The Super Bowl – The Newest American National Holiday!

By Steve Shaner

The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and it culminates a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. What began as a relatively modest sporting event quickly grew in scale and popularity as professional football became the most watched sport in the country.

Super Bowl I was played on January 15, 1967, following the 1966 NFL and AFL regular seasons. At the time, professional football in the United States was divided between two competing leagues: the established National Football League (NFL) and the newer American Football League (AFL). Intense competition for players, television contracts, and fan support led to rising costs and instability, prompting merger negotiations between the leagues.

As part of the merger agreement announced in 1966, the champions of each league agreed to meet annually in a championship game originally known as the AFL–NFL World Championship Game. This arrangement continued until the merger was fully implemented in 1970. After the merger, the two leagues were reorganized into conferences—the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). From that point forward, the Super Bowl became the championship game played between the winners of these two conferences, solidifying its role as the definitive title game of professional American football.

Over time, the Super Bowl evolved far beyond a championship game into a major cultural event. It became a shared national experience, drawing tens of millions of viewers each year from across the United States and around the world. Families and friends gather for Super Bowl parties, combining the game with food, socializing, and tradition. Even individuals who do not regularly follow football often participate, underscoring the event’s broad cultural reach.

The significance of the Super Bowl is also reflected in its influence on entertainment and advertising. The halftime show has featured some of the most prominent musicians in popular culture, transforming the intermission into a highly anticipated performance watched by a global audience. Likewise, Super Bowl commercials have become cultural moments in their own right, with companies investing millions of dollars to debut creative, humorous, or emotionally resonant advertisements during the broadcast. In fact, many non-football fans will tell you they watch the Super Bowl just for the commercials.

The day on which the Super Bowl is played is widely referred to as “Super Bowl Sunday,” and while it is not an official federal holiday, it is often described informally as an unofficial American national holiday. This perception stems from the event’s cultural reach and the way it shapes social behavior across the country. Many Americans plan gatherings, parties, and travel around the game, and some workplaces and schools experience reduced productivity or attendance the following day. In recent years, there have even been public discussions and proposals suggesting that the Monday after the Super Bowl should be recognized as a holiday due to its cultural impact.

Super Bowl Sunday is also notable for its extraordinary level of food consumption. It is commonly cited as the second-largest day for food consumption in the United States, trailing only Thanksgiving Day. Traditional Super Bowl foods—such as chicken wings, pizza, chips, dips, and beer—have become closely associated with the event. Grocery stores, restaurants, and food delivery services routinely see dramatic increases in sales leading up to and during the game, reinforcing the Super Bowl’s role as both a sporting and culinary tradition.

In terms of media impact, the Super Bowl has frequently been the most-watched American television broadcast of the year. Its audience regularly includes tens of millions of viewers, often surpassing all other sporting events, award shows, and scripted television programs. This massive viewership makes the Super Bowl a cornerstone of American broadcast television and a premier platform for advertisers, entertainers, and cultural messaging. Together, these factors underscore how the Super Bowl functions not just as a football game, but as a defining annual event in American popular culture.

Ahhh, the Advertising:

Due to the high cost of investing in advertising on the Super Bowl, companies regularly develop their most expensive advertisements for this broadcast. As a result, watching and discussing the broadcast’s commercials has become a significant aspect of the event. Because of its high viewership, commercial airtime during the Super Bowl broadcast is the most expensive of the year.

What was the Cost of the first Super Bowl commercial:

At the first Super Bowl in 1967, a **30-second television advertising spot cost approximately $37,500. That was the price networks charged to companies for airtime during Super Bowl I’s broadcast. – the cost of the first Super Bowl commercial is a well-documented part of how the game’s relationship with advertising has evolved:

• Adjusted for inflation, that amount would be significantly higher in today’s dollars (often reported in the low-to-mid $300,000 range), but even so, it is tiny compared with modern Super Bowl ad rates.
• For reference, in recent years the cost for a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl has climbed into the multi-million-dollar range — rising to around $7 million by Super Bowl LVIII and even higher in 2025

The relatively modest cost in 1967 reflects several factors: the NFL and broadcasting partners were just beginning to build the Super Bowl’s audience and prestige, national television advertising markets were smaller overall, and the game had not yet become the cultural spectacle it is today. As viewership increased dramatically over the decades, advertisers were willing to pay ever-higher prices to reach the game’s huge prime-time audience — making Super Bowl ad slots among the most valuable advertising real estate in the world.

