Super Bowl should be played on Saturday (in non-COVID years)

[tower912]

It has turned into an unofficial holiday.    So have it on Saturday.    Lean into the party. 
1.   You don't have to get up on Sunday.   (unless you are a firefighter)    Sleep in.   Carry on with the party after the game is over.
2.   Travel home.     For those fortunate enough to get tickets, they could fly home on Sunday.
3.  Kids can stay up later and watch more, as they don't have to get up for school.   
4.   One day less hype, build up, talking heads, pregame drama.   

Yeah, I get the whole 'tradition' thing.    But college bowl games are no longer done on January 1.   The NCAA tourney keeps expanding.    The Masters was played in November.    Make the Saturday the holiday and the party.    So that Sunday can be a day for recovery and travel.   

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Move it to Presidents Day weekend so at least some people have Monday off.  Isn't this what will probably happen when they start playing the 17 game season?

[HutchwasClutch]

It has turned into an unofficial holiday.    So have it on Saturday.    Lean into the party. 
1.   You don't have to get up on Sunday.   (unless you are a firefighter)    Sleep in.   Carry on with the party after the game is over.
2.   Travel home.     For those fortunate enough to get tickets, they could fly home on Sunday.
3.  Kids can stay up later and watch more, as they don't have to get up for school.   
4.   One day less hype, build up, talking heads, pregame drama.   

Yeah, I get the whole 'tradition' thing.    But college bowl games are no longer done on January 1.   The NCAA tourney keeps expanding.    The Masters was played in November.    Make the Saturday the holiday and the party.    So that Sunday can be a day for recovery and travel.

Agree with everything wholeheartedly 👍

[Skatastrophy]

The super bowl should be orchestrated like the Olympics.

First thing in the morning: Opening Ceremonies
* An Artistic Opening, harkening back to Super Bows of olde
* then the Traditional Opening showing off the culture of the state the game is played in. A kabuki representation of sausage making if we're in Wisconsin
* followed by the Parade of States - At least an hour of marching and waving, instead of athletes make this all fans. Maybe some hover-rounds to get the Bears fans to their holding pen.
* The symbolic "Lighting of the Grill" lets the world know that the Super Bowl has begun

Game Starts at 2pm, because that's when any reasonable person wants to be drinking.

Closing ceremonies
* Presentation of the trophies
* Speeches from the sponsors
* Turkucken eating competition

In bed by 8pm. The perfect day.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

The TV crowd is bigger Sunday than it would be Saturday.

[tower912]

The TV crowd would follow the game.

[GooooMarquette]

I have always thought the Final Four should be Thursday-Saturday. It would follow the basic schedule of the first two weekends...and those do just fine in terms of ratings. A Saturday night final would follow that (presumably lucrative) early-round schedule, and allow for a similar 'recovery' afterwards.

[MU82]

It has turned into an unofficial holiday.    So have it on Saturday.    Lean into the party. 
1.   You don't have to get up on Sunday.   (unless you are a firefighter)    Sleep in.   Carry on with the party after the game is over.
2.   Travel home.     For those fortunate enough to get tickets, they could fly home on Sunday.
3.  Kids can stay up later and watch more, as they don't have to get up for school.   
4.   One day less hype, build up, talking heads, pregame drama.   

Yeah, I get the whole 'tradition' thing.    But college bowl games are no longer done on January 1.   The NCAA tourney keeps expanding.    The Masters was played in November.    Make the Saturday the holiday and the party.    So that Sunday can be a day for recovery and travel.

Sure, this would be fine.

But it's fine on Sunday ... just like National Marquette Day. <ducks>

[StillAWarrior]

When I lived in Guam it was Monday morning. I went to an all boys school, so they gave us the day off. It was great. It started relatively early, so there was no day-long pregame.

It was pretty much the only live tv we had. Pretty much everything else was canned and seven days behind the mainland (so everything was on the correct day but delayed one week).

[Dr. Blackheart]

Sure, this would be fine.

But it's fine on Sunday ... just like National Marquette Day. <ducks>

And the Super Bowl should start at 10am CST too!

[Warriors4ever]

I don’t particularly like football. I hate that it controls our lives.
I don’t care if it gets moved or not, but it certainly doesn’t need to be a bigger deal than it already is.

[DegenerateDish]

It will never move to a Saturday. Ever.

[tower912]

Probably.   But that doesn't mean I am wrong.   

[wadesworld]

I don't know for sure, but there is probably a reason that no championship games in major sports are played on Fridays or Saturdays.  Not the NCAA Tournament, not the CFP Championship, not the Super Bowl.  I don't really think they make game 7 of any championship series on a Friday or Saturday.  Indians Cubs was a Wednesday, Heat Spurs was a Thursday, Warriors Cavs was a Sunday, Lakers Celtics was a Wednesday.  These people aren't complete idiots.  If Friday or Saturday gave them more viewers, every championship would be set up to be  played on those days.  The fact that they seem to intentionally avoid playing those games on those days makes me think viewership would be down.

[PGsHeroes32]

I don't know for sure, but there is probably a reason that no championship games in major sports are played on Fridays or Saturdays.  Not the NCAA Tournament, not the CFP Championship, not the Super Bowl.  I don't really think they make game 7 of any championship series on a Friday or Saturday.  Indians Cubs was a Wednesday, Heat Spurs was a Thursday, Warriors Cavs was a Sunday, Lakers Celtics was a Wednesday.  These people aren't complete idiots.  If Friday or Saturday gave them more viewers, every championship would be set up to be  played on those days.  The fact that they seem to intentionally avoid playing those games on those days makes me think viewership would be down.

