Well, it's a foregone conclusion to a lot of people that the Patriots will win, so there is that possibility of interested parties betting against that for a profit if such a thing could be helped along.
And then there's this whole anti-patriotic trend thing going on, so I see where you're going.
Could be a win/win for the NFL if the play their cards right/wrong depending on your perspective.
I don't actually care, because I'm usually cheering for the underdog and I hate the Patriots anyway, with the Rams being the exception, which in my mind isn't actually possible since their recent trend is to play down to their opponents anyway ...