The 2015 champion of the National Football League (NFL) will
be determined February 7th at Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco, CA. It’s been
dubbed the Golden Super Bowl because of its 50th anniversary, and the official
designation and logo have been changed to use the Arabic numeral 50 instead of
the traditional Roman numeral.
NFL brand managers decided that the Roman numeral L for the number 50 would not look as impressive as the Arabic number. Roman numerals will return next year.
One team from the National Football Conference (NFC) and one from the American Football Conference (AFC), both yet to be determined, will start playing that Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The conferences resulted from a merger of two football leagues into the NFL 46 years ago. The American Football League (AFL) existed with the NFL for ten years. Football officials saw advantages, especially increased profits, to merge the two rival leagues into one.
The merger process started with the championship game between the AFL and the NFL on January 15, 1967. That game determined the winner of the 1966 football season of 50 years ago. It was the precursor that started the annual Super Bowl. That first national contest was called The NFL/AFL World Championship Game. It wasn’t until Super Bowl III in 1969 that the Super Bowl name was used. The two leagues merged in 1970.
The NFC won 26 of the last 49 Super Bowl games; the AFC won 23. The Pittsburgh Steelers hold the record for six Super Bowl victories.
Last year’s Super Bowl broadcast was the most watched
American television program in history with an average audience of 114.4
million viewers. During the final few minutes of that game the audience peaked
at 120 million viewers who saw the New England Patriots score a 28-24 last
second victory over the Seattle Seahawks. That was the fifth time the Super
Bowl set a television viewing record. It started with the 2010 Super Bowl that
took over the number one spot held for 27 years by the final episode of “M.A.S.H.”
This year’s television audience is expected to exceed 115,000 million.
Spectator numbers vary considerably because of the size of
the different stadiums. The first audience totaled 61,946 people in the Los Angeles
Memorial Coliseum. The Orange Bowl, Miami, FL, held the greatest number of fans
with 103,985 during the 14th Super Bowl.
Ticket prices for the last bowl started at $3,628.00 for upper level seats, often called nose-bleed seats because they’re in the highest part of the stadium. The most desirable club level seats started at $14,178.00. It’s anyone’s guess how much money is generated by the resale of Super Bowl tickets. Scalpers sell tickets for several times their original cost, especially in the final days before the game when original ticket supplies are exhausted.
NFL brand managers decided that the Roman numeral L for the number 50 would not look as impressive as the Arabic number. Roman numerals will return next year.
One team from the National Football Conference (NFC) and one from the American Football Conference (AFC), both yet to be determined, will start playing that Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The conferences resulted from a merger of two football leagues into the NFL 46 years ago. The American Football League (AFL) existed with the NFL for ten years. Football officials saw advantages, especially increased profits, to merge the two rival leagues into one.
The merger process started with the championship game between the AFL and the NFL on January 15, 1967. That game determined the winner of the 1966 football season of 50 years ago. It was the precursor that started the annual Super Bowl. That first national contest was called The NFL/AFL World Championship Game. It wasn’t until Super Bowl III in 1969 that the Super Bowl name was used. The two leagues merged in 1970.
The NFC won 26 of the last 49 Super Bowl games; the AFC won 23. The Pittsburgh Steelers hold the record for six Super Bowl victories.
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| Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, site of first Super Bowl |
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| Levi's Stadium, home of Super Bowl 50 |
Ticket prices for the last bowl started at $3,628.00 for upper level seats, often called nose-bleed seats because they’re in the highest part of the stadium. The most desirable club level seats started at $14,178.00. It’s anyone’s guess how much money is generated by the resale of Super Bowl tickets. Scalpers sell tickets for several times their original cost, especially in the final days before the game when original ticket supplies are exhausted.
The NFL rigidly protects its copyright and logo trademark of the Super Bowl. Businesses that are not sponsors are restricted to using words such as “The Big Game” and other generic terms to avoid being fined for copyright infringement. Diligence to protect the use of the Super Bowl name has provided high commercial profits to the NFL.
Commercial airtime for Super Bowl commercials is the most expensive on television. A 30 second commercial during the first game in 1967 cost $40,000. In 2015, the price hit $4.5 million for a half minute spot. It was $9 million for a full 60 second commercial. The high price and entertaining creativity of the commercials makes them a significant part of the broadcast. You can see some of the most memorable Super Bowl commercials here.
Many people consider Super Bowl Sunday an unofficial American National Holiday. It’s the second largest day in the U.S. for food consumption after Thanksgiving. More pizza and hot wings are consumed that Sunday than any other day. The amount of beer consumption reaches record highs.
A Fox News Business survey tallied the extreme consumption
by fans during the annual football game. The number of chicken wings eaten on
game Sunday last year totaled 1.25 billion. Fans watched their televisions as
they ate 3.8 million pounds of popcorn, 11.2 million pounds of potato chips,
and 8.2 million pounds of tortilla chips.
Some 48 million households ate pizza, both takeout and homemade. All that salty food made football fans thirsty. That resulted in them drinking 325 million gallons of beer and $2 million worth of soda. This outrageous consumption will happen again this year as friends gather for the annual football spectacle that includes special entertainment half way through the game.
Half time programs began 49 years ago with high school bands providing time for spectators to take restroom and food breaks. The mid-way point of the broadcast has grown to enormous presentations by international personalities. This year’s half time will have Coldplay and Beyoncé taking the stage. Other popular singers and musicians who performed during the middle of the Super Bowl game included Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, The Rolling Stones, The Who and Whitney Houston among others.
Professional football players live up to their status in the outlandish
salaries they earn. During the original contest on January 15, 1967, the
winning Green Bay Packers earned $15,000 each for winning. The players on the
losing Kansas City team earned $7,500 each. After last year’s Super Bowl, the
winning New England players each had a $97,000 payday, and the losing Seattle
players earned $49,000 each. The NFL owners built their football franchise into
a business with unbelievable profits.
Some 48 million households ate pizza, both takeout and homemade. All that salty food made football fans thirsty. That resulted in them drinking 325 million gallons of beer and $2 million worth of soda. This outrageous consumption will happen again this year as friends gather for the annual football spectacle that includes special entertainment half way through the game.
Half time programs began 49 years ago with high school bands providing time for spectators to take restroom and food breaks. The mid-way point of the broadcast has grown to enormous presentations by international personalities. This year’s half time will have Coldplay and Beyoncé taking the stage. Other popular singers and musicians who performed during the middle of the Super Bowl game included Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, The Rolling Stones, The Who and Whitney Houston among others.
Professional football players live up to their status in the outlandish
salaries they earn. During the original contest on January 15, 1967, the
winning Green Bay Packers earned $15,000 each for winning. The players on the
losing Kansas City team earned $7,500 each. After last year’s Super Bowl, the
winning New England players each had a $97,000 payday, and the losing Seattle
players earned $49,000 each. The NFL owners built their football franchise into
a business with unbelievable profits.Stats used here came from Fox News Business, Wikipedia and the Nielsen rating company. Enjoy the Big Game!
Thanks for reading this blog. Come back to this space at the end of the month to see another interesting subject. See my website at www.joevlatino.com where you can read an installment of a story from my book “The Device.”
