A great way to overcome this dilemma is to have games, contests, or pools about the game and the results.  Here are the two games I have encountered that makes the actual game fun for everyone, whether they like football or not.

Squares/Grid

One popular game is called Super Bowl Squares.  It is also known as ‘the grid’.  It’s simple, you draw a grid with 10 rows and 10 columns, each representing a digit from 0 to 9.  The rows represent the one’s digit for the AFC team (Steelers) while the columns represent the one’s digit for the NFC team (Packers).  Players put down one dollar to ‘reserve’ one of the 100 spots on the ‘grid’, representing a score, on a first-come, first-serve basis.  If one chooses ’43′ (4th row, 3rd column), they are predicting the final score of the Steelers to end in 4 (14, 24, 34, etc.) while the final score of the Packers ends in 3 (3,13,23, etc.).  The person who picks the right grid wins the pot of 100 dollars.

Here is a good example of the grid: http://www.printofficepools.com/squares/square100ap.htm

Variations of this game include:

Roulette Style: Sell chips for $1 each (each person has their own color/type of chip) and allow them to put them on any square they want.  People can also choose (odd/even), (01-33/34-66/67-99), or (red/black).  End of game score will result in who wins and loses with the pot and winnings being determined by the losses.

Pot split: Instead of giving all the winnings to the winner, you can split the pot in 2 different ways.  First, you can give $25 to the half-time winner and $75 to the final score winner.  Second, you can give $75 to the final score winner and $25 to the reverse selection (43 vs. 34, etc.).  This makes the picks that are the same number a priority (00, 11, 22, etc.).

Super Bowl Props

Another fun game to play is something my dad has organized for years, which is a compilation of Super Bowl Props and Bets.  Everyone pays $5 for a card that has all the props on it.  People then put a check mark to what they think will happen.

Here is the PDF: http://bit.ly/superbowlgame

Whoever gets the most props right, wins!