Why Did the Super Bowl Move From January to February?

The Super Bowl is all about tradition, with fans gathering in front of big-screen televisions and eating pizza and wings as advertisers spend millions in the hopes of grabbing their attention. For decades, all of this unspooled on a date in January. Then, it was early February. Now it’s a little bit later—in the case of this year’s Super Bowl LIX, on Sunday, February 9. And the date may one day get pushed back even further. So what’s behind all this?

Why Is the Super Bowl the Second Sunday in February?

The NFL had an unbroken streak of January Super Bowl dates from Super Bowl I in 1967 to Super Bowl XXXV in 2001. Later that year, the terrorist attacks on September 11 threw the world into disarray. Games scheduled for that week were postponed, which meant 2002’s Super Bowl XXXVI was played one week later, shifting from the last week in January to the first week in February. Aside from a January game in 2003, the Super Bowl was held on the first Sunday in February going forward.

That schedule shifted a second time in 2021, when the NFL elected to add another regular-season game, bringing the total to 17. Because the season was now 17 weeks, the Super Bowl needed to move to the second Sunday in February to accommodate it.

Why Isn’t the Super Bowl on a Saturday?

Super Bowl dates have fluctuated, but there’s been one constant: It’s played on a Sunday. That’s often been a source of frustration for fans who want to enjoy the game without having to get up early for work the next morning. So why not move it to Saturday?

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell addressed this issue in 2018. Like most decisions, it comes down to money. “The reason we haven't done it in the past is simply just from an audience standpoint,” he said. “The audiences on Sunday night are so much larger. Fans want to have the best opportunity to be able to see the game and we want to give that to them, so Sunday night is a better night.”

But there may still be an opportunity for viewers to get a recovery day. Last year, Goodell expressed enthusiasm for adding another game to the schedule, bringing the total to 18. If that were to happen, the Super Bowl would be pushed back another week and fall on Presidents Day weekend, meaning the game would precede a federal holiday that Monday.

Goodell added that this would likely be a few years off. In the meantime, some institutions are taking it upon themselves to give viewers a break. Three public schools in Camden County, New Jersey, will delay the start of classes by two hours on Monday, February 10 so fans of the Philadelphia Eagles can be well-rested.

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