Posted on 02/01/2015 5:30:54 AM PST by Kaslin
(I know I normally write about politics, and if you want to read about that I suggest you check out my column from Thursday on the climate change hoax. It’s pretty good and has some good jokes in it.)
I have to start out by saying there isn’t anything wrong with it, but the Super Bowl could be better. Yes, it’s been a rough year for the NFL…in every way except the bottom line. The wallets are full, but the reputation is damaged. That will fade over time, but the biggest day in sports is now almost an afterthought this year.
Do you know anyone who isn’t a fan of the Patriots or the Seahawks who cares about today’s game? The actual game, not the event that involves beer drinking, wing consumption, commercials and the halftime show. Deflate-gate has, and forgive the pun, sucked all the oxygen out of the game itself.
Maybe it’s because the Seahawks won last year and the Patriots have won too many times in recent years, but the game has no excitement or drama attached to it. America knows most of these players, so any “human interest” stories about someone who was an undrafted homeless junkie just a few years ago but is now playing in the Super Bowl are already known.
Since most people who don’t have money on it don’t care about the game itself, but the event, why not move it to Saturday? Having the Super Bowl on Sunday only happens because that’s how it’s always been. It doesn’t have to be.
People have to work on Monday, so they have to choose between having a few beers with friends and staying out late or leaving before it’s over. Who stays at a Super Bowl party after the game is over? If the game is on Saturday, a Super Bowl party is an actual party. The game ends at 10, and everyone can watch the game and even hang out after.
It makes sense from the standpoint of advertisers too. People will watch no matter when the game is, so you won’t lose overall audience. But if one team is up by 27 points halfway through the third quarter, a large percentage of the crowd is heading home because they have to work tomorrow. So who wants to pay $4 million for a 30-second ad in the fourth quarter on the off chance you’ll still have a large enough audience to justify it? A Saturday game ends that.
The fans are happy and the advertisers are happy. Plus, with no rush to get to bed, the ads in the post-game show increase in price.
There’s no Monday hangover and production loss/sick days taken after the game. It’s win-win! The NFL needs some good press; a Saturday “Super Bowl L” next year makes that happen.
I know traditionalists are screaming at their computers right now that “it’s TRADITION!” and angry at the thought. Traditions are great, but the Super Bowl is a game and professional sports are a business.
Super Bowls started out as day games. The first one kicked off at 4:15 Eastern, the second was at 3:05. It wasn’t till Super Bowl XII that the game was played in prime time. Yes, 12 is different from 50, but so what?
Think of the boon to businesses. Bars and restaurants would be packed on Super Bowl Saturday. And offices, construction sites and every other business wouldn’t be packed with unproductive zombies on Monday.
I’ve heard it suggested that the game either be moved to the weekend of Martin Luther King Day or President’s Day, but Sundays still have the feeling of a “school night” even with a Monday off. Saturday just makes more sense than any other option.
I’m not someone who says, “traditions were made to be broken” -- at least not very often. But the Super Bowl is a game, a business. It’s a game and a business that draws more people to it than anything else on TV. In years very few people care about the game itself compared to the event, a Saturday game is the smart play.
I grew up in Detroit, so not only do I not have a dog in this fight, I’ve rarely had a puppy in the playoffs. I like to say that Detroit doesn’t have a professional football team, we only have the Lions. But I do watch the playoffs and I make a point to watch the Super Bowl.
It would be so much more enjoyable to do that on a Saturday night with friends and no one looking at the clock, judging how long they will stay based on the game and the fact that they have to be up early the next day. I don’t think I’m alone in that.
I would love for it to be on Saturday, but reality is that fewer people would watch. There is a reason why Saturday is not a prime TV night.
Don’t watch it.
Superbowl...Saturday?
I’ve been tuned in since SB VII, and think your idea is VERY interesting. At age 50, I can barely stay up till noon, let alone 10pm.
I totally agree with a Saturday Super Bowl. Then the really hardcore football junkies can spend all day Sunday listening to the endless list of programs dedicated to analysis of what they just watched.
Its a game, not a holiday. If it’s like last year’s SB then your done watching half way through the 3rd qtr anyway. That leaves plenty of time to get home and get plenty of beauty sleep for work the next day..
I can fix it — make it on Saturday. People will still watch it; practically everybody makes a weekend of it anyway.
Regards,
This is the only day of the year when even Democrats root for millionaires.
People who obsess over grown men playing a kid's game need to fix something. But it is not the super bowl. It is their priorities.
Then go home and beat your wife.
Packers aren’t playing...I’m not watching.
The whole world isn’t in the eastern time zone game will be over by 7pm on west coast.
Here’s how to fix American football in general. First do away with the pads and helmets. Then, do away with the whole hands thing. For it to be proper football, players may only use their feet, and perhaps head and chest, to control the ball. Ah, the ball itself. Make it round! So that it actually looks like a ball! Then, do away with the goal posts and put a proper goal, with a net in it. Make them play 2 times 45 minutes without interruption and there, fixed!
(Flame suit on)
LOL. Bedankt!
European football: A bunch of guys running around kicking an inflated pig’s bladder.
American football: A bunch of guys standing around LOOKING AT an inflated pig’s bladder.
Stick that in your aebleskeever and smoke it!
Stop with the friggin’ halftime shows and bring back the Marching Bands.
While I agree with you in principle as a fan, I have to mention that this morning my gf asked who was the halftime show today and that is the only thing about the game she is interested in.
I guess the show is mostly for the wives.
Btw, she was not thrilled w the pick of Katy Perry. Are they going for the teen girl market? Luke Bryan or Tim McGraw would have done a much better job of attracting the mature housewife set.
All I remember about last year was it was some goofy looking guy, I think wearing a plastic hair hat.
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