Should The Day After The Super Bowl Be A Holiday? Here's What Benzinga Readers Said And What History Shows

The Super Bowl is the most watched television event annually, with over 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 kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET today. The game will air on CBS and Nickelodeon and stream on Paramount+, which are all units of Paramount Inc PARAPARAA.

There have been 57 Super Bowls in the history of the National Football League, and they have all been played on Sunday.

Last year's game was watched by more than 110 million people and was the third-most watched television event in American history.

Benzinga recently polled its users to see if the day after Super Bowl should be a holiday.

On Twitter, Benzinga followers answered the following:

Yes: 57.9%

No: 42.1%

On LinkedIn, Benzinga followers answered the following:

Yes: 66%

No: 34%

Each survey saw the majority of respondents say the day after the Super Bowl should be a holiday.

Related Link: Super Bowl Commercials Preview: Celebrities, Movie Trailers And The Taylor Swift Effect

Why It's Important: A 2023 survey from the Workforce Institute said 18.1 million employees were expected to miss work the day after last year’s Super Bowl.

Furthermore, workforce productivity is expected to drop by more than $5 billion in the week of and the day after the Super Bowl, according to a study from Sportsbook Review.

There have been petitions over the years to move the Super Bowl to a Saturday. More than two dozen petitions have been made on Change.org since 2017, according to USA Today. One recent petition to move the game to Saturday generated over 144,000 signatures.  

One proposal also suggested that Presidents’ Day, which is a federal holiday, should come 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 just from an audience standpoint. The audiences on Sunday night are so much larger," Goodell said in 2018. "Fans want to have the best opportunity to be able to see the game and we want to give that to them, so Sunday night is a better night."

Certain schools have opted to cancel classes the day following the Super Bowl if their state’s NFL team is competing in the championship game.

This year, ice cream company Drumstick is hosting 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 NSRGY, will air its first ever Super Bowl commercial this year.

The latest survey from the Workforce Institute estimates that 16.1 million U.S. employees will miss work tomorrow.

To make the day after the Super Bowl a holiday, Congress would have to propose a bill, approve it and have the president sign the bill.

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