Super Bowl
- Note: This article provides general information on the Super Bowl. For the current Super Bowl game, see Super Bowl XL.
In professional American football, the Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League (NFL) in the United States. The game and its ancillary festivities constitute Super Bowl Sunday (sometimes "Super Sunday"), which over the years has almost become a de facto American national holiday.
The game began in January 1967 as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game in which the NFL championship team played against the champion of the rival league AFL (American Football League) for the so-called "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 now the first Sunday in February.
The Super Bowl is one of the most-watched American 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 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.
For a list of Super Bowl games, see List of Super Bowl champions.
History
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.
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". 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 feasible because postseason college football games had long been known as "bowl games" (The term originates with 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. Not surprisingly, fans and media tended to use the shorter, unofficial name. Starting with the third contest in January 1969, the name "Super Bowl" became official.
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 perhaps the biggest upset 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 Chamionship game played between the champions of 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. As of December 2005, former AFL teams have won 10 Super Bowls, pre-1970 NFL teams have won 23 games, and two games have been won by teams created after 1970.
The winning team receives 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. Also it is estimated that 130-140 million tune into some part of the game.
The most watched Super Bowl was 1998's Super Bowl XXXII between the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers which received a 44.5 rating and 67 share, attracting 90 million viewers. In terms of household percentage, the most watched 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. [1] 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 may not be allowed to promote the series during the entire block of programming. [2]
Entertainment
Because of the large number of viewers that the Super Bowl generates, 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 is scheduled to feature Stevie Wonder, Joss Stone, and John Legend during the pregame ceremonies; Aaron Neville, Aretha Franklin, and Dr. John will perform the national anthem; and The Rolling Stones will play during the halftime show.
In 2004, it was during halftime at Super Bowl XXXVIII that Janet Jackson had her now-infamous wardrobe malfunction after Justin Timberlake "accidentally" ripped off a piece of her top, exposing her right breast with a star-like piercing on the nipple. Many conspiracy theorists think that this was done intentionally to get everyone's attention, possibly so that Janet could get the attention off of her brother Michael Jackson, who was facing child molestation charges at the time. It also didn't help matters that the game was airing on CBS, and their then-corporate sister company within Viacom, MTV, produced the halftime show. The NFL, embarrassed from the incident, permanently banned MTV from doing another halftime show in any capacity. This also led to the FCC cracking down on indecency and fining CBS $225,000 for the incident, as well as fining each of CBS's then 20-owned & operated stations.
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 similar to ones used by the Olympic Games and soccer's World Cup. To this date, the chosen venues have either been located in the southern regions of the United States where the wintertime weather is expected to be mild, or in domed stadiums where weather is not an issue. The only two cities in the northern United States to have hosted the Super Bowl are Detroit and Minneapolis.
Over half of the Super Bowls have been played in one of the following three cities: New Orleans, Louisiana (9 times), Miami, Florida (8 times) 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 has been selected to host two future games: Super Bowl XLI in 2007 and Super Bowl XLIV in 2010. After Hurricane Katrina damaged the Louisiana Superdome and the city, the game might never return to New Orleans. And 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 in Palo Alto.
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 & XXVII, the Washington Redskins in XVII, and the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL have worn white as the home team.
The television network showing the game changes from year to year. In the United States it is currently shared between three of the four major television networks - ABC, CBS, and FOX. Super Bowl XXXVIII was shown on CBS, Super Bowl XXXIX was shown on FOX, and Super Bowl XL will be shown on ABC, which will be the final NFL game broadcast on that network for the foreseeable future.
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.
Trivia
- 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 New England Patriots, winners of Super Bowl XXXIX are the champions of the 2004 NFL season, even though the championship game was played in February 2005.
- In 1994, the 49ers became the first team to wear a throwback jersey during the Super Bowl. Since it was the league's 75th season, every team wore a throwback jersey during the season and San Francisco decided to continue to wear their jerseys all the way through the playoffs and into Super Bowl XXIX. The jerseys they wore paid tribute to the 1957 team.
- In the months leading up to Super Bowl XXX (or Super Bowl Thirty), some proxy servers were blocking the web site for the upcoming event. Many proxy servers' filters were configured to block the text string "XXX" whenever occurring to prevent access to pornography. As a result, additional settings were necessary to grant exceptions for other uses of "XXX".
- Super Bowl XXXVI was originally scheduled to be played on January 27, 2002. But the game was moved back one week to February 3, 2002 because of the September 11, 2001 attacks. This was the first Super Bowl to be played in February. With the exception of Super Bowl XXXVII on January 26, 2003, all of the succeeding Super Bowls have been scheduled for February. Also, because of the attacks, the Super Bowl is now a National Special Security Event (NSSE).
- Super Bowl XXXIX was the first such game to be tied after three quarters of play.
