superbowl

In professional American football, the Super Bowl is the name of the championship game of the National Football League (NFL) in the United States. The game and its ancillary festivities constitute Super Bowl Sunday which over the years has become a de facto U.S. national holiday.

The first game was played on January 15, 1967 as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game in which the NFL championship team played against the champion of the younger, rival American Football League (AFL) for the "World Championship of Professional Football". After both leagues merged in 1970, the Super Bowl became the NFL's championship game. Since then, the game has been played annually on a Sunday following the playoffs, originally early to mid-January, then late January, and in recent years, the first Sunday in February.

The Super Bowl is one of the most-watched U.S. television broadcasts of the year, attracting many companies to spend millions of dollars on commercials. This has caused the starting time of the game to be pushed back later and later, to ensure the Sunday night prime time audience on the East Coast. The last true day game (which ended before local sunset) of the series was Super Bowl XI in January 1977.

In addition, many popular singers and musicians have performed during the Super Bowl's pre-game and halftime ceremonies. This is the second-largest U.S. food consumption day, following Thanksgiving.^[1]

The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather than the year it was held. The NFL season spreads over two calendar years, so identifying the games by the year of the Super Bowl could cause some confusion. For example, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, winners of Super Bowl XXXVII are the champions of the 2002 NFL season, even though the championship game was played in January 2003.

Origins

The Super Bowl was created as part of the merger agreement between the National Football League (NFL) and its rival, the American Football League (AFL). After its inception in 1920, the NFL fended off several rival leagues before the AFL began play in 1960. The intense competitive war for players and fans led to serious merger talks between the two leagues in 1966, culminating in a merger announcement on June 8, 1966.

One of the conditions of the AFL-NFL Merger was that the winners of each league's championship game would meet in a contest to determine the "world champion of football". According to NFL Films President Steve Sabol, then NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle wanted to call the game "The Big One". ^{citation needed]} During the discussions to iron out the details, AFL founder and Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt had jokingly referred to the proposed interleague championship as the "Super Bowl." Hunt thought of the name after seeing his daughter playing with a toy called a Super Ball. The ball is now on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The name was consistent with postseason college football games which had long been known as "bowl games" (the term originates from the Rose Bowl Game, which was in turn named for the bowl-shaped stadium in which it is played). Hunt only meant his suggested name to be a stopgap until a better one could be found. Not having thought of one, the owners named the contest the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. On May 14, 1968, the site of the third AFL-NFL game was announced, and the new name Super Bowl was officially unveiled. The third game was dubbed Super Bowl III, and the previous two games were retroactively re-christened as Super Bowls I and II.

After the NFL's Green Bay Packers convincingly won the first two Super Bowls, some team owners feared for the future of the merger, since many doubted that AFL teams could compete with their NFL counterparts. That all changed with one of the biggest upsets in American sports history, the AFL's New York Jets defeat of the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in Miami. One year later, the American Football League's Kansas City Chiefs defeated the NFL Minnesota Vikings 23-7 and won Super Bowl IV in New Orleans, the last World Championship game played between the champions of the two leagues.

When the NFL and AFL merged into one combined league for the 1970 season, three NFL teams joined the 10 AFL teams to form the American Football Conference (AFC), and the other 13 teams became the National Football Conference (NFC). Since then, the Super Bowl has featured the champions of the AFC and NFC, which are determined each season by the league's playoff tournament. As of Super Bowl XL, former AFL teams have won 12 Super Bowls, pre-1970 NFL teams have won 26 games, and two games have been won by teams created after 1970.

The NFL commissioner at that time, Pete Rozelle, is often considered the mastermind of both the merger and the Super Bowl. His leadership guided them into the merger agreement and cemented the preeminence of the Super Bowl. The game remains his crowning achievement and was an important factor in him being selected by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century.

The winning team gets the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named for the coach of the Green Bay Packers, who won the first two Super Bowl games. Following his death in September 1970, the trophy was named the Vince Lombardi Trophy, first awarded at Super Bowl V in Miami.

