i think they did have all the incentive they needed and instilling fear is part of it. humiliating the people trying to get the hostages release sd a big part of it too. that's the political game of isis. that is the game they are playing with the pilot. they want to humiliate kim abdullah any way they can. the "washington post" cites five sources saying hezbollah chief back in syria in 2008 he's been accused of masterminding many terror attacks, including the two 1983 bombings and the marine barracks in beirut. can you give us perspective on

how important he was? >> well he was iran's point man for hezbollah particularly in the 1980s but even afterwards. there's questions whether he might have been involved in the bombing of the jewish center and the israeli embassy in buenos aries. he was also involved with the kidnap torture to death of cia station chief in beirut. many people in the agency not only would be happy to see him dead but happy to do whatever they could to help him get killed. reading the "washington post" report it sound like they were looking for a legal loophole to allow them to do that. while it would be the israelis that actually detonated the bomb. >> yesterday isis launched an assault on the iraqi city of

kirkuk. a kurdish general was killed. isis briefly held an empty hotel. now a major oil hub and the site of the u.s. consulate, as you know. what does that tell you? isis is still making such high-profile offensives? >> well isis is a very serious armed force. they have soldiers who are committed to fighting and fight well. they are extremely well armed. we have never seen a terrorist operation and even very few guerrilla operations that are as well armed as isis is now and as well funded. so they can keep throwing troops, keep throwing guerrillas at various targets. as usual they are deciding what to hit when. they seem to have lost kobani, a town they have taken half of near the syrian border. they lost that to the kurds. so the next thing they do is

attack kirkuk. it is condition tested territory between sunni muslims, iraqi sunni muslims and iraqi kurds. they take advantage not only of the military possibilities but the political ones. >> i'm curious about the fascinating story out of paris that kaoul bali was wearing a go pro. did you hear anything about this? >> i don't know that to be true frankly. i've seen the reports. but i haven't seen the video. and i think we'll have to wait and see. it sound exactly the thing he would do given what we know about his ego and his operations operations. >> many thanks as always, my friend. appreciate it. a published reports makes a surprising discovery next.

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while 12% of police officers are black, the same as the u.s. population, a third are found in 10 cities in the country. one in five black police officers works in three cities. new york chicago, or washington, d.c. she covered the aftermath of the michael brown shoot anything ferguson. three months you spent there last summer. you certainly know that story well. and you wrote about the police departments and the efforts to diversity and recruit and train the police officers. >> i think the success is in the numbers. these officers and departments are struggling to recruit diverse people. kids are watching michael browns

and people like trayvon martin. what is happening on your street. on your black. and really in some way they're failing. that's community activists. i think everyone agrees the situation needs to be changed. >> you and i spoke about the situation in ferguson. 4 in 53 police officers are black, which does not reflect the breakdown of the community. but they promised change so what are they doing in the community? >> i'm seeing change and movements to change. i know ferguson always said they're trying to diversify, especially after the wake of the michael brown shooting. but they're going to look at their recruiting tactic.

u st. louis county is saying we're trying to redouble our efforts. and that's happening across the country. we're seeing soul searching. i talked to the diversity recruiter for st. louis county who said he just hired four new black police officers. they're using the story of ferguson to say if you think you're disturbed by this come join us and help us in this fight. let's look at the widest gaps stat wise. detroit has 82% of the population being black. 51% of the police force is black. buffalo, 37%. 5% in the same stats. cleveland, 52% and 25%. at what point do you think they'll be able to achieve this goal of reflecting diversity. how high a task is that? >> it's a high task. mainly because the country is changing so much. we're talking about black residents and police officers. you have to think about asians as a really fast growing population.

hispanics are growing really really quickly. police departments don't change as quickly. you have people sitting the there for 30 years. close to 30 years. . you have to think they have to hire recruit and train these people. it's going to take a really long time, i think, based on my interviews. i think there is a soul searching going on. i think everyone not just people and residents but police departments. >> it's a great article in usa today. thank you so much. great to see you. that's a wrap of this hour's "weekends with alex witt." straight ahead, more political talk o n "up" with steve kornacki. you'll need the right it infrastructure. from a partner who knows how # # # # # # # # ise more agile, borderless and secure. hp helps business move on all the possibilities of today. and stay ready for everything that is still to come.

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