Sport

Super Bowl vs Grand National: Two Sporting Giants Collide But Which Event Comes Out On Top?

4 hours ago

| BY Michael Kaplan

Come the 9th April 2026, horses will be up and running in the 2026 Grand National series of races – gearing up for the biggest race of all on Saturday 11th April 2026.

It is one of the world’s most important and prestigious horse racing events, with 21 races that culminate with the signature Grand National.

Exciting as the races promise to be, a side event will unfold off the turf: the number of viewers who tune in and whether or not the Grand National’s viewership will top that of the Super Bowl as it did last year.

When you bet on the Grand National via William Hill, you will be part of the massive wagering that the race generates each year. In 2025, there was a total prize fund of £1 million and the handle reached a stunning £250 million.

This year, even more could be at stake among the punters. Watch the Grand National on TV and you will contribute to one of the most viewed sporting events in the world.

HORSE RACE AND FOOTBALL POPULARITY CONTEST

For sheer numbers, the gridiron championship finishes second to the race that takes place at Aintree Racecourse, ranks as nothing less than historic and has world-class horses thundering four miles and 514 yards.

While covering that distance, the runners will negotiate 30 jumps and their jockeys will be responsible for making sure that they are manoeuvered perfectly.

No wonder then that, globally, the Grand National’s viewers total a fantastic 600 million. The Super Bowl, on the other hand, has a relatively paltry 200 million viewers worldwide. It might be the most watched sporting event in America, with 127 million fans tuning in, but, on a global scale, football gets crushed by the turf-loving competition.

Yes, when it comes to snagging eyeballs, the great Grand National wins by more than merely a nose.

AND THEY’RE OFF!

Regarded as the top British horse race, the Grand National hit the ground running in 1839 at the Aintree Racecourse, which is situated near Liverpool. Depending on who you believe, the initial races at Aintree may be the first iterations of what we consider to be modern horse racing.

Handicapping of horses began at Aintree in 1843 and the first race to be called the Grand National took place in 1847. By the end of the 19th century, the Grand National was well enough known that it crossed over into popular culture and served as the centerpiece of a thriller written by novelist Henry Hawley Smart.

Over the years, there were some unusual occurrences. They include what went down (literally) during the 1928 Grand National. Due to heavy mist, there was a series of thoroughbred pileups that resulted in only one horse, Tipperary Tim, remaining on its hooves and completing the race. Winner by default!

In 1956, a horse called Devon Loch, which was owned by Queen Elizabeth, bellyflopped for no clear reason while in the home stretch and lost the race after seeming like a shoo-in for the roses. The Queen Mother took it well, commenting, “Oh, well. That’s racing.”

More recently, in 2021, Rachael Blackmore made history as the first female jockey to take the win in a Grand National.

When the race runs this April, no doubt there will be mega thrills, much money to be won and the making of fresh history as viewership likely trots toward the one-billion mark.

GOING FOR EXTRA POINTS…

The Super Bowl has a much shallower history than the Grand National. The first one kicked off in 1966 as part of a meshing of the NFL and AFL (now it’s all NFL with different divisions known as the AFC and the NFC).

While the Super Bowl is a great name, the original was anything but great. Calling the big showdown the AFL-NFL World Championship was a mouthful. The grabbier Super Bowl name debuted in 1969.

The first two Super Bowls (back when the game was still known as the AFL-NFL World Championship) were dominated by the Green Bay Packers. That changed when the New York Jets upset the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in the third Championship game.

Maybe the Jets were inspired by swaggering quarterback Joe Namath making his famous “guarantee.” It was a vow that, against all odds, the Jets would come through and win. True to form, they did exactly what Namath promised.

Good as the games are, over the years Super Bowls became famous for half-time entertainment and big budget commercials that can be as entertaining as mini movies. Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga and the Rolling Stones have all put on mid-point shows that sometimes rival the games themselves for being compelling to watch.

And everybody likes to have a little something on the game. Nobody knows that better than the bookies in Las Vegas where, this year, wagering on the Super Bowl totaled $133.8 million. That’s pretty good for Sin City, but the really smart Super Bowl money gets wagered on William Hill where there are enough prop bets and competitive odds to keep everybody wagering exactly as they want to.

*Odds subject to change – prices accurate at the time of writing*