If one was to go onto the Papa Johns website they would see no less than five references to Super Bowl XLVIII and the NFL. While on the other hand, Pizza Hut’s website includes a single reference to “The Big Game.”
The reason for businesses using the term “The Big Game” as opposed to the Super Bowl is money. Advertisers such as Papa Johns and Anhesuser-Busch pay an immense amount of money in order to become an official sponsor of the NFL. In doing so, the advertiser buys the rights to game footage, league logo and trademarked phrases such as Super Bowl.
While the cost of becoming an official sponsor varies, Anhesuser-Busch is reportedly paying $1.2 billion over the next five years in order to become the exclusive beer of the NFL.
The NFL had attempted to trade mark the phrase “The Big Game,” but according to the U.S Patent & Trademark Office the phrase already belongs to the XFL.