- No American Football Conference (AFC) team has ever won a Super Bowl that was broadcast on ABC (The NFC is currently 6-0). The closest an AFC team came to winning the Super Bowl on that network was when the Buffalo Bills lost to the New York Giants 20-19 in Super Bowl XXV.
- The NFC won 13 Super Bowls in a row from 1985 to 1997, starting with Super Bowl XIX. The AFC broke the streak in 1998 in Super Bowl XXXII when Denver beat the defending champion Packers.
- The last Super Bowl to start at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time was Super Bowl XI which was played in Pasadena. This is also the last Super Bowl which was played outside to not end in dusk. Since the early 1980s Super Bowls have been starting at around 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The kickoff has been since moved back to 6:30 p.m. Eastern starting with Super Bowl XXXVII.
- In the history of the Super Bowl, nine teams have played in the big game after entering the playoffs as wild-card teams. Those teams have included the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl IV, the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl X, the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XV, the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX, the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVII, the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII, the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV, the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV, and the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL. Not including the pending results of Super Bowl XL, wild-card teams are 4-4 in the Super Bowl, with the Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos, and Ravens winning their respective games.
Post-Super Bowl loss jinx
Commentators and sports analysts note 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 traced to the loss of momentum a team has built up, accumulating injuries, losing successful free agents between seasons, and the aging of talented players.
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.
The most recent is 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 wins, 10 losses, no ties record in the 2005 season.
Game history
Notable Super Bowl games
- Super Bowl III: Speaking to the press in the week before the game, New York Jets quarterback "Broadway" Joe Namath famously guarantees a victory over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts. The Jets defense backs him up as they upset the Colts, 16-7.
- Super Bowl VII: Coach Don Shula and the Miami Dolphins complete the only undefeated season in NFL history, defeating the Washington Redskins 14-7.
- Super Bowl XIII: The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Dallas Cowboys 35-31 in the second Super Bowl matchup of these 1970's powerhouses.
- Super Bowl XX: After the New England Patriots take a 3-0 lead on a field goal, the Chicago Bears scored 46 points to win 46-10.
- Super Bowl XXIII: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana leads a 92 yard fourth quarter drive, as the 49ers score the game-winning touchdown with 34 seconds left and defeat the Cincinnati Bengals 20-16.
- Super Bowl XXIV: The San Francisco 49ers defeat the Denver Broncos 55-10, the largest margin of victory in Super Bowl history. The 55 points are the most scored by any team in a Super Bowl.
- Super Bowl XXV: As time expires, the Buffalo Bills' Scott Norwood attempts a 47-yard field goal but misses wide to the right, and the New York Giants win 20-19. A tightly contested game with no turnovers by either team, it remains the only Super Bowl to be decided by a single point.
- Super Bowl XXX: The Dallas Cowboys make a record 8th Super Bowl appearance, winning 27-17 over the Pittsburgh Steelers, and become the first NFL team to win 3 Super Bowls in a 4 year span. The victory also tied the Cowboys with the San Francisco 49ers for the most Super Bowl victories (5). The Cowboys' Charles Haley became the first player to win 5 Super Bowls, after winning two with San Francisco (XXIII and XXIV) and two with Dallas (XXVII and XXVIII).
- Super Bowl XXXII: After four painful losses, the Denver Broncos finally win a title, upsetting the heavily favored, defending champion Green Bay Packers 31-24 and becoming the first AFC Super Bowl champion in 14 years. Denver will win also the Super Bowl XXXIII against Atlanta.
- Super Bowl XXXIV: In an incredibly close finish, Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kevin Dyson catches a short pass but is stopped at the 1 yard line as he stretches for the end zone with no time left on the clock, and the St. Louis Rams hold on to win 23-16.
- Super Bowl XXXVI: Placekicker Adam Vinatieri kicks a 48-yard field goal as time expires to lift the New England Patriots to a 20-17 upset over the Rams, and the first of 3 Super Bowl wins in four years. Two years later, Vinatieri would kick another game-winning field goal at the end of Super Bowl XXXVIII to defeat the Carolina Panthers.
- Super Bowl XXXIX: The New England Patriots win their third Super Bowl in four years when they defeat the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21 in Jacksonville, Florida. All three of New England's Super Bowl victories have been decided by three points. The Eagles had a chance to win the game on their final drive, but a New England interception ended the game.
Trends
Super Bowl wins and losses tend to cluster around a few head coaches. Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers won the first two. Don Shula coached two different teams: a loss with the Baltimore Colts and two wins and two losses with the Miami Dolphins. Tom Landry also coached two winners and three losers with the Dallas Cowboys. Chuck Noll won four in the 1970's with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bill Walsh won three with the San Francisco 49ers. Joe Gibbs also won three Super Bowls with the Washington Redskins. And recently, Bill Belichick won three with the Patriots.