Television coverage

By any measure, the Super Bowl is one of the most watched television programs of the year. The game tends to have high Nielsen television ratings which usually come in around a 40 rating and 60 share (i.e., on average, 40 percent of all U.S. households, and 60 percent of all homes tuned into television during the game). This means that on average, 80 to 90 million Americans are tuned into the Super Bowl at any given moment. It is also estimated that 130-140 million tune into some part of the game. ^[2]

Given the immense popularity of the Super Bowl, it may be surprising to discover that videotapes of the telecasts of the first two Super Bowls are said not to exist. This is especially shocking for Super Bowl I, which was covered by both NBC and CBS. According to Sports Illustrated, the only footage of the first telecast known to exist is a two minute clip of the first game.^{citation needed]} From the early days of television into the 1960s, copies of TV broadcasts were routinely erased, mainly because nobody thought anyone would want to watch the same show they had just seen. (See wiping). Another reason was that videotape in those days was prohibitively expensive. (Merv Griffin once said that a ninety-minute blank tape cost $750. ^{citation needed]}) According to Steve Sabol, both networks taped soap operas over the game tapes, which are presumably lost forever. ^{citation needed]} But the NFL has put out a $1,000,000 bounty on either one of the tapes, and experts say that there is still a chance that one of the network affiliates taped the game off the live feed and saved it. ^{citation needed]} According to NFL Films...these are the ultimate Lost Treasures. ^{citation needed]}

The highest rated game according to Nielsen was Super Bowl XVI in 1982 which was watched in 49.1% of households (73 share) or 40,020,000 households at the time. Super Bowl XVI is #4 on Nielsen's list of top-rated programs of all time, and 3 other Super Bowls (XII, XVII, XX) made the top 10.^[3] Although the proliferation of cable and satellite television has undercut broadcast ratings somewhat in recent years, the game is still so popular that a number of networks actually schedule original programming, such as independently produced halftime entertainment, during the game, simply to take advantage of a large audience already in front of the television.

Following Apple Computer's 1984 commercial introducing the Apple Macintosh computer, directed by Ridley Scott, the broadcast of the Super Bowl became the premier showcase for high concept or simply extravagantly expensive commercials. Famous commercial campaigns include the Budweiser "Bud Bowl" campaign, and the 1999 and 2000 dot-com ads. Prices have increased each year, with reports citing a record $2.5 million (US) for a 30 second spot during Super Bowl XL in 2006. Many people tune in to the Super Bowl solely to watch the very creative commercials.

In recent years, the NFL has denied the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority the opportunity to run Super Bowl ads for the city as a tourist destination. The ban includes the game, as well as the pre-game and post-game shows. Many groups are denied the chance to run Super Bowl ads on various grounds, but Las Vegas is the only city to be denied in such a fashion; the NFL has stated that it does not want the Super Bowl to be associated with the perception of Las Vegas as a gambling mecca. If the television show Las Vegas stays on the air when NBC gets their next Super Bowl Broadcast (which will be Super Bowl XLIII in 2009), they might not be allowed to promote the series during the entire block of programming. ^[4]

Super Bowl commercial polls

The popularity of Super Bowl commercials has given rise to a number of polls and mechanisms that allow viewers to vote for their favorite and least favorite ads (according to some surveys, as many as 50 percent of the game's viewers tune in specifically for the commercials). Though not affiliated with the Super Bowl or the NFL, these polls include those conducted by media outlets such as USA Today^[5] and America Online^[6]. Another poll, and one of the few voting sites dedicated solely to Super Bowl commercials, is SPOTBOWL.^[7] Now in its fourth year, SPOTBOWL (the creation of Pennsylvania-based marketing and communications agency, Pavone) offers printable voting ballots, commercial trivia, party tips and current polling results after each voting session.

Coverage by American television networks

Main article: List of Super Bowl broadcasters

Includes future games. Future games are listed in italic.

The television network showing the game changes from year to year. Over the course of the previous TV contract, in the United States, it was rotated between three of the four major television networks: ABC, CBS, and FOX.

With the new television contracts beginning in 2006, NBC, which last telecast Super Bowl XXXII in 1998, will take ABC's place in the network rotation starting with Super Bowl XLIII in 2009.

Entertainment

Earlier Super Bowls/NFL Championships featured halftime show consisting of marching bands from local colleges or high schools. But as the popularity of the game increased, so did the potential of exposure. This has led to trend where a number of popular singers and musicians have performed during its pregame ceremonies, the halftime show, or even just singing the national anthem of the United States, "The Star-Spangled Banner". Super Bowl XL in 2006 featured Stevie Wonder, Joss Stone, and John Legend during the pregame ceremonies; Aaron Neville, Aretha Franklin, and Dr. John performed the national anthem; and The Rolling Stones played during the halftime show.

During halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004, Justin Timberlake removed a piece of Janet Jackson's top, exposing her right breast with a star-shaped ring around the nipple. Timberlake and Jackson have maintained that the incident was accidental, calling it a "wardrobe malfunction." To make matters worse, the game was airing on CBS, and MTV (at the time, CBS's corporate sister company within Viacom), produced the halftime show. Immediately after that live (not tape-delayed) moment, the producer cut to a very wide-angle shot and the announcer said, "Thank you for watching the Super Bowl halftime show!" followed immediately by a commercial break. However, viewers with TiVo captured the moment in detail, and video captures circulated quickly on the Internet.

