Dan Patrick suggested a major Super Bowl change that football fans have been clamoring for, even though it’s never going to happen.
“Something to think about when it comes to when the Super Bowl is played,” Patrick said during his radio show this week. “If we have two weeks in between conference title games and the Super Bowl, how about we play the Super Bowl on the Saturday instead of the Sunday two weeks after the AFC and NFC title games? Who’s with me?!”
Thoughts on Dan’s idea to move the #SuperBowl from Sunday to Saturday? pic.twitter.com/6gR0xFRSbY
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) January 31, 2024
NFL fans are probably reacting to that pitch the same way kids do when their friend running for student government promises to make no school on Friday if they’re elected. Maybe this should be a rallying cry Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick can run on. Alas, it’s the iconic sports radio host making the pitch. The idea of the Super Bowl on Saturday is great for fans in theory, it’s just not something the NFL or its TV partners want.
“Wouldn’t it be great that you have all of this time?” Patrick continued. “Both teams get plenty of rest. Saturday is the Super Bowl, Sunday you get to recover.”
The NFL ultimately wants the majority of its fans to get a day off to recover after the Super Bowl, but they want to do it by moving the event to the Sunday before Presidents’ Day. Super Bowl Sunday is never going to be Super Bowl Saturday, even though the move would garner near unanimous support from NFL fans.
More people work Saturday than Sunday and more people have scheduled engagements Saturday than Sunday. But most importantly, more people watch TV on Sunday than Saturday and the NFL is not going to sacrifice viewers so its fans can nurse a hangover. How many people truly don’t indulge Sunday night during the Super Bowl because they have work the next day anyway?
Saturday may be unrealistic, but Presidents’ Weekend isn’t. Once the NFL moved to a 17-game schedule, 18 games seem inevitable which would push the Super Bowl back one week, giving fans the benefit of using Presidents’ Day to recover from watching the game. It will take some negotiating with the NFLPA, but the fans, the league, and its TV partners should all be accepting of the move when it happens.
