Super Bowl
From Freepedia
In professional American football, the Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League (NFL) in the United States. Since 1967, it has been played annually after the regular season and the playoffs end, either on the last Sunday in January or the first Sunday in February.
The Super Bowl and its ancillary festivities constitute "Super Bowl Sunday", which over the years has almost become a de facto national holiday in the United States. The game is one of the most-watched American television broadcasts of the year, attracting many companies to spend millions of dollars (USD) on commercials.
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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 (See AFL-NFL Merger for more information).
One of the conditions of the agreement was that the winners of each league's championship game would meet in a contest to determine the so-called 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 NFL-AFL World Championship Game. Unsurprisingly, fans and media tended to use the shorter, unofficial name. Starting with the third contest in 1969, the name "Super Bowl" became official.
After the NFL's Green Bay Packers won the first two Super Bowls in convincing victories, some team owners feared for the future of the merger, since many doubted that AFL teams could compete with their NFL counterparts. However, in one of the biggest upsets in American sports history, the AFL's New York Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. One year later, the Chiefs won Super Bowl IV.
When both the NFL and the AFL merged into one combined league before 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 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. The trophy was named the Vince Lombardi Trophy prior to Super Bowl V in his honor following his death in 1970.
Ratings and commercials
The Super Bowl 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.
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.
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. [1]
Venue
The location of the Super Bowl is chosen by the NFL well in advance, usually 3-5 years before the game. Cities compete to host the game in a selection bidding process similar to ones used by the Olympic Games and the Football 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.
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 Los Angeles (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 Hurrican 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 New England Patriots in 2004). 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 and the Washington Redskins in XVII have worn white as the home team.
The television network showing the game changes from year to year. In the United States it is 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 on that network for the forseeable 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 differentiate each game rather than the year it was held since confusion commonly arises as the NFL season spreads over two calendar years. 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 of 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 (30) it was discovered that some proxy servers were blocking the web site for the event. The reason for this was that "XXX" is usually associated with pornography, and proxy servers thought those trying to visit that site were trying to access pornography.
- 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. Most of the events two years afterward were scheduled in 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.
- The last Super Bowl to start at 3:30 pm 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 pm Eastern Standard Time. The kickoff has been since moved back to 6:30 pm Eastern starting with Super Bowl XXXVII.
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. The quality of the teams, the high scoring and the back-and-forth nature of the game has led some observers to call this game "the best ever."
- 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 at a whopping 55-10, this is noted as the most lopsided game in Super Bowl history.
- Super Bowl XXV: The second Super Bowl to be decided on a last-second field goal, as the Buffalo Bills' Scott Norwood missed his 47-yard attempt. Many consider this one of the best Super Bowls, as it didn't have any turnovers and was a highly contested game. This game also came at a time when the nation needed to focus on something other than Persian Gulf War that was going on at the time. The New York Giants 20-19 victory is still the closest margin of any Super Bowl game.
- 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.
- Super Bowl XXXIV: In the closest finish yet, Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kevin Dyson 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 over a 4 year span. Vinatieri also kicked a game-winning field goal at the end of Super Bowl XXXVIII.
Super Bowl appearances
8 - Dallas Cowboys (won 5, lost 3)
6 - Denver Broncos (won 2, lost 4)
5 - San Francisco 49ers (won 5)
5 - Pittsburgh Steelers (won 4, lost 1)
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; franchise 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 - Tennessee Titans (lost 1)
Super Bowl winners
5 - Dallas Cowboys
5 - San Francisco 49ers
4 - Pittsburgh Steelers
3 - Green Bay Packers
3 - Oakland Raiders
3 - Washington Redskins
3 - New England Patriots
2 - Miami Dolphins
2 - New York Giants
2 - Denver Broncos
1 - New York Jets
1 - Kansas City Chiefs
1 - Baltimore Colts
1 - Chicago Bears
1 - St. Louis Rams
1 - Baltimore Ravens
1 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers
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)
- MacCambridge, Michael. America's Game. Random House, 2004. (ISBN 0375504540)
- http://www.pro-football-reference.com - Large online database of NFL data and statistics
- 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 28, 2005)
| The Super Bowl |
| Super Bowl Champions | NFL I 1967 | II 1968 | III 1969 | IV 1970 | V 1971 | VI 1972 | VII 1973 | VIII 1974 | IX 1975 | X 1976 XI 1977 | XII 1978 | XIII 1979 | XIV 1980 | XV 1981 | XVI 1982 | XVII 1983 | XVIII 1984 | XIX 1985 | XX 1986 XXI 1987 | XXII 1988 | XXIII 1989 | XXIV 1990 | XXV 1991 | XXVI 1992 | XXVII 1993 | XXVIII 1994 | XXIX 1995 | XXX 1996 XXXI 1997 | XXXII 1998 | XXXIII 1999 | XXXIV 2000 | XXXV 2001 | XXXVI 2002 | XXXVII 2003 | XXXVIII 2004 | XXXIX 2005 | XL 2006 |
Categories: Super Bowl | American football competitions | American football | National Football League
