The Super Bowl is the most watched television event each year, with more than 110 million people tuning in to watch the big game last year.
With Super Bowl LVIII on the horizon, here’s a look at the push to move the game to Saturday or make the day after the Super Bowl a national holiday.
What happened: Super Bowl LVIII begins today at 6:30 pm ET. The game will air on CBS and Nickelodeon and stream on Paramount+, all of which are units of Paramount Inc FORTO THE.
There have been 57 Super Bowls in the history of the National Football League and they have all been played on Sundays.
Last year’s game was watched by more than 110 million people and was the third most-watched televised event in American history.
Benzinga recently surveyed his users to see if the day after the Super Bowl should be a public holiday.
ON TwitterBenzinga’s followers responded with the following:
Yes: 57.9%
No: 42.1%
On LinkedIn, Benzinga’s followers responded to the following:
Yes: 66%
No: 34%
Every poll has seen a majority of respondents say that the day after the Super Bowl should be a holiday.
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Because it is important: A 2023 survey by the Workforce Institute says 18.1 million employees were expected to take time off work the day after last year’s Super Bowl.
Additionally, workforce productivity is expected to decline by more than $5 billion in the week and day following the Super Bowl, according to a Sportsbook Review study.
Over the years there have been petitions to move the Super Bowl to Saturday. According to USA Today, more than two dozen petitions have been filed on Change.org since 2017. A recent petition to move the game to Saturday generated more than 144,000 signatures.
One proposal also suggested that Presidents’ Day, which is a federal holiday, fall on the day after the Super Bowl.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been asked about this topic over the years.
“The reason we haven’t done it in the past is simply from an audience standpoint. The Sunday night audience is a lot bigger,” Goodell said in 2018. “The fans want to have the best opportunity to be able to see the game and we want to give it to them, so Sunday night is a better night.”
Some schools have decided to cancel classes the day after the Super Bowl if their state’s NFL team is competing in the championship game.
This year, ice cream company Drumstick started a petition on Change.org to make the day after the Super Bowl a holiday. Drumstick, which is part of a joint venture owned by PAI Partners AND Nestle NSRGYThis year it will air its first Super Bowl commercial.
The latest survey from the Workforce Institute estimates that 16.1 million US employees will not go to work tomorrow.
To make the day after the Super Bowl a holiday, Congress would have to propose a bill, pass it and have the president sign it.
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