Super Bowl Sunday

United States Air Force Super Bowl Party

Super Bowl Sunday is the Sunday, usually the last in January or the first in February, on which the Super Bowl is played.

Festivities

Although not an official holiday, many families and friends gather and celebrate together to watch the game, including those who are not normally football fans.[1]

Stores are often empty during the game, particularly in the regions represented by the two teams playing in the Super Bowl.[2] Water usage drops, with significant rises in use during halftime and after the game as fans go to the bathroom.[3] Although sports bars have been busy on Super Bowl Sunday in the past, it is becoming more common for people to watch the game from home. This is due in part to the increasing size of home televisions in the United States as well as the attempts of budget conscious consumers to save money.[4][5]

NFL executives have called for a three-day weekend in order to allow fans to celebrate the event.[6] Churches sometimes cancel afternoon or evening services on Super Bowl Sunday, hold football-themed charity drives or deliver sermons designed to appeal to male members of the congregation.[7][8][9]

The television network carrying the game (either CBS, Fox, or NBC) will usually devote the entire day's programming schedule to the game, with extended pregame shows, NFL Films retrospectives of the previous season, and special versions of the Sunday morning talk shows in the morning and afternoon hours leading into the game. Competing networks, due to the severe loss of viewers to the Super Bowl festivities, generally resort to low-cost counterprogramming measures such as marathons, reruns, infomercials, and novelty shows like the Puppy Bowl.

Food

Large amounts of food are consumed on Super Bowl Sunday.[10][6] Super Bowl Sunday is the second-largest day of food consumption in the United States after Thanksgiving.[11] Large amounts of alcohol are consumed during the Super Bowl as well, and some police departments have noticed a dramatic increase in drunk driving on Super Bowl Sunday.[12]

Rather than a sit-down dinner, on Super Bowl Sunday food is usually served buffet style. Foods that are traditionally eaten on Super Bowl Sunday include buffalo wings, pizza, chili, potato chips, and dipping sauces.[11][13] Many pizza delivery businesses see their order numbers double as roughly sixty percent of the take out ordered on Super Bowl Sunday is pizza. Roughly 28,000,000 pounds (13,000,000 kg) of chips, 1.25 billion chicken wings, and 8,000,000 pounds (3,600,000 kg) of guacamole are consumed during the Super Bowl.[13][14]

References

  1. ↑ Stellino, Vito (February 6, 2010). "Super Bowl Sunday feels like a holiday". The Florida Times Union. Retrieved February 6, 2011.
  2. ↑ Bollier, Jeff (February 6, 2011). "Oshkosh shuts down for Packers, Super Bowl". The Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin). Retrieved February 6, 2011.
  3. ↑ Calder, Rich (February 9, 2012). "Toilet Bowl XLVI / Flushes tell of Giant triumph". New York Post. Retrieved February 9, 2012.
  4. ↑ Jargon, Julie (February 3, 2011). "Sports Bars Play Super Bowl Defense". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 6, 2011.
  5. ↑ Halls, Sarah (February 5, 2011). "Where to Watch the Super Bowl in Europe". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 6, 2011.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Flint, Joe (February 4, 2011). "NFL has made Super Bowl Sunday into a holiday, is a three-day weekend the next step?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 6, 2011.
  7. ↑ "Some churches cancel Super Bowl Sunday services". The Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas). Associated Press. February 3, 2011. Retrieved February 6, 2011.
  8. ↑ Draper, Electa (February 5, 2011). "Some preachers use Super Bowl to put focus on harm of pornography". Dever Post. Retrieved February 6, 2011.
  9. ↑ Kloosterman, Stephen (February 6, 2011). "Churches see Super Bowl as a time to connect with worshippers". Holland Sentinel (Holland, Michigan). Retrieved February 6, 2011.
  10. ↑ Deford, Frank (January 28, 2009). "Super Bowl Sunday is a holiday". CNN. Retrieved February 6, 2011.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Corwin, Tom (February 5, 2011). "Super Bowl party food need not send diets crashing". The Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Georgia). Retrieved February 6, 2011.
  12. ↑ Zellermayer, J (February 6, 2011). "Super Bowl Sunday drunk driving crackdown". WGN. Associated Press. Retrieved February 6, 2011.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lynott, Jerry (February 1, 2011). "Score super snacks". The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania). Retrieved February 6, 2011.
  14. ↑ Edge, Lisa (February 4, 2011). "Super Bowl Sunday means big business for food industry". WPDE. Retrieved February 6, 2011.