MIke Francesa won’t be doing his annual Super Bowl trivia contest unless WFAN can find a sponsor [updated]

For years, Mike Francesa has conducted an a Super Bowl trivia contest in the week leading to the Big Game. It’s one of WFAN’s most treasured promotions and dates back to when Chris Russo patterned with the Sports Pope. But in 2017, Francesa’s last year with WFAN, it appears that there won’t be a contest.

[Update: Bose agreed to sponsor the contest at the last second, so the contest will go on, with one winner receiving a package to attend the Super Bowl.]

Newsday’s Neil Best initially wrote that unless WFAN found a sponsor, Francesa would do his show without this famed promotion, where he asks callers a series of questions that could lead a winner going to the Big Game complete with free travel and tickets.

The questions get harder with each step until the fourth question which is extremely difficult. They usually start with a very easy question and then go up from there. Sometimes the questions  involve audio.

WFAN vice president of programming Mark Chernoff said earlier Monday there were no plans to do the contest at that time:

“As of now, we’re not doing the contest,” he said. “There is a possibility of a sponsorship; if that happens, we will be able to do it.”

If you never had an opportunity to see or hear Mike conduct the contest, here’s are a few examples. First, from 2014 for Super Bowl XLVIII and “Dick from Hartford” started off slow, then gets really excited:

From 2015 and Francesa’s short texture on FS1, Matt from Englewood, NJ wins a trip to Super Bowl XLIX.

When Chris Russo was with Francesa, he would dress up for as “The Marquis” to spruce up the contest. Russo would often revel in wrong answers and show some fake anger at callers who won. Here’s Art who won. Take a look:

Since Russo split from Francesa and went to SiriusXM to host his own show, he’s conducted his own Super Bowl trivia contest and here’s a sequence where Mad Dog went off the deep end when no one could answer one particular question:

Francesa mentioned that the issue wasn’t just a prize, but permission:

“All I would say is that it isn’t about the prize,” Francesa said. “It is about permission. You have to have a ‘pass through’ with an active Super Bowl sponsor. They are still seeking that, but time is running out.”

Fortunately, Bose is an active Super Bowl sponsor, so this partnership works. And it means that one particular favorite of Francesa’s tenure won’t be over just yet.

[Newsday]