The Super Bowl Date

The date for Super Bowl LXII is still listed as "TBA."  It seems like they should know the date of a game that's less than two years away by now, doesn't it?  Well, as it turns out, that's intentional.  Because, according to NFL insiders, the date is contingent on whether the schedule is 17 or 18 games.  And the owners are making a real push to add the 18th game sooner rather than later.  Perhaps as early as 2027, the season that ends with...Super Bowl LXII!

It's not a question of if the NFL will go to 18 games.  It's a question of when.  Everyone knows this, including the players.  Although, even though it's seen as inevitable, the players still need to agree.  And there's no guarantee that they'll do that for the 2027 season.  In fact, the current CBA, which only allows for a maximum of 17 games, doesn't expire until 2031.  So, as much as the owners may push for it, they conceivably can't add the 18th game until then at the earliest.

When the 18th game is added, a second bye week for each team is expected to be a part of the deal.  Which means they'll need to add two extra weeks to the schedule.  Not just one.  And that's where the question of the Super Bowl date comes in.  Because where they insert those two extra weeks affects when the Super Bowl will be.  Either they start a week earlier and end a week later or they push the Super Bowl back two weeks.  To the last Sunday in February.

Since 2002, the NFL has started the season on the Thursday after Labor Day.  The season used to begin on Labor Day Weekend, but the NFL wanted to move away from the holiday weekend and pushed the start of the season back a week.  That moved the Super Bowl from the last week in January to the first week in February, where it remained until the 17th game was added and the Super Bowl was pushed back to the second week in February.

If the NFL wanted to keep Labor Day Weekend open when it goes to the 18-game schedule, that would mean playing the Super Bowl at the end of February.  Or, if they go back to playing on Labor Day Weekend, that would put the Super Bowl on President's Day Weekend.  Which would mean an off day after the Super Bowl for most people, a clear preference for many.

While the NFL has had a two-decade aversion to playing on Labor Day Weekend, that stance may be changing.  And it doesn't really have much to do with fans' preference about when the Super Bowl is.  It has everything to do with the scheduling flexibility it would give them.  Particularly when it comes to Friday night international games.

A key provision of the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which is what grants the NFL its antitrust exemption, is that the league can't play any games on a Friday or Saturday night from the second week in September to the second week in December.  In the last two years, Labor Day was early and there were five Fridays in September, so they were able to schedule a Week 1 Friday night game in Brazil without violating that provision.  And it's because of that provision that the Seahawks will be playing on Wednesday night and the Rams-49ers game from Australia will be on Thursday night/Friday morning.

With the NFL's commitment to playing international games, you'd have to think they'll continue trying to find a way to have a Friday night international game in Week 1.  Which, as we're seeing this season, is something that can be a challenge when they don't start the season until the second weekend in September.  However, playing on Labor Day Weekend would solve that problem.  They could schedule an international game on Friday night in Week 1 every season regardless of when Labor Day is.  More importantly, they wouldn't need to finagle the schedule to make it work (like they do this upcoming season).

Playing the Super Bowl on President's Day Weekend has obvious benefits, too.  It would essentially turn Super Bowl Sunday into the equivalent of Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve in that it precedes a national holiday.  I doubt they'd find anybody who's opposed to that idea.  In fact, Super Bowl LXI is on Valentine's Day--the latest possible date it can be currently.  And, since President's Day is the third Monday in February, the Super Bowl is also on President's Day Weekend this year.  A precursor to a permanent move?

And, let's not forget, February is a very busy month on the sports calendar.  We all know the NFL is going to do whatever it wants and everyone else will have to adjust accordingly.  But it'll be a lot easier to adjust if the Super Bowl is on President's Day Weekend.  The NBA All*Star Game will take the week between the Conference Championships and Super Bowl whenever it is.  The Daytona 500 is traditionally held on President's Day Weekend, though.  But, if the Super Bowl is on President's Day Weekend, Daytona would have to move.  Most likely a week later.

Then there's the Winter Olympics, which might be the one thing that could cause the NFL to pump the brakes on any plans to extend the season throughout the month of February.  NBC, of course, broadcasts the Winter Olympics.  They also broadcast the Super Bowl in Winter Olympic years.  They've broadcast both on the same day twice in a row.  But, you'd have to imagine NBC having some objections to potentially having both the Conference Championship Games and the Super Bowl during the Olympics!  Especially since they don't broadcast either Conference Championship, so they'd be airing the Olympics opposite the NFL!

There's also the very real possibility that the scheduling of the Winter Olympics and Super Bowl would create an impossible overlap for NBC.  The final day of the 2030 Winter Olympics is February 17.  That means the gold medal men's hockey game and Closing Ceremony.  How can they show the Closing Ceremony and Super Bowl pregame at the same time?  And it's not like they can push either of those to NBCSN (although, I'm sure they'd probably just put the Closing Ceremony on USA live, then show it on NBC after the Super Bowl).  When Salt Lake City hosts in 2034, the Closing Ceremony is on February 26, which is the final Sunday in February.  A President's Day Weekend Super Bowl that year would work, but a Super Bowl on the final weekend of February obviously wouldn't.

Does/will the NFL care what the dates of the Winter Olympics are?  No.  But NBC certainly does.  And Sunday Night Football (on NBC) is one of the NFL's most valuable properties.  That relationship is important to both sides.  So, yes, I think the timing of the Winter Olympics would be a consideration.  Because, unlike the Daytona 500 and NBA All*Star Game, the dates of the Winter Olympics won't be adjusted to accommodate the NFL and whenever they decide they want the Super Bowl to be.

Ultimately, I think the talk about having the Super Bowl on the last Sunday of February (although, I guess I should say the fourth Sunday since February 29 could conceivably be on a Sunday) is nothing more than speculation.  When the 18th game is eventually added, I suspect the NFL will move Week 1 to Labor Day Weekend and the Super Bowl to President's Day Weekend.  That's where they can benefit the most on both sides.  You can schedule a Friday night game in Week 1 and people have off from work/school the day after the Super Bowl.  A win/win for everybody.