Super Bowl - SuperBowl - Game Day - Super Bowl GameDay - Super Bowl Game

The Super Bowl was created as part of the merger agreement between the National Football League (NFL) and its competitive 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". 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 kids 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 "bowl" term originated 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. Nevertheless, the name "Super Bowl" became permanent.

After the NFL's Green Bay Packers convincingly won the first two Super Bowls, some team owners feared for the future of the merger. At the time, many doubted the competitiveness of AFL teams compared with NFL counterparts. That perception all changed with one of the biggest upsets in sports history, the AFL's New York Jets defeat of the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in Miami. One year later, the AFL'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. These first four Super Bowls were actually AFL-NFL World Championships at the time. After the merger, they were redesignated as Super Bowls I through IV.

The game has been played annually on a Sunday as the final game of the playoffs, originally early to mid-January when there was a 14 game schedule, but late January or even the first Sunday in February as the current 16 game schedule dictates. (A 17th bye-week has been added for TV exposure.)

Former NFL commissioner 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 winning team gets the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named for the coach of the Green Bay Packers, who won the first two Super Bowl games and 3 of the 5 preceding NFL championships (1961-62, 1965). Following his death in September 1970, the trophy was then named the Vince Lombardi Trophy, first awarded as such to the Baltimore Colts at Super Bowl V in Miami.

By any measure, the Super Bowl is the most watched television program of the year in the U.S.[citation needed] 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.[4] NFL press releases have stated that recent Super Bowls have been available to potential audiences of approximately one billion worldwide, although independent studies suggest that the average global viewership is just over 100 million � the vast majority of whom are U.S. viewers.

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 not known 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. From the early days of television into the 1960s, copies of TV broadcasts were routinely erased, known as wiping, mainly because nobody thought anyone would want to watch the same show they had just seen. Another reason was that videotape in those days was prohibitively expensive.

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, and XX) made the top 10. 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 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 US$2.6 million for a 30 second spot during Super Bowl XLI in 2007. Many people tune in to the Super Bowl solely to watch the creative commercials.

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 pre-game ceremonies, the halftime show, or even just singing the national anthem of the United States, "The Star-Spangled Banner" (see Super Bowl entertainment). Super Bowl XL in 2006 featured Stevie Wonder, Joss Stone, and John Legend during the pre-game ceremonies; Aaron Neville, Aretha Franklin, and Dr. John performed the Star Spangled Banner; and The Rolling Stones played during the halftime show. Unlike regular season or playoff games, one hour is allocated for the Super Bowl halftime.

One especially memorable performance came in 2002, when U2 performed. During their second song, "Where the Streets Have No Name," the band played under a large projection screen which scrolled through all the names of the victims of 9/11.

The halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 generated controversy, when 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." The game was airing live on CBS, and MTV (at the time, a corporate sister company of CBS within Viacom) produced the halftime show. Immediately after that moment, the producer cut to a very wide-angle shot and cut to a commercial break. However, video captures of the moment in detail circulated quickly on the Internet. The NFL, embarrassed by 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 US$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.

Except for Super Bowl XXXIX, the famous "I'm Going to Disney World!" advertising campaign took place at every Super Bowl since it started at Super Bowl XXI. Typically, Disney ran the ad several times during the game showing several players from both teams practicing the catch-phrase. The campaign has been restarted for Super Bowl XLI.

Twenty-five out of forty-one Super Bowls have been played in one of three cities: New Orleans, Louisiana (nine times), the Greater Miami Area (nine total), and the Greater Los Angeles Area (seven total). The 3 "big" hosts are then followed by Tampa, Florida and San Diego, having hosted the Super Bowl three times each.

Miami Gardens has been selected to host Super Bowl XLIV in 2010. Although Hurricane Katrina damaged the Louisiana Superdome and the city of New Orleans, it was renovated. 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.

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. 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.

The location of the Super Bowl is chosen by the NFL well in advance, usually 3 to 5 years before the game. Cities place bids to host a Super Bowl. Candidate cities are evaluated in terms of stadium renovation and ability to host a Super Bowl.Then the NFL owners meet to make a selection on the site. The sites for the next 4 Super Bowls have been determined, up to Super Bowl XLV in 2011. On October 16, 2007, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suggested that a future Super Bowl might be played in London, probably at Wembley Stadium.

The designated "home team" alternates between the NFC team in odd-numbered games (the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI in February 2007, and the AFC team in even-numbered games (the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL in February 2006). This alternation was initiated with the first Super Bowl, when the Green Bay Packers of the NFL were the designated home team.

Since Super Bowl XIII in January 1979, the home team is given the choice of jerseys, colored or white. Formerly, the designated home team was specified to wear their colored jerseys; this resulted in Dallas donning their unfamiliar blue jerseys for Super Bowl V.

While most of the home teams in the Super Bowl have chosen to wear their colored jerseys, there have been four exceptions; the Cowboys twice (XIII & XXVII), the Washington Redskins (XVII), and the Pittsburgh Steelers (XL). The Cowboys (since 1965) and Redskins (since the arrival of coach Joe Gibbs in 1981) have traditionally worn white jerseys at home. Meanwhile, the Steelers, who have always worn their black jerseys at home since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, opted for the white jerseys after winning three consecutive playoff games on the road, wearing white. The Steelers' decision was contrasted with the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX. The Patriots had worn white jerseys at home during the 1985 season, but after winning road playoff games against the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins wearing red jerseys, New England opted to wear red for the Super Bowl as the designated home team.