Here are three memorable early Super Bowl commercials and an explanation of how they helped shape modern advertising strategies, especially the way brands approach the Super Bowl today.

One of the earliest standout advertisers was Budweiser, which began airing Super Bowl commercials in the late 1960s and 1970s. Their ads often focused on simple, patriotic imagery and relatable humor rather than hard selling. Over time, Budweiser’s consistent presence helped establish the idea that Super Bowl advertising was about brand identity and emotional connection, not just product features. This long-term storytelling approach encouraged advertisers to view the Super Bowl as a branding investment rather than a one-off sales pitch.

Another influential early example came from Coca-Cola, particularly its 1979 Super Bowl ad featuring the slogan “Have a Coke and a Smile.” Instead of highlighting price or product specifications, Coca-Cola emphasized happiness, togetherness, and shared experience. This reinforced the strategy of using emotion-driven narratives during the Super Bowl, helping brands associate themselves with positive cultural moments rather than direct transactions.

Perhaps the most historically influential Super Bowl commercial—often considered the turning point—was Apple’s “1984” ad, which aired during Super Bowl XVIII in January 1984. While slightly later than the earliest Super Bowls, it fundamentally changed advertising strategy. The commercial was cinematic, symbolic, and dramatic, barely showing the product itself. Its success demonstrated that Super Bowl ads could be events in their own right, generating conversation long after the game ended. This shifted advertising strategies toward high-concept storytelling, teaser campaigns, and ads designed for post-game discussion and media coverage.

Collectively, these early commercials influenced modern Super Bowl advertising by establishing several key strategies: prioritizing emotional storytelling over direct selling, creating ads that stand alone as entertainment, and viewing the Super Bowl as a cultural platform rather than just a broadcast slot. These principles remain central to Super Bowl advertising today, where commercials are often anticipated as much as the game itself.

For Super Bowl 60 (also called Super Bowl LX, played February 8, 2026), the cost of advertising during the game remains extremely high:

• Networks are charging about $8 million for a 30-second commercial spot during the live broadcast of Super Bowl 60.
• Earlier in the sales cycle, some slots were offered around $7 million, with the price rising due to strong demand and limited inventory.

This places Super Bowl 60 advertising into the same premium bracket as recent years, where tens of millions of viewers tune in and advertisers compete not just for airtime, but for cultural impact.

As of the first 59 Super Bowls, the most-watched Super Bowl — and the biggest U.S. television audience ever for any broadcast was: Super Bowl LIX (2025) when the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs with a score of 40–22.

• Average audience: approximately 127.7 million viewers across TV and streaming platforms.
• Peak audience: reached around 137.7 million viewers in the second quarter.

That made Super Bowl LIX the most-watched Super Bowl in history at the time, surpassing previous records.

Context on recent TV audience records

• The previous year’s Super Bowl — Super Bowl LVIII (2024) — set an all-time U.S. television broadcast record with about 123.7 million average viewers across multiple networks and streaming platforms.
• These viewership figures generally include audiences on broadcast TV, Spanish language channels (like Univision/Fox Deportes), youth broadcasts (like Nickelodeon), and streaming services.

Why this is significant

Super Bowls regularly top the charts as the most-watched U.S. television events of the year, reflecting the cultural importance of the game and its ability to draw massive live audiences even in an age of fragmented media consumption.

Ultimately, the Super Bowl represents more than athletic excellence. It reflects key aspects of American culture, including competition, spectacle, marketing, and communal celebration. Its ability to unite diverse audiences around a single event highlights its enduring importance in the cultural and social fabric of the United States.

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P.S. The Super Bowl certainly is among the most watched sporting events in the world, mostly due to North American audiences. BUT, the annual NFL’s Super Bowl audience is second to association football (soccer) UEFA Champions League final as the most watched annual sporting event worldwide.