Super Bowl is the most-watched one day sports event worldwide. It is estimated that about 1 billion people watch the game of Super Bowl, every year. In the United States, the game is covered by Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and National Broadcasting Company (NBC). Many companies spend millions of dollars to air their commercials during the game.
The history of Super Bowl is quite recent; it was played for the first time on January 15, 1967, between the champions of the NFL and American Football League (AFL). During that time, the game was known as AFL-NFL World Championship Game.
In 1970, NFL and AFL merged and since then, the game is known as Super Bowl. The name 'Super Bowl' was proposed by Lamar Hunt, the founder of American Football Conference (AFC), after seeing his daughter playing with a toy called 'Super Ball' and on the fact that college football games were played in bowl-shaped stadiums.
Super Bowl is played on the first Sunday of February, every year. Since the NFL season of a particular year extends over the next year, Roman numerals are assigned to identify each game rather than the year it is held. For example, Super Bowl game for 2008 session was played in February 2009 and is referred to as Super Bowl XLIII. However, Roman numbering was started only in the third game i.e. during Super Bowl III, as the game was named "The AFL-NFL World Championship Game", in the first two years.
The winning team of Super Bowl is awarded the sterling silver Vince Lombardy Trophy, crafted by Tiffany and Co. The Super Bowl trophy weighs seven pounds and is valued at $25,000. Originally, in 1967, the trophy was called the "World Championship Game Trophy". However, in September 1970, the name was changed to Vince Lombardy Trophy in honor of Vince Lombardy, the coach of Green Bay Packets, who won the first two Super Bowls and three NFL championships in 1961, 1962 and 1965.
Prior to the Super Bowl game, about 3-5 years in advance, the venue is chosen by the NFL. At the time of fixing the location, cities bid to host the game. A location is finalized only after evaluating the cities individually, with respect to their stadium and ability to host the game. Till now, New Orleans and the Greater Miami have hosted the game for a maximum of nine times each. Speaking about the Super Bowl winning team, Pittsburgh has won a record of six times.
What more can be said about Super Bowl! As the years have gone by, the popularity of the game has reached new heights. According to Nielson (Nielson Media Research), 98.7 million people watched the Arizona-Pittsburgh Super Bowl XLIII game, beating last year's record of 97.5 million viewers.
Well! These are some of the interesting facts about Super Bowl. For the Americans, Super Bowl is not just a game, but it is celebrated as a top home party event, next only to New Year's Eve.
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