---
title: "More than half of Americans look forward to Super Bowl  XLVIII"
description: "A majority of Americans were looking forward to this year’s Super Bowl when asked in early January. "
date: "2014-01-31"
authors:
  - name: "George Gao"
    job_title: "Former "
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/george-gao/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2014/01/31/more-than-half-of-americans-look-forward-to-super-bowl-xlviii/"
---

# More than half of Americans look forward to Super Bowl  XLVIII

Super Bowl fans are heading into New Jersey on Sunday, where the championship game will be played outdoors in a cold-weather city [for the first time](http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nfl&id=10372566). Whether it’s the [TV ads](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304856504579338704254890072), the halftime show or the athletic competition itself, the National Football League plans Sunday to draw a big audience.

A majority (55%) of Americans said they were looking forward to the Super Bowl this year, according to a [Pew Research survey from early January](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/01/07/in-new-year-half-are-looking-forward-to-midterm-elections/). That number is similar to the share of Americans looking forward to the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi (58%) and greater than the number [looking forward to soccer’s World Cup](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2014/01/15/what-to-anticipate-in-2014-many-young-adults-say-soccers-world-cup/) tournament in Brazil this summer (22%).

[![FT_GenderSB131](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2014/01/FT_GenderSB131.png)](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2014/01/FT_GenderSB131.png)

A significantly greater share of men than women said they were looking forward to the Super Bowl (65% vs. 45%), as well as the World Cup (28% vs. 17%). However, no such gender difference existed between those looking forward to the Winter Olympics (55% of men, 60% of women).

Last year’s Super Bowl drew an average TV audience of 108.7 million viewers to CBS and prompted some 26.1 million tweets, [according to Nielsen](http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2013/super-bowl-xlvii-draws-108-7-million-viewers-26-1-tweets.html). While there were more viewers in 2012 and 2011, the number of Super Bowl watchers in general has steadily increased since Super Bowl I in 1967.