Sunday's Big Game: Is it the Game of Love?

PALM DESERT, Calif., Jan. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Ready for some football?  No doubt, the Big Game is one of the year's most anticipated sporting events and a good excuse to get together with fellow fans and friends. While some may have strategic plays and beer and buffalo wings on the mind, others may wonder: Is Game Day also an opportunity for romance? It's Just Lunch, the premier dating service for busy professionals, surveyed more than 1,400 singles to examine the attitudes of men and women and the gridiron pastime.  Looking to score a date this Sunday? The results are in. (Hint: you may want to find other turf.)

• Sports are best enjoyed in numbers, right?  Well, the majority of single men polled (43%) prefer to spend game day in the comfort of their own home in contrast to the 44% of women who prefer to watch the Big Game at a party or special event.
• It's not just enough to be at the right place at the right time. Even if a party is hosting a large number of singles, their eyes tend to be fixed on the big screen instead of each other. 45% of men voted that the highlight of the game was watching the last two teams battle it out for the championship. Women, on the other hand, stated that the most exciting part was socializing, though only 4% would think of striking up a conversation with an attractive stranger. Looking to meet someone at halftime? You might be out of luck. 45% of women are watching the halftime show, whereas 42% of men are out and about talking and mingling—though only 10% are making meeting new singles an objective.  
• For those who are looking for love, both men and women are borrowing a page from the same playbook. Sticking to the theme of the day as a strategy for meeting new people, 36% of women would study the teams prior to the game so they could have something intelligent to say about football.  Meanwhile, 27% of men would opt to approach women who could easily converse about the sport and 17% would offer to teach the clueless a thing or two about football over making the rounds of the room on commercial break or hang around the buffet where there's the most traffic.
• Denver Broncos Rule. One thing that men and women agree on: the winning team.  51% of men and 42% of women heavily favor the Broncos to capture the NFL championship title. The Broncos also scored big in the looks department; an overwhelming majority of  women  (70%) voted that they had the best-looking players out of the two contending teams.  In addition,75% of men and 71% of women naming Peyton Manning as the player with whom they would most like to meet for lunch.
• Among singles, sports are rarely a deal breaker. 60% of men and 45% of women said that a significant other who possessed a passion for football was a desirable trait. When asked if they could date someone who had an allegiance to a rival team, 88% of men and 89% of women expressed a stronger loyalty to their partners than they did to any  team, and only 4% of both groups said that sports were as polarizing as money, politics, and religion.
• When it comes to affection, timing is everything. Both men and women felt as if the most appropriate moment for a kiss was at high-emotion moments of the game—during a touchdown (30%) or at the end (35%) to celebrate a victory or console a loss. Just don't try to steal a kiss during the national anthem or at halftime.
• 53% of men and 55% of women said that if they held tickets to the Big Game, they would invite a significant other as their guest as opposed to a friend or family member—which shows that what may not work for singles could work for couples.

About It's Just Lunch

It's Just Lunch is a specialized dating service for professional singles.  It's Just Lunch's dating specialists save singles from the frustration of having to search through seas of online profiles, or play endless e-mail tag.  The company, which has arranged over a million first dates over the past 22 years, handles everything in a personalized and efficient manner – from finding the right matches to making all the arrangements for lunch, brunch or after-work drinks.  It's Just Lunch was founded in 1991 and has grown to service over 150 cities within the U.S. and internationally, and has many wonderful success stories.  For more information, please visit www.itsjustlunch.com

SOURCE It's Just Lunch