The NFL, embarrassed from the incident, permanently banned MTV from doing another halftime show in any capacity. This also led to the FCC tightening controls on indecency and fining CBS $225,000 for the incident, as well as fining each of CBS's then twenty owned and operated stations. The following year, Paul McCartney gave an uncontroversial halftime performance for Super Bowl XXXIX.

Further information: Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy

Venue

The location of the Super Bowl is chosen by the NFL well in advance, usually 3 to 5 years before the game. Cities compete to host the game in a selection bidding process.

Over half of the Super Bowls have been played in one of the following three cities: New Orleans, Louisiana (9 times, 6 times at the Louisiana Superdome and 3 times at now-demolished Tulane Stadium), the Greater Miami Area (8 total, 5 times at Miami's Orange Bowl and 3 times at Miami Gardens' Dolphin Stadium) and the Greater Los Angeles Area (7 total, 5 times at Pasadena's Rose Bowl stadium and twice at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum). Miami Gardens has been selected to host two future games: Super Bowl XLI in 2007 and Super Bowl XLIV in 2010. Although Hurricane Katrina damaged the Louisiana Superdome and the city of New Orleans, it was renovated, and some city officials have stated that they would like to put in another bid sometime in the future. The last time the Los Angeles area hosted the game was Super Bowl XXVII in 1993; the area is currently not considered a possible venue after the league's two teams vacated the city in 1995: the Raiders moved back to Oakland, California, and the Rams moved to St. Louis, Missouri.

Coincidentally, no NFL team has ever played the Super Bowl on its own home turf. However, Super Bowl XIV (which involved the then-Los Angeles Rams) was played at nearby Pasadena's Rose Bowl stadium; and Super Bowl XIX (which involved the San Francisco 49ers) was played at the nearby Stanford Stadium on the Stanford University campus near Palo Alto. Neither of these stadiums (both neutral sites) has ever been a home to an NFL team (though the 49ers played a home game at Stanford Stadium after the Loma Prieta earthquake postponed the World Series a week and forced the 49ers from Candlestick Park.)

A potential venue currently must meet these qualifications in order to be a Super Bowl host: ^{citation needed]}

• Average high temperature of at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit in February, unless the game is being played in an indoor arena
• Stadium with 65,000 seats or more
• Space for 10 photo trailers and 40 television trucks
• 600,000 square feet of exhibit space for fan events
• Large, high-end hotel for teams and NFL
• 50,000 square feet of space for news media ("Radio Row")
• Enough "quality" hotel rooms within a one-hour drive for 35% of the stadium's capacity
• Separate practice facilities for each team.

Exceptions are at the discretion of the NFL. For instance, cruise ships made up the discrepancy in hotel rooms for Jacksonville in Super Bowl XXXIX and cities with cold weather such as Minneapolis and Detroit have been awarded Super Bowls because the cities' stadiums had a roof.

On March 5, 2006, Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, a 'cold weather' city, was awarded the rights to host Super Bowl XLIX in 2015. However, the game was contingent on the successful passage of two sales taxes in Jackson County, Missouri on April 4, 2006. The first tax would have funded improvements to Arrowhead, home of the Chiefs and the Kansas City Wizards Major League Soccer team, and neighboring Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals Major League Baseball team. The second tax would have allowed the construction of a "rolling roof" between the two stadiums. ^[8] However, the second tax failed to pass. With increased opposition by local business leaders and politicians, Kansas City eventually withdrew its request to host the game by May 25, 2006.^[9]

The designated "home team" alternates between the NFC team in odd-numbered years (the Philadelphia Eagles in 2005), and the AFC team in even-numbered years (the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2006). The home team is given the choice of either wearing their colored jerseys or their white ones; this started with Super Bowl XIII. Prior to that, the home team always wore the dark jerseys. The Dallas Cowboys wore their rarely used blue uniform tops in Super Bowl V, and lost to the then-Baltimore Colts, which has led to the widely held belief that the Cowboys do not play well in their blue shirts. While most home teams in the Super Bowl choose to wear their colored jerseys, only the Cowboys in XIII and XXVII, the Washington Redskins in XVII, and the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL have worn white as the home team.

