Should the Monday following a major sporting event be designated as a national holiday? Last year, an estimated 8 million people stated they’d take Monday off after the Super Bowl.
In 2013, a petition on WhiteHouse.gov’s “We the People” section called for a holiday the Monday following the Super Bowl.
According to a survey, nearly half of American sports fans would forego another vacation to attend Super Bowl Sunday.
Super Bowl Sunday is a big deal.
The Monday following a big sport may be depressing, whether or not you had a crew to root for.
Great Bowl events often last through late Sunday night. Also, individuals who went to the game or gathered with friends may be hurrying to get to work on Monday.
Many have made the Monday following the event a national holiday, giving soccer fans a three-day weekend.
That may benefit kids and teenagers who want to watch the sport — and the advertisements, too – even if it means staying up late on a school night.
For this reason, CPS and many other Cincinnati-area school systems cancelled classes the next day.
The Cincinnati-area colleges’ move has rekindled the concept of making the Monday following a major event a nationwide vacation, says Martin Conway, an adjunct professor at Georgetown College’s sport business administration programme.
“While it isn’t an official nationwide holiday, research has concluded that it is one of the least productive days of the year,” he stated.
Last year, an estimated 8 million people stated they’d take the Monday after the Super Bowl off. A Harris Poll for the UKG Workforce Institute found that 16.1 million people could miss work that day, implying many will call in sick.
Coupled with probable Valentine’s Day absences, a nationwide gaffe of as much as $3.5 billion in lost productivity is estimated by Challenger, Grey & Christmas, an outplacement agency.
Even though 4for4 Fantasy Soccer founder and editor Josh Moore submitted a petition for the vacation on WhiteHouse.gov’s “We the People” portion in 2013, it hasn’t gained much traction. But it didn’t get enough signatures to get the Obama administration’s attention.
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Do fans need a break after the Super Bowl?
Some. After all, some would do anything for a paid vacation. In 2014, Budweiser, with the help of Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith, backed a White House petition to declare Opening Day a National Holiday. Why hasn’t the Biden administration kept the “We the People” petition up and running?
A poll conducted two years ago revealed that over half of American sports fans would forego a present work holiday to take time off after Super Bowl Sunday.
More than 40% would rather work Presidents Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, or Columbus Day than the Monday following the Super Bowl.
One in ten said they would like to work Christmas or Thanksgiving.
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Looking for more signs of love for a long Super Bowl weekend? Since 2017, Change.org has garnered over two dozen petitions urging Congress, the president, or the NFL to make the Monday following the Super Bowl a nationwide vacation. Some want Presidents Day relocated to the day after the Super Bowl, while others advise no school the next day.
A petition started in 2018 asks Congress, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, the Virginia General Assembly, and the governor to declare the day after the Super Bowl a national holiday.
“Most people like watching the Super Bowl with family and friends who are far away from you “a petition says. “Most people want to go see them but can’t because they have school and job the next day. So, if we have a nationwide holiday the Monday after the Super Bowl, we can get home and not miss school or work.”
According to the petition, the Cincinnati Bengals “will probably be taking part for the primary time in 30 years,” Jason Marmer, of Loveland, Ohio, wrote in his request for a Tremendous Bowl vacation from Loveland High School. 1 900 signatures aye “I think everyone should be able to see it without worrying about school the next day or not getting enough sleep.”
What would it take to make Super Bowl Monday a holiday?
Congress and the president have established 12 official holidays, including New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Christmas, and most recently, Juneteenth. President Joe Biden signed a bill creating June 19 a federal holiday remembering the symbolic end of slavery in the USA.
These aren’t “national holidays” and only affect government employees and the District of Columbia, according to a Congressional Analysis Service report from July 2021. The article claims that each state will have its approved holidays.
For example, nine states have made Juneteenth a paid state holiday, while some states have laws making federal holidays a paid state holiday. But most states could just observe or acknowledge the holiday.
Making a Huge Bowl Even though the hospitality and leisure businesses would benefit from the holiday, said Rita McGrath, a Columbia Business School professor and business strategy expert. “Getting paid time off vacations is difficult,” she stated.
As an example, Martin Luther King Jr. Day (the third Monday in January) was only declared a federal holiday in 1983, after the late Rep. John Conyers Jr. “introduced it throughout each session of Congress for the better part of 15 years,” McGrath said.
While soccer fans would “obviously welcome paid time off to recover from the celebrations,” she said, “those footing the invoice are likely to be far less thrilled.”
McGrath believes that if professional soccer is deemed holiday-worthy, other sports may follow. It doesn’t make sense because American soccer isn’t even the hottest sport in the globe. “It also lowers the importance of other national holidays that honour significant individuals or events.”
As well as other sports-focused regions on the coasts and in states like Florida and Texas, Conway says there is a lot of interest in the two teams.
“At the moment, for an occasion, or honouring a person, to get to the level of a national holiday, I feel there would have to be more widespread support across the nation,” he stated. “Ask someone, ‘Who was in the Super Bowl last year?’ There aren’t many suitable solutions.”
So, why not move the game to Saturday? Most people would have Sunday off. There’s also a petition.
