People treat the super bowl like it's a national holiday. It's a football game. I've heard people complain that they should get the following Monday off work. Hmm. It's not your employer's fault that the game isn't on a Saturday so you can get hammered and not work the next day. If you're having a Super Bowl party, are you essentially saying,"Hey! Let's all get together,
eat super unhealthy food, and get just drunk enough so that we can't go to work tomorrow"? What other sporting event do you literally throw a party just to watch? It's totally over-hyped.
Or is it really over-hyped? Sure, people consider the Super Bowl a sort of "holiday." Because football games happen weekly, they are more events than anything, and the Super Bowl is the ultimate event. The game is fun to get together with friends for a viewing party, indulge in tailgating treats, and watch a hyped game. And it fits a lot of demographics when you consider: (1) the extensive media buildup and festival atmosphere in the
host city, (2) elaborate pregame ceremonies & entertainment, (3) the highly produced commercials that are a blast to watch, and (4) the half-time show, which is the biggest & most extravagant performance of an artist's career. And, of course, the game itself. There's just so much to enjoy.
As a league, the NFL is the most popular and profitable in American sports by a large margin, and as pro football has gained in popularity over the years, the NFL's showcase championship game (aka the Super Bowl) has become exponentially more popular. Unlike professional baseball, basketball, and hockey, the football championship comes down not to the best of seven games but to one single
game. Tremendous attention is placed on this one game.
That being said, the Super Bowl is the single largest American sporting event (and possibly cultural event) with a consistently and continually growing largest American television audience. Since the mid-70s, the Super Bowl has garnered exceptional ratings. The Super Bowl is one of the highest rated television events in America and in the world, and it routinely draws between 80 and 90 million viewers.
Even people who don't typically follow football will watch the event. The game amasses about half of America's population who will tune it at some point during the broadcast. About one-third of Americans will watch the whole event. Think about that: one-third of Americans don't collectively do anything else except perhaps pay taxes. Worldwide, nearly a billion more people across the world will watch the Super Bowl.
Due to that substantial live audience, the Super Bowl is one of the view 'appointment' events left. Appointment TV has been in existence since the early days of television, when Americans would tune in to watch one of a few weekly TV shows on the air. Presently, virtually all other forms of entertainment let you watch at your leisure. As a result, commercials can be skipped altogether. But not with the Super Bowl. Network broadcasting the game can demand top dollar for the
commercials, and those advertisers, in turn, try to make the individual commercials as memorable as possible. The advertisements are also expensive with an increase in production value.
The halftime show has had its share of unforgettable moments, sometimes more remarkable than the game itself, but it took an evolution to get there. The first Super Bowl took place on January 15th, 1967, with a halftime show featuring the Three Stooges with The University of Arizona and Grambling State marching band. The 70s and 80s halftime shows were disappointing as well, which the first
couple of years of the 90s followed suit.
Then in 1993, Michael Jackson had his iconic performance, which reinvented the halftime show. He helped create the over the top, pyrotechnics spectacular that we know today. After 1993, every performer who has followed has tried to top it (which Lady Gaga did in 2017 as the most-watched television event in history).
The halftime show is a draw for even those who aren't interested in the football game itself, and it in itself has evolved over the decades as an iconic cultural moment. We can see where America is as a country through these shows, and just like America has changed, so have these halftime shows.
Basically the season finale of the most 'macho' American game, Americans love to cheer 'ultra macho-ness' that encompasses the Super Bowl. And nothing embodies more 'macho-ness' (ahem, not alpha-ness) as a game that requires a dictionary to understand the terms and makes no sense for outsiders whatsoever. Players wear body armor and helmets due to risking life and limb. The football field is
like a real battlefield, with strategies and code names. And it's all live on television.
The Super Bowl is a big deal because it's the biggest collective cultural event of the year by a wide margin. Being the last taste that viewers get before the seven months of no professional football, fans tune in to see the best (usually) teams go at each other to be the world's champions. Notably, fans whose teams made the big game typically gather around and throw huge parties.
The Super Bowl is 'The Game of the Year', and if you are into football, it's quite the party day! This year is quite a different event with a team (Bengals) that hasn’t ever won a Super Bowl (the last time they appeared was 1989) and a team (Rams) that is seeking their first Super Bowl win while playing in a new city. And the halftime lineup are hip-hop heavyweights, led by Dr. Dre. Do you enjoy the hype? And do you watch the game -- the halftime show?
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