The designated "away team" traditionally gets to call the coin toss which is used to determine which team will kickoff and which will receive. In the 40 year history of the Super Bowl, every team that has won the coin toss has elected to receive the opening kickoff. Below is a chart of the coin tosses performed to date:

Super Bowl Coin Toss Results

Trivia

• There has never been a Super Bowl between two wild card teams.
• The famous "I'm Going to Disney World!" Advertising campaign did not take place at Super Bowl XXXIX for the first time since it started at Super Bowl XXI, although Disney did run an ad several times during the game showing several players from both teams practicing the catch-phrase.
• No Super Bowl game has ever gone into overtime play. The closest instances to overtime play were in Super Bowl V, Super Bowl XXXIV, Super Bowl XXXVI, and Super Bowl XXXVIII.
• No Super Bowl has ever ended in a shutout. Super Bowl VII with Miami Dolphins kicker Garo Yepremian's failed field goal attempt is perhaps the most dramatic example of a near shutout. The lowest amount of points scored in a Super Bowl is 3, put up by those same Dolphins in the previous year's Super Bowl, Super Bowl VI.
• Despite winning just five Super Bowls, the Dallas Cowboys actually have seven Super Bowl MVPs all-time so far; one MVP from a Super Bowl loss and one victory which featured two co-MVPs. Because of this, the Baltimore Colts (now in Indianapolis) do not have an MVP despite winning Super Bowl V.
• No team has ever returned the opening kickoff or a punt for a touchdown in a Super Bowl.
• As of the 2006 season, only six teams (Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars and New Orleans Saints) have never qualified to play in the Super Bowl.
• The original Super Bowl XXXVI logo was re-designed following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Super Bowl loss jinx

Commentators and sports analysts noted a tendency for teams that have made it to the Super Bowl and lost, to collapse the following season. The season after a Super Bowl loss, a team usually returns with a losing, or mediocre at best, record. This effect can be related to a number of reasons including the loss of momentum a team has built up, accumulating injuries, losing successful free agents between seasons, and the aging of talented players.

From Super Bowl XXXV through Super Bowl XXXIX, five consecutive runners-up went on to post losing records the following year. This trend finally ended after Super Bowl XL, when the Seattle Seahawks repeated as division champions and posted a winning record after losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The most recent jinx followed the Philadelphia Eagles, who lost Super Bowl XXXIX to the New England Patriots in the 2004 season (played on February 6, 2005), who posted a 6-10 record in the 2005 season. The most glaring example is the Oakland Raiders. Following their 48-21 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2003, the Raiders posted a 4-12 record in the 2003 NFL season (the worst post-Super Bowl record), a 5-11 record in the 2004 NFL season, another 4-12 record in the 2005 NFL season, and a 2-14 record in the 2006 NFL season, with the Raiders still failing to recover.

There are notable exceptions to this pattern, such as the Buffalo Bills who went to the Super Bowl and lost four years in a row, from XXV to XXVIII. Another was the Tennessee Titans. Following their close loss to the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV, the Titans were able to retain the same 13-3 record they had the year before, but they lost in the playoffs to eventual Super Bowl XXXV winner Baltimore Ravens. Also, the Denver Broncos lost Super Bowl XXI to the New York Giants and repeated another loss in Super Bowl XXII to the Washington Redskins.

There have also been teams who, after winning the Super Bowl, have gone on to a losing or dissapointing record the next season. The most recent example is the Pittsburgh Steelers, who won Super Bowl XL against the Seattle Seahawks, but then went on to see starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suffer multiple life-threatening off-the-field injuries during the offseason, and eventually lost their division and missed the playoffs. Meanwhile the Seattle Seahawks continued the following season as playoff winners, before losing to the top seeded Chicago Bears in overtime during a hotly contested divisional playoff round 27-24. Other examples include the New England Patriots, who failed to make the post-season following their first championship, in the 2002 season, but have been division champions in every year since. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who beat the Raiders, somewhat joined them in mediocrity. Though they did make a post-season appearance in the 2005 season (where they went "one-and-done"), they have had losing seasons in all their other years.

Game history

Super Bowl appearances

Teams with no Super Bowl appearances

• NFL league champions prior to Super Bowl I
  • Arizona Cardinals - NFL champions in 1925 and 1947, both as Chicago Cardinals.
    (The Cardinals' 1925 championship is controversial, see Pottsville Maroons 1925 NFL Championship controversy for details)
  • Detroit Lions - NFL champions in 1935, 1952, 1953, and 1957
  • Cleveland Browns - NFL champions in 1950, 1954, 1955, and 1964
    (This refers to the team that the league officially views as one continuous franchise that began in 1946 but suspended operations from 1996-1998, and resumed play in 1999. The original Cleveland Browns became the Baltimore Ravens in 1996, and has won one Super Bowl since.)
• New Orleans Saints, 1967 expansion team
• Jacksonville Jaguars, 1995 expansion team
• Houston Texans, 2002 expansion team

Super Bowl winners