One of the biggest American traditions since January 15, 1967, is the Super Bowl. The 2026 Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots averaged 125.6 million viewers across all platforms, with the audience peaking at 137.8 million viewers. On the East Coast, the Super Bowl ends late, and how are students and teachers supposed to get an adequate amount of sleep and actually focus the next day? Should the day after the Super Bowl be a two-hour delay or even off? 

Even if you are not a football fan, many people watch for the halftime performance, commercials, or are at a Super Bowl party.  According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), an estimated 121.1 million people planned to either throw or attend a Super Bowl party. This means that most students and teachers are most likely at a Super Bowl party or, at the very least, are staying up to watch the game. It is a proven fact that when humans are sleep-deprived, they can not function properly. With tired students and teachers still thinking about the big game, how productive is the school day the day after the Super Bowl? It would be beneficial to at the very least give students a two-hour delay the day after the big game. 

When the Cincinnati Bengals faced off against the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI on February 13, 2022, many schools in the Cincinnati area and some other parts of Ohio had off the day after the Super Bowl. Even some schools in the Northern Kentucky area followed suit and had off due to the high number of fans in the region. 

Perhaps this problem is not the schools’, but how the NFL has structured its schedule. Parkland High School assistant head football coach, Coach Facchiano, weighed in on the situation by stating, “To be honest, I think it should be on the NFL to change the schedule of the season. They have added games to these professional athletes’ schedules, have added international travel, but have not added more bye weeks. I think teachers and students should both write to Roger Goodell and the NFL owners and tell them adding one more bye week in the season would put the Super Bowl on President’s Day weekend.” 

Many teachers and students alike would agree that it is an irrational idea for school administrators to reconsider how they approach the day after the Super Bowl. It is undeniable that at least a two-hour delay would not only benefit students and teachers but also increase productivity and learning in the classroom.