72,000 people sign petition to fix worst part of the Super Bowl

Football fan Frankie Ruggeri has had enough of cutting his annual Super Bowl celebrations short because of school the next day.

So, the 16-year-old made a petition to move the Super Bowl to Saturday — a much more practical day that won’t taint the big game with “Sunday Scaries.” Apparently he’s not alone, because more than 72,000 people and counting have signed in solidarity with him. 

Ruggeri believes that the day change would be beneficial to both viewers and the NFL, claiming that a Saturday Super Bowl would bring in more money, more views and more people buying tickets to see the actual game. 

A Workforce Institute survey from 2019 found that more than 17 million U.S. employees planned on skipping work the day after the Super Bowl. There have been previous discussions about making the Monday after the Super Bowl a national holiday — the same survey found that 32 percent of American workers feel this way, the majority of which were ages 18 to 34. 

For the last 52 years, every Super Bowl game has been played on a Sunday. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has heard arguments for years about why the Super Bowl should be moved and answered why he doesn’t agree in a 2018 interview on “The Kyle Brandt Football Experience.”

“That [idea] has been around for a long time, people have talked about that,” Goodell said. “The reason we haven’t done it in the past is simply just from an audience standpoint. 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.”

The Super Bowl has produced nine of the 10 most-watched television events in history, although viewership has dropped recently — mostly due to streaming. Last year a mere 98.2 million people tuned in. 

Although, even though viewership fluctuates, the cost of ad spots during the game has only increased. Last year, CBS charged $5.25 million for a 30-second slot. 

Ruggeri is still hopeful his petition will sway the NFL and Goodell. Neither of his teams — Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams — are in the Super Bowl, but he will still be staying up on a school night and cheering on the San Francisco 49ers. 

More to read:

These Disney princess face masks are delightfully creepy

Even non-gamers will love Amazon’s best-selling gaming chair

You can’t beat this PlayStation 4 bundle deal

Listen to the latest episode of our pop culture podcast, We Should Talk: