Super Bowl Sunday

What it is

Super Bowl Sunday takes its name from the Super Bowl, the yearly final that decides the champion of the National Football League, the top professional American football competition. The match is the reason for the day, but the customs around it reach well past sport. Households, bars and workplaces plan the date in advance. People who watch no football during the rest of the season still join in. The day has a shape of its own: hours of pregame coverage, the game itself, and the long evening of reaction that follows it.

Dates and history

The first Super Bowl was played on 15 January 1967. For a long stretch the date shifted about. From 2004, when Super Bowl XXXVIII was held, the game settled on the first Sunday of February, and that held until Super Bowl LV in 2021. Starting with Super Bowl LVI it moved once more, to the second Sunday of the month. Broadcast rights rotate each year among the main American networks, and the network that has the game gives over its whole day to it, with long pregame shows, films looking back at the season just finished, and special editions of its Sunday morning talk programmes.

How the day is kept

Most people watch at home, in groups of family and friends, though sports bars also fill up. Bigger televisions have made the living room the usual choice, and staying in costs less than going out. Shops often stand empty while the match runs, above all in the home regions of the two teams playing. Water use falls during play, then rises sharply at halftime and again once the game ends, as viewers head for the bathroom. Some churches drop their afternoon or evening services, run football-themed charity collections, or shape sermons to speak to the men in the congregation.

Food and drink

Eating is central to the day. Food and alcohol are taken in large amounts, and it ranks second only to Thanksgiving dinner for the volume eaten in the United States. Rather than a seated meal, the spread is laid out buffet style so that guests can help themselves without leaving the screen. Wings, chili, ribs, pizza, dips and chips are the usual things. Pizza delivery firms report around double their normal orders. As of 2011, roughly 28 million pounds of potato chips, 8 million pounds of guacamole and 1.25 billion chicken wings were eaten. Some police departments notice a steep rise in drink-driving.

Today and change

Beyond the match itself, the date has become a shared American occasion that reaches people with little interest in the sport. NFL executives have asked for a three-day weekend so that fans can mark it properly, and the Monday afterwards is widely thought to cost employers in lost productivity. Rival networks, bleeding viewers to the game, fall back on cheap counter-programming such as the Puppy Bowl. Since 2004 the president of the United States has sat down for an interview with the network's news division before the game. Alternative football leagues have often opened their seasons the weekend after.

How Super Bowl Sunday is kept

Family and friends gather, mostly in homes and in sports bars for those who want a crowd, and the group usually includes people who do not follow football. The food is set out buffet style before the game starts. In the hours beforehand the network carries pregame coverage, and since 2004 the president gives an interview to the network's news team. Viewers eat and drink right through, and water use jumps at halftime. After the final whistle many stay for reaction and analysis, and the shops and streets stay quiet until it is done.

When and where

One Sunday each February. From 2004 through 2021 it was the first Sunday of the month, and since Super Bowl LVI it has been the second Sunday. The date follows the NFL's championship schedule, which the league sets, and the whole day is built around that one fixture.

It is an American occasion first of all, and the sources give the United States as the country of origin. The infobox also lists Canada among the places where it is observed, and describes the audience as international. Inside the United States it is felt most sharply in the regions that the two competing teams call home.

What Super Bowl Sunday means

The day gives people who may share little else a single date to sit in one room and eat together. For committed fans it marks the end of the season, the last game that counts. For everyone else it is a party with a score attached. Congregations that reshape their Sunday around it read the same thing: the day holds the attention of the country, and they would rather be part of that than compete with it.

Questions people ask about Super Bowl Sunday

See also

ChristmasA festival of Jesus's birth, kept on 25 December with gifts, lights and shared mealsHalloweenAn annual observance on 31 October marking the eve of All Saints' Day, rooted in Christian tradition and Celtic heritageValentine's DayA Christian feast day and cultural celebration of love kept on February 14 in many countries.HanukkahAn eight-day Jewish festival marking the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the miracle of a single day'

Good reading and sources

• Super Bowl Sunday on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.