Moving the Super Bowl to Saturday

[stlstudios189]

Mike and Mike talked about this. Sports are sorta immune to the tv ratings problem, look at game 7 of the NBA finals on a Thursday night ratings were amazing. The Super Bowl would have no problem with ratings on a Saturday. I use to substitute teach and one year during the super bowl I left my cell phone on buzz and missed about 45 calls for jobs the next day The next morning I still recieved a call @ 5:25 for another job because another teacher was sick. I think a Saturday game would be a great idea and the Pro Bowl could be the next day.

[VanCitySportsGuy]

Quote: Originally Posted by stlstudios189

Mike and Mike talked about this. Sports are sorta immune to the tv ratings problem, look at game 7 of the NBA finals on a Thursday night ratings were amazing. The Super Bowl would have no problem with ratings on a Saturday. I use to substitute teach and one year during the super bowl I left my cell phone on buzz and missed about 45 calls for jobs the next day The next morning I still recieved a call @ 5:25 for another job because another teacher was sick. I think a Saturday game would be a great idea and the Pro Bowl could be the next day.

The NBA ratings were great because of:

- It was on a Thursday night (not Friday or Saturday)
- Faced mostly repeats on TV
- It was a Game 7 for the Championship
- The Lakers and Celtics are big market teams with a lot of tradition

While I would like the SB to move to Saturday I don't think the NFL would do it because it is bad for the bottom line. The NFL would lose viewers which equals less money from sponsors. The host city would also lose money by people not sticking around for an extra day/half day. Bars would lose money because the SB Sunday brings in a lot of customers compared to a regular Sunday (Saturday's are busy regardless if there is a SB or not).

[wwharton]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

Isn't that the point though wwharton..to get non-sports fans to watch and (hopefully) convert them to real sports fans. The people who are sports fans will watch it if it's Tuesday at 9am so that market is already locked up.

It is the point, and in that regard we're arguing the same thing. The problem is you're saying more people will watch on a Saturday and I'm just not seeing it. I see the real sports fans that would watch on a Tuesday morning as being the base that watches on Saturday. All of the other people are better suited for the current time slot than a Saturday. There are too many other options for them that don't exist on a Sunday.

Anyone that doesn't watch the whole game on a Sunday bc they have to get up the next day (or whatever other excuse they have) probably wouldn't watch at all on a Saturday. You're saying they'd lose the excuse... I'm saying it's just an excuse, they'd find a better one bc Saturday nights are full of excuses for things to do.

[Buckeyes_Doc]

I would like it on Saturday night. I don't care though if it stays on Sunday or moves to Saturday.

[ODogg]

wwharton - we will have to agree to disagree. I am going by experience with friends and family. But let's face it, work is a big deal. Most people don't do a whole lot on a Saturday go out for a drink or Facebook anyways so that's why I think if there's a big party to go to everyone, even non-fans, would be going to it.

Look at it this way, throw the entire Super Bowl out the window and ask yourself how many of your friends would come to a big party you just randomly invited them to come to on a a Saturday night vs. a Sunday night. Alcohol or no, chances are more people who work on Monday will come out to the Saturday one and stay much longer than will show up for the Sunday one. And those who do come to the Sunday one will leave earlier on a Sunday than they would on a Saturday. That's just logic.

[muggins]

Quote: Originally Posted by wwharton

Anyone that would ditch the 2nd half of the Superbowl (I have no idea who these people are) likely wouldn't watch it at all if on a Saturday.

Doubtful, these are the people that have to wake up for work the next day and have to drive home. They'd be fine if it was on Saturday.

Quote:

Or are the people both Deaduck and I mentioned earlier that would go to a SB party but not watch the game. In either case they aren't helping the NFL.

They certainly watch the commercials, which is the important thing.

Quote:

Any child over the age of 12 watches the game on Sunday if they're into the NFL... if they're not they still aren't watching it. Same thing for mothers of children.

Yeah, I'll chalk this up to different experiences... my friends and I weren't allowed to stay up that late during school.

Quote:

I don't know the professionals argument either. Maybe I'm naive but there are many different types of people here. Anyone have any specific examples of real sports fans that don't watch the SB bc they have to go to work the next day?

About 30% of the parties I go to have to leave at half time because they have to wake up for work the next day.

[bgeno]

Quote: Originally Posted by drae2

There is not a a single major event on a Saturday? Ever heard of The Final Four?

And the Championship game is on a Monday for a reason. If Saturday was the coveted day, they'd play the semi-finals on Thursday. The National Semi-Final games (on Saturday) this past year had a 9.7 and 9.0 rating, respectively, and the National Championship (on Monday) had a 16.0 rating.

Quote: Originally Posted by Shazor4

As a European fan, moving the the Superbowl to Saturday would be brilliant. Superbowl finishes at 4am and getting up for school in the morning is terrible. It might even make the game more popular in Europe because its on a Saturday.

That's actually a valid point. We know the NFL is trying to market overseas, so I can see them at least taking this into account, though I'm not sure the viewers they'd gain in Europe would outnumber the viewers lost in the U.S. who wouldn't watch because of other plans on a Saturday night.

Quote: Originally Posted by stlstudios189

Mike and Mike talked about this. Sports are sorta immune to the tv ratings problem, look at game 7 of the NBA finals on a Thursday night ratings were amazing.

Weeknights are solid TV nights. It's not surprise a game-7 on a weeknight would have great ratings.

[splff3000]

Quote: Originally Posted by Cebby

There's a reason there isn't a single major television show or event on Saturday but a couple dozen on Sunday. TV networks know what they're doing.

I'm with Cebby here. Fri Nights and Saturdays are the worst rated times for TV. Usually if you see a show moved to Fri night, it's about to get canceled. That's also why you don't see shows on Saturday night anymore either. Do you remember Saturday nights in the 80's with the the Golden Girls, Empty Nest, Amen, etc? You don't see shows anymore on network TV on Saturdays because ratings suck. Did yall ever wonder why the NBA finals went from Thursday Night to Sunday, but only skipped one day all the rest of the week? It's because ratings suck on Fri Night and Sat.

Anyway, I think the game should stay on Sunday. I don't think more people would watch the game on a Sat night. I think more people would miss it. All those casual fans that are at home resting for work on Sunday might tune in to see what's going on. They may check out the halftime show or whatever. On sat, they're probably out somewhere and could careless whether they see the game or not. If the Superbowl was moved to Sat, ratings would drop drastically. Not because of the quality of the games or anything, but because more people go out and do stuff on Saturday than on Sunday. People tend to sit at home on Sunday evenings, which is right where you want people to be if you're going to have a Super Bowl