Super Bowl

Introduction

The Super Bowl is one of the world's most talked about sports tournaments. It has been celebrated as the finale of the National Football League since 1996. The match has been held on the second Sunday in February every year since 2022.

People from all parts of the world watch the event, and the beginning of the tournament is celebrated with great pomp and show.

It is the final flagship event of the National Football League, with the tournament decides the league's winner.

The previous Super Bowl used to be played on early to mid-January Sundays from 1967 to 1978, late January Sundays from 1979 to 2003, except for 2002, and the first Sunday of February from 2004 through 2021.

The team that wins the Super Bowl takes away the Vince Lombardi Trophy home. As the tournament is generally played on Sunday, that Sunday is called Super Bowl Sunday.

The tournament draws a huge crowd and is one of the events with the highest viewership in America. It is ranked 2nd in viewership and is considered just behind the UEFA Championship League.

Due to the enormous viewing of the broadcast, the commercial airtime is the costliest of the year.

Let’s try to understand what Super Bowl entails and what marked the beginning of this hugely popular game.

Table of Contents

• Details
• History
• Fun Facts
• Theme
• Objectives
• Winners
• Conclusion

Details

The venue of the Super Bowl changes every year. However, the game is conducted within the United States of America as it is American Football.

The host city is decided in advance, so they have enough time to prepare for the games. The game concludes the National Football League playoffs.

History

The Super Bowl is a legacy sport in the United States of America, and people from all over the country come together to celebrate it.

The game came into existence in 1966 due to a merger between the NFL and American Football League. The primary objective of the merger was to make the winner of both these tournaments compete against each other.

The game was known as the AFL-NFL World Championship initially. However, they adopted an official name and started calling it Super Bowl from 1969.

Before the NFL and AFL merger, the winners of both leagues competed against each other during the Super Bowls from 1967 to 1970.

After the merger in 1970, the 10 AFL and 3 NFL teams created the American Football Conference, and the 13 AFL teams constituted the National Football Conference or the NFC.

The Super Bowl is played between the winners of both conference championships.

The NFL comprises 32 teams, out of which 20 have won the Super Bowl title.  15 teams have several other titles apart from the Super Bowl tag.

The game started in 1920, and the NFL has emerged victorious for four decades after the inception of the Super Bowl.  

Fun Facts

Super Bowl has transformed from a game to an emotion. It was first played on 15th January 1967, and since then, it has evolved into a spectacle

Earlier, people were drawn just to the game, but now people watch the pregame shows, the opening, and closing ceremonies, etc.

Super Bowl Sunday is also an unofficial holiday for the United States of America. Here are a few fun facts about the same:

• The ticket cost has grown from $100 to $1,250 from 1967 to 2014, owing to the game's popularity. (The numbers are adjusted for inflation)
• The pregame shows became a huge part of the Super Bowl. Several military branches and marching bands participated in the event and paid their tributes to the game and the people working in the defence services
• The coin toss is a very important event of the Super Bowl. Till 1977, the coin toss was done by a chosen game official. Post 1977, the activity is being done by the retired legends of the NFL
• Half-time entertainment is another celebrated event of the Super Bowl. Several marching bands, drill teams and astronauts are a part of the half-time entertainment
• From 1976 onwards, global education organisations like Up with People were invited for performances and several other celebrities like singers and performers
• Post 1991, advertising became a huge part of the Super Bowl From the $40,000 average cost for a 30-second ad spot in 1967, the number crossed the $500,000 mark in 1985
• Post 1991, several mainstream pop artists and bands became a part of the game. In 1993, the performance by Michael Jackson surpassed the viewer ratings of the game itself
• The first-ever game of the Super Bowl had a viewership of 51,000,000 home viewers. This includes the number of two TV networks. This number went up to 97,000,000 by 1986
• People consumed 325 million gallons of beer during the 2015 game, and the chicken wing consumption was 1.25 billion. The Super Bowl was an extravagant event, and the sales of food and its consumption increased during the games

Theme

Super Bowl releases a theme song every year before the game.

The song changes every year and showcases the game's essence in that particular year. In 2022, the theme song of the tournament was Bel-Air.

The track was used across television ads to promote the spirit of the game and the game itself. The Super Bowl Halftime Show has a different theme every year, and a great musician or singer performs it.

Objectives

Play

The Super Bowl is an event with purpose, not just a game but an emotion. The event has now become a platform that allows different bands and singers to perform.

The tournament also contributes to the community and the environment by taking several initiatives.

The host committee decides on the interventions that will be taken for the game in a particular year to ensure that the event turns out to be “most shared, most participatory and most giving.”

Winners

As the Super Bowl is played yearly, several teams have emerged victorious.

Here is a list of winners and the game location for the Super Bowl since its inception:

Conclusion

The Super Bowl tournament has been around the corner for more than 50 years and is one of the most watched events in the United States of America.

The game has a high viewership and is no longer limited to the sport. It also acts as a platform for celebrities and the military to perform, with several military drills also being a part of the event and so on.