Renewing My Super Bowl SATURDAY Charge

As I do each year at this time, with the Super Bowl set for next Sunday in Miami, I renew my efforts to move the Super Bowl to Saturday.

The Super Bowl has arguably evolved into the pinnacle moment on America’s sports calendar. It has become a sports holiday. But like most great traditions, is there a way to make it even better? Indeed there is.

The NFL should to move the Super Bowl to Saturday.

Yes, purists may argue it would be heretical to hold the Super Bowl on any day but Sunday, but it’s hardly unprecedented to alter a sports tradition.

Consider the Super Bowl was once held in January, and not February as it is today. The World Series and NBA Championship were for decades a daytime events that have since been banished to a time-slot somewhere near Letterman so that 10-year-olds can’t watch their heroes. Major League Baseball added wild card teams, giving its playoffs a dimension that creates broader interest. And the NFL just moved its Pro Bowl to the week before the Super Bowl for the first time since its inception.

It is clear that great sports traditions can clearly be altered if there is value in doing so. And in a survey by the American Mustache Institute of its 2,000-plus members, nearly 80 percent said they would support moving the Super Bowl to Saturday.

There are both economic and social reasons supporting such a move.

• Super Bowl would become grander events, providing more social interaction, which often gets left behind in today’s hurried society.
• Party hosts would buy more food and beverages to accommodate grander events, thus benefiting grocery stores and other merchants.
• More non-sports fans would attend these parties, enjoying greater social interaction with their friends, because they would no longer have to work the next day.
• And without work the next day, hosts could relax a bit more, enjoy the game and good company of their guests, feeling less pressure to clean up that night.
• If more non-football fans are watching, the networks gain more overall viewers, translating into their ability to charge more for advertising.
• Restaurants and bars may have a steady flow of business on Sunday nights, but just imagine the immense traffic and revenues from a truly Super Saturday.
• Finally, we must consider the issue of productivity in the workplace. Employers won’t have to deal with employees strolling in late for work because they stayed up late watching the Super Bowl.

Much like holding a playoff for the NCAA Division I college football national championship or bringing back the TV show “ALF,” moving the Super Bowl to Saturday seems like one of those changes that is such an obvious improvement, that you wonder why it’s never been done before.

Join me in petitioning the National Football League to move the Super Bowl to Saturday HERE.

Carry on.

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