Forget Labor Day, this is a true holiday weekend. It’s the first NFL weekend, and it’s the first truly appealing weekend of college football. How big is it? Take it away Bob Costas:
“It’s not just a sports juggernaut, it’s a cultural juggernaut, and at a time when our tastes are all kind of in niches,” Costas said of NFL football.
“You watch the Emmys and you know these are all great shows, but not all of them are watched by everybody or by a huge percentage of Americans like the Cosby Show or Seinfeld used to be or whatever it might be; whereas, football cuts across everything. At a time when everything is in niches, football brings all the demographics under one net.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself, Mr. Costas. It’s a football holiday and a beer drinking holiday. It begins on Thursday and ends on Sunday.
And Sapporo Beer is my drink of choice for watching both college football and the NFL which kicked off on September 4th. Whether it’s in the iconic silver can, or in bottles of Sapporo Light and Sapporo Dark, the brew complements watching NFL football as much as it complements a night at the sushi bar or a hibachi steakhouse. These are all some of my favorite activities.
As part of the NFL Kickoff 2014 celebration, Josh Elliott anchored NBC’s coverage of a pre-game concert that featured performances by Grammy Award-winning singer, song-writer, producer, and The Voice judge, Pharrell Williams, as well as Seattle-natives and Grammy Award-winning band Soundgarden from a specially constructed stage outside of CenturyLink Field. Elliott also provided live commentary from the stands amongst some of the Seahawks most passionate fans, commonly known as “The 12th Man.”
Celebrate both your college football team and the NFL team you root for with Sapporo. With its refreshing taste, Sapporo Premium will score a touchdown with your friends.
Sapporo, the original Japanese beer and the #1 selling Asian beer in the United States, has three varieties including Sapporo Premium, Sapporo Light and Sapporo Reserve. Each variety is perfectly balanced and will surely be a hit when it is pulled out of the fridge.
Fast forward to September 6th, where two of college football’s most storied programs meet one final time this Saturday in primetime on NBC, as the No. 15 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the University of Michigan Wolverines close the book on another chapter of their iconic rivalry. These two Midwestern powers, who first met in 1887, are #1 and #2 all time in victories. And the greatest college football game of the non-conference slate is this weekend too as Michigan State battle Oregon in a match-up of two top 5 teams.
The return of college football to FOX Sports 1 contributed to the channel’s performance with its four games averaging 542,000 viewers, a +10% increase over the 493,000 viewers that five games averaged in Week 1 of last season. And finally, the first NFL Sunday, with a full slate of action kicks off Sunday. The football holiday of football holidays is here.
Editor’s note: samples were provided by Sapporo.
Paul M. Banks owns and manages The Sports Bank.net, in partnership with Fox Sports and Yahoo. Read his feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)