Treatment Centers and Studies are Showing the Week After Super Bowl is the Biggest for Alcohol Treatment
The Super Bowl is a huge event. Even people who do not normally watch football do on this day. If they are not watching the game, they are still there for the party. Treatment centers are now saying that the week after Super Bowl is the biggest for alcohol treatment. They claim the Super Bowl is right up there with the other major drinking holidays like New Years Eve and July 4th. Addiction counselors and centers are finding the days after the big game are busier than a normal day at work. Even Nielsen data marked the Super Bowl as the 8th largest day for beer sales.
Think about it, during the weeks prior to the Super Bowl what do you see when you enter a grocery store? They market everything you need together in one spot. Chips, dips, pop, pizza, chicken wings, and beer are all located around one another. This is so you can easily grab everything you need and go. They stack cases and cases of beer through the entire store, reminding you to get your alcohol for the big day. Nielsen data showed that almost 52 million cases of beer were sold in the two weeks leading up to Super Bowl XLII in 2008 and that is just beer. These numbers do not reflect how much wine or other types of alcohol were purchased. These numbers make the Super Bowl the eighth largest holiday for beer.
The Assessment Manager for Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare, Phil Berry has studied addiction and helped many people on there path to recovery. Claims that the Super Bowl is a major holiday, just like Christmas, July 4, or New Years Eve. People are with friends and family drinking and having fun just like every other holiday. Phil states, “It’s a sporting event and in the United States alcohol seems to go hand in hand with sporting events.” The big game day itself is not what worries Phil. He claims the days that follow are the days that are a cause for concern.
Phil states, “Clearly the week after the Super Bowl is one of the biggest weeks for us seeing folks coming in with an alcohol issue.” Phil continues, “I would say that we get more calls about drinking after Super Bowl than we do any other holiday during the year like New Year’s, or the Christmas season, or Thanksgiving season.”
Phil rationalizes a theory in his mind, “There’s a promotion in my opinion for alcohol, and for beer in particular, for the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl and during the Super Bowl.”
This is true. You do see a vast amount of commercials for beer prior to and during the Super Bowl. These promotions for alcohol may be too much to handle for those new to recovery or to those not sure if they have a drinking problem. Being that the week after Super Bowl is the biggest for alcohol treatment, please take the time to call us for yourself or a friend.
