A Teen Wants To Move The Super Bowl To Saturday So Everyone Isn’t Tired AF And His Petition Already Has Thousands Of Signatures
iStockphoto / DavidPrahl
There has been a VERY slim window in my life where the timing of the Super Bowl wasn’t problematic. That short yet glorious time in life came in the final 2 years of college when I figured out that only masochists schedule early (or any) classes on Monday. Prior to that and in the years since I’ve had no real control over my Monday mornings just like the rest of the world.
The Super Bowl being held on a Sunday is an American tradition. The phrase ‘Super Bowl Sunday’ conjures up a thousand images of chicken wings, chili, pizza, football, Justin Timberlake pulling out titties on national TV, etc.
Does ‘Super Bowl Saturday’ have the same ring to it? Does it even matter? Wouldn’t life be so much easier if The Big Game
was held on Saturday and the entire country had Sunday to nurse hangovers? Wouldn’t it be nicer if kids and teens could stay up to watch the end of the game without sacrificing precious sleep needed for Monday at school?
That’s the rationale that has driven one New York teen to start a petition to have the Super Bowl moved to Saturday. He claims the NFL would earn more money if the game was on Saturday because more people would travel for the game, the NFL already holds Playoffs games on Saturdays, and it would force so many people to sacrifice their health on Monday.
His Change.org petition has already racked up over 18,000 signatures and is well on its way to the goal of 25,000 signatures. He spoke with CNN about this push to move the game to Saturday:
“Why not have a kid say, ‘How about the Super Bowl be on a Saturday?” the high school junior told CNN on Tuesday.
The idea came up a week ago when the upstate New York family was talking about the playoffs over dinner. Frankie said it should be on a Saturday and he followed up by starting a petition on Change.org.
He’s asking people to get behind changing next year’s Super Bowl to a Saturday and people seem to be into it. More than 10,000 people have signed the petition, as of Wednesday evening.
The CNN article is interesting because it provides a historical context of why most NFL games are held on Sundays and we have the United States Congress to thank for that. They passed the ‘Sports Broadcasting Act’ in 1961 which at the time was meant to protect fans of College and High School football by ensuring the professional football broadcasts didn’t push them out of the way:
In 1961, Congress passed the Sports Broadcasting Act. The law helped set the NFL broadcasting schedule for Sundays to protect the fans of college and high school football.
The law barred the broadcasting of professional games played on Fridays and Saturdays during the schools’ seasons. The Super Bowl is well after the school football season, though. (via)
As the article notes, the Super Bowl is held WELL AFTER the college and high school football seasons have ended so this ancient act by congress shouldn’t apply. The game can reasonably be held on Saturday without encroaching on those other sports.
Studies have found that up to 17 million Americans miss work the day after a Super Bowl and there is a 41% in automobile accidents after the Super Bowl. There are countless contributing factors here but I think it’s reasonable to assume that being overly tired (and hungover) plays a large factor in those statistics.
Moving the game to Saturday might change that. Or not. But there’s really no legitimate reason the game shouldn’t be held on Saturday other than the NFL wants to drag out their TV ratings by shoving an extra day’s worth of pre-game hype down our throats. The excuse of “it’s always been that way” is trash.
You can click here to sign the petition over on Change.org and/or click here to read the full article on CNN.
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Cass Anderson, DMT.NEWS
