Should the Monday after the Super Bowl be a holiday?
After a night of football watching, feasting and celebrating, Americans need a day to recover from the Super Bowl.
That’s according to Heinz, which launched a not-so-serious campaign for Congress to recognize the Monday afterward as a national holiday. In Super Bowl LI, the Atlanta Falcons will face the New England Patriots Feb. 5 in Houston.
“We are trying to rally people around the idea that the day after the big game should really be a day to celebrate,” Nicole Kulwicki, head of Heinz brands, told USA Today Sports. “And in fact it should be a national holiday, which we have lovingly named ‘Smunday.’ ”
Heinz is asking people to sign its “Smunday” petition and created a video to go along with it. The Change.org petition claims more than 16 million people call in sick or don’t show up to work the Monday afterward.
“We eat. We drink. And we be merry, having the tastiest times of our lives. But then the very next day we settle for that Monday being a terrible work day,” it wrote on its Change.org page.
But don’t make plans just yet. So far, about 2,500 people have signed on. The company said it if it gets more than 100,000 signatures, it’ll pass it on to Congress.
This isn’t the first time Americans have tried getting another day of rest after the Super Bowl. Business owners, students and other petitioners have tried unsuccessfully on Change.org to get the day off.
This story was originally published January 25, 2017 at 8:59 PM with the headline "Should the Monday after the Super Bowl be a holiday?."