Why is the Superbowl always played the first Sunday in February?
You don’t have to be a NFL super fan to know that the Super Bowl is scheduled for the first Sunday of February. I know that statement to be true because I’m not even a casual fan of the NFL and I am aware that the National Football League’s championship game always was scheduled for the first weekend of February.
When is the Super Bowl played?
Oh you think you’re so smart with knowing that, huh? We bet you didn’t know that the NFL event wasn’t always on the last Sunday of February.
It’s true. For the majority of NFL history, up until the turn of the century, football fans could expect the Super Bowl to be scheduled on the last Sunday of January ?
So, why is the now that the Superbowl is played on the first Sunday in February, and what happened to force that change and when did the title game move one week later?
Why is the Super Bowl played on first Sunday in February?
When the 9/11 attacks occurred back on September 11, 2001, America was still reeling from the tragedy that targeted New York City’s Twin Towers and Washington D.C’s Pentagon building.
Due to the nation’s mourning, the NFL decided to pushed the television network’s schedule a week so the Super Bowl game was held in February for the first time in the history of American professional football.
The first Super Bowl in February
On February 3, 2002, the St. Louis Rams and the New England Patriots played in Super Bowl XXXVI in the Louisiana Superdome. The following year saw the 2003 Super Bowl game return to January, but the 2004 game was in February.
And ever since that game after the 9/11 attacks, two decades worth of Super Bowls now, Super Bowl Sunday has been since been scheduled to be played on the first Sunday of February and it’s true for this year’s Super Bowl, too.
So, partly good info, but why did they move it in 2004 and on? Hello, I think you missed half of the answer.
They initially move the Superbowl to February in 2002 due to pushing the season back a week because of the events of September 11, 2001. It worked out well though that year, boosting February ratings sweeps so it was determined it would move to February from then on but 2003 there was still a January 26 commitment for the game so that remained unchanged but after 2002, it was determined that having the bowl in February would boost revenue for the network running the game in an otherwise down month.