Bud Grant coached four Vikings losses in the 1970s, while Marv Levy coached four consecutive losses with the Buffalo Bills in the 1990s.
Super Bowl appearances
8 - Dallas Cowboys (won 5, lost 3)
6 - Pittsburgh Steelers (won 4, lost 1, 1 pending)
6 - Denver Broncos (won 2, lost 4)
5 - San Francisco 49ers (won 5)
5 - Oakland Raiders (won 3, lost 2; one win as Los Angeles Raiders)
5 - Washington Redskins (won 3, lost 2)
5 - New England Patriots (won 3, lost 2)
5 - Miami Dolphins (won 2, lost 3)
4 - Green Bay Packers* (won 3, lost 1)
4 - Buffalo Bills (lost 4)
4 - Minnesota Vikings (lost 4)
3 - New York Giants (won 2, lost 1)
3 - St. Louis Rams (won 1, lost 2; one loss as Los Angeles Rams)
2 - Kansas City Chiefs (won 1, lost 1)
2 - Baltimore Colts (won 1, lost 1; now Indianapolis Colts)
2 - Cincinnati Bengals (lost 2)
2 - Philadelphia Eagles (lost 2)
1 - Baltimore Ravens (won 1)
1 - Chicago Bears (won 1)
1 - New York Jets (won 1)
1 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers (won 1)
1 - Atlanta Falcons (lost 1)
1 - Carolina Panthers (lost 1)
1 - San Diego Chargers (lost 1)
1 - Seattle Seahawks (1 pending)
1 - Tennessee Titans (lost 1)
- The Green Bay Packers have won 12 NFL championships in total, including the three Super Bowl championships; the most ever in NFL history.
Teams with no Super Bowl appearances
- Arizona Cardinals*
- Cleveland Browns*+
- Detroit Lions*
- Houston Texans
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- New Orleans Saints
*Note: The Cardinals, Browns, and Lions have previously won NFL league championships prior to Super Bowl I. The Cardinals were named NFL champions in 1925 and 1947. The Browns won the NFL championship in 1950, 1954, 1955, and 1964. And the Lions won the NFL championship in 1935, 1952, 1953, and 1957
+ Note: This refers to the Cleveland Browns team that the league officially views as one continuous franchise that began in 1946, suspended operations from 1996-1998, and then resumed play in 1999. See Cleveland Browns#Franchise History for details.
Super Bowl winners
5 - Dallas Cowboys
5 - San Francisco 49ers
4 - Pittsburgh Steelers
3 - Green Bay Packers*
3 - New England Patriots
3 - Oakland Raiders (one win as Los Angeles Raiders)
3 - Washington Redskins
2 - Denver Broncos
2 - Miami Dolphins
2 - New York Giants
1 - Indianapolis Colts (won as Baltimore Colts)
1 - Baltimore Ravens
1 - Chicago Bears
1 - Kansas City Chiefs
1 - New York Jets
1 - St. Louis Rams
1 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Criticisms
Critics of the Super Bowl and Super Bowl Sunday sometimes point to the following:
- The food often eaten on Super Bowl Sunday is usually junk food, which usually has a reputation for making people obese. The obesity rate usually increases around the time the Super Bowl occurs, causing some people to consider healthy alternatives while watching the games. [3]
- Alcohol related crashes and deaths peak on Super Bowl Sunday in the United States. [4]
- The Super Bowl is criticized for promoting materialism.
- There is often a decline in church attendance on Super Bowl Sunday.
See also
- Super Bowl MVP
- National Football League championships
- List of National Football League franchise post-season droughts
- List of sporting events
- Super Bowl Halftime Shows
- NFL lore
- Carioca Bowl
References
- Super Bowl's website
- NFL Record and Fact Book(ISBN 193299436X)
- Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0062701746)
- The Sporting News Complete Super Bowl Book 1995 (ISBN 089204523X)
- The Super Bowl: An Official Retrospective with DVD. Ballantine Books, 2005 (ISBN 0345487192)
- MacCambridge, Michael. America's Game. Random House, 2004. (ISBN 0375504540)
- http://www.pro-football-reference.com - Large online database of NFL data and statistics
- The NFL History Network - includes a large database of historic NFL box scores
- Chris Jones (2 Feb 2005). "NFL tightens restrictions on Super Bowl advertisements". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
- Super Bowl play-by-plays from USA Today (Last accessed September 28, 2005)
- All-Time Super Bowl Odds from The Sports Network (Last accessed October 16, 2005)
- 100 Greatest Super Bowl Moments by Kevin Jackson, Jeff Merron, and David Schoenfield; espn.com (Last accessed October 31, 2005)
- Super Bowl Rings A gallery of Super Bowl winners' Championship rings
- Superbowl odds Latest Odds from selection of sportsbooks