They don't.

Baseball is always a Wednesday I believe.

[DegenerateDish]

The amount of sponsorship money that goes into events through Saturday night, the programming the NFL gets out of the entire Super Bowl week, and their television partners would not pay more in future contracts for a Saturday Super Bowl.

The easy fix is to add a bye week and play it President’s Day weekend. NASCAR will have to move Daytona, but oh well.

[Mr. Nielsen]

Probably.   But that doesn't mean I am wrong.

No, it does.

[MU82]

Once upon a time, Saturday was a huge TV watching night.

CBS once had this lineup: All In The Family ... MASH ... Mary Tyler Moore ... Bob Newhart ... Carol Burnett. The best lineup in the history of network TV.

But now, it's a dead night for TV. I don't know how things shifted, but ratings are all about Sunday-Thursday nights now, and especially so during "sweeps" period.

I would not look for the Super Bowl ever to go to Saturday night.

I have always thought the Final Four should be Thursday-Saturday.

Also will not happen. Heck, I'm surprised they don't run it on Sunday and Tuesday nights, rather than having the national semis on a Saturday.

[GooooMarquette]

Once upon a time, Saturday was a huge TV watching night.

CBS once had this lineup: All In The Family ... MASH ... Mary Tyler Moore ... Bob Newhart ... Carol Burnett. The best lineup in the history of network TV.

But now, it's a dead night for TV. I don't know how things shifted, but ratings are all about Sunday-Thursday nights now, and especially so during "sweeps" period.

You assume that the shows follow the ratings. But perhaps the ratings follow the shows.

[Warriors4ever]

I was at Marquette at the same time as that Saturday night lineup, living in Cobeen. We would stay in to watch at least part, if not all, of it, then head to the Gym afterwards. I distinctly remember being crammed into someone’s room laughing so hard at Carol Burnett sketches. Saturday night is a pretty dead night now, it’s true.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I was at Marquette at the same time as that Saturday night lineup, living in Cobeen. We would stay in to watch at least part, if not all, of it, then head to the Gym afterwards. I distinctly remember being crammed into someone’s room laughing so hard at Carol Burnett sketches. Saturday night is a pretty dead night now, it’s true.

Of course TV was a very different thing back then too. Can you imagine college staying in on Saturday to watch a non sporting event on network television?  We wouldn’t have done that in 1986.

[4everwarriors]

I was at Marquette at the same time as that Saturday night lineup, living in Cobeen. We would stay in to watch at least part, if not all, of it, then head to the Gym afterwards. I distinctly remember being crammed into someone’s room laughing so hard at Carol Burnett sketches. Saturday night is a pretty dead night now, it’s true.

Did ya put a sock on da room's door handle, hey?

[ATL MU Warrior]

You assume that the shows follow the ratings. But perhaps the ratings follow the shows.

The ratings are dependent on when the most homes/people are using TV. That is called HUT/PUT level and is one component of the rating. The other is Share or the % of home tuned to each network. Share * HUT/PUT = rating.

HUT/PUT levels are highest on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. That is why the highest rated programs tend to be on those nights.

[GooooMarquette]

The ratings are dependent on when the most homes/people are using TV. That is called HUT/PUT level and is one component of the rating. The other is Share or the % of home tuned to each network. Share * HUT/PUT = rating.

HUT/PUT levels are highest on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. That is why the highest rated programs tend to be on those nights.

Again though, you assume people wouldn't change their behavior to stay home and use the TV on Saturday if the Super Bowl was moved. I think they would.

It's kinda like the once-a-year shift in behavior and viewing habits that occurs on the first Thursday and Friday of the Dance. Tons of people change their habits by scheduling days off (or hiding in their offices doing 'paperwork') just to watch first round games.

And remember when MNF first aired, many expected it to be a flop because 'nobody would watch football on a Monday night.' The major networks were reluctant to try it, so Pete Rozelle even threatened to go to Howard Hughes' sports network. Only then did ABC ( a distant third in the ratings game back then) reluctantly agree to play ball. Needless to say, we learned that the assumption was wrong and Rozelle was right, because a scheduling change drove a huge (and unexpected) change in behavior.

Multiply these effects severalfold for the most popular TV show on earth, and you would see the same shift on Saturdays. Heck - it's even an easier change in habits, since it doesn't involve workday scheduling for most people.

Anyway, I get that many here disagree. But we'll never know for sure unless they try it.

[HutchwasClutch]

Again though, you assume people wouldn't change their behavior to stay home and use the TV on Saturday if the Super Bowl was moved. I think they would.

It's kinda like the once-a-year shift in behavior and viewing habits that occurs on the first Thursday and Friday of the Dance. Tons of people change their habits by scheduling days off (or hiding in their offices doing 'paperwork') just to watch first round games.

And remember when MNF first aired, many expected it to be a flop because 'nobody would watch football on a Monday night.' The major networks were reluctant to try it, so Pete Rozelle even threatened to go to Howard Hughes' sports network. Only then did ABC ( a distant third in the ratings game back then) reluctantly agree to play ball. Needless to say, we learned that the assumption was wrong and Rozelle was right, because a scheduling change drove a huge (and unexpected) change in behavior.

Multiply these effects severalfold for the most popular TV show on earth, and you would see the same shift on Saturdays. Heck - it's even an easier change in habits, since it doesn't involve workday scheduling for most people.

Anyway, I get that many here disagree. But we'll never know for sure unless they try it.

Agree with your takes completely.