The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game in every NFL championship since 1996, replacing of the NFL Championship Game. By 2022, it is played on the 2nd Sunday of February. The Super Bowl was played on Sundays in the early to mid-January starting in 1967 through 1978, later in January from 1979 to 2003 and on the first Sunday of February from 1999 to 2004, and on the first Sunday in February from 2004 through 2021.
Super Bowl Sunday
Winners are awarded their team with Vince Lombardi Trophy which is named for Vince Lombardi, the coach who took home the first two Super Bowls. Due to the NFL restricting the use of its “Super Bowl” trademark, it is commonly referred to by the term “big game” or other generic terms by non-sponsoring corporations. The date on which the game is being played is typically referred to as ” Super Bowl Sunday” or simply “Super Sunday”.
The game was developed in 1966 as part a deal of a merger between the NFL and the competing American Football League (AFL) in order to have their most successful teams compete for a championship. The original name was the AFL-NFL World Championship till the “Super Bowl“ moniker was adopted in 1969’s Super Bowl III.
The Four Super Bowls in the period from 1967 to 1970 was played prior to the merger between the NFL as well as the AFL having each won two. After the merger in 1970, the 10 AFL teams, as well as three NFL teams, joined the American Football Conference (AFC), while the 13 remaining NFL teams created the National Football Conference (NFC).
Super Bowl III
All games played since 2001’s Super Bowl V have been played between the two top teams of each conference, with the NFC ahead of the AFC 27-25.
Of the NFL’s current 32 teams, 20 (11 NFC, 9 AFC) have been awarded a Super Bowl and 15 (8 AFC, 7 NFC) have won multiple titles. The AFC’s New England Patriots and the AFC’s New England Patriots Pittsburgh Steelers have the most Super Bowl titles at six each; the Patriots additionally have the most appearances at 11. In the group of NFC franchises, the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers are at the top with five each, and the Cowboys also have the highest number of appearances with eight.
The Patriots and of the Denver Broncos of the AFC have the record for the most losses in the Super Bowl, with five each.
It is believed that the Baltimore Ravens of the AFC and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFC are the only franchises to be undefeated in multiple Super Bowls. They have each had two wins. Of the 12 teams that haven’t won a Super Bowl, the AFC’s Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, and the NFC’s Detroit Lions are the only four that not have played as players in the contest, with the Lions having been the one and only one to have been around throughout the entire Super Bowl era.
Most Watched Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is among the world’s most-watched single sporting events and often has the highest audience of all American broadcasts during the year. It is second only to the UEFA Champions League final as the most watched soccer tournament in the world.
The seven broadcasts with the highest viewership in American television time have been the super bowls. Commercial time in the Super Bowl broadcast is one of the most expensive broadcasts of the year due to the high viewership, leading to corporations regularly putting together their most expensive advertisements for the broadcast as well as commercial viewership becoming an integral aspect of the celebration. It is also the second-highest-rated sporting event in America.
Super Bowl is also the second-largest gathering for American food consumption, behind Thanksgiving dinner.
