San Francisco Chronicle: “NFL Marketers Want ‘Big Game’ Trademark”:
“One way that advertisers who aren’t NFL sponsors typically attach themselves to the Super Bowl is simply to refer to it as “The Big Game.” As in, “Get your flat-screen TV in time for the Big Game.”
What is a generic term for most people becomes a very specific term in the lamp-blacked eyes of the NFL.
But the Big Game also has a very specific application for Stanford University and UC Berkeley, whose annual football game dates back to 1892. It has been known as the Big Game since 1902, according to San Francisco author Ron Fimrite, who is writing a history of Cal football.”
Also, Canada.com weighs in, attributing the story to us.