Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather than the year in which it is held. For example, Super Bowl I was played on January 15, 1967, following the 1966 regular season, while Super Bowl XLVII was played on February 3, 2013, following the 2012 season.

The game was created as part of a merger agreement between the NFL and its then-rival league, the American Football League (AFL). It was agreed that the two leagues' champion teams would play in an AFL–NFL World Championship Game until the merger was to officially begin in 1970. After the merger, each league was redesignated as a "conference", and the game was then played between the conference champions. Currently, the National Football Conference (NFC) leads the series with 25 wins to 22 wins for the American Football Conference (AFC).  The day on which the Super Bowl is played, now considered to some Americans as a national holiday called "Super Bowl Sunday."

The Pittsburgh Steelers have won six Super Bowls, the most of any team; the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers have five victories each; and both the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants have four Super Bowl championships. Thirteen other NFL franchises have won at least one Super Bowl. Ten teams have appeared in Super Bowl games without a win. The Minnesota Vikings were the first team to have appeared a record four times without a win. The Buffalo Bills played in a record four Super Bowls in a row, and lost every one. Four teams, the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Houston Texans, have never appeared in a Super Bowl. The late 2000s and early 2010s saw an era of parity among both conferences. During the five years from 2008 through 2012, five different teams have won the Super Bowl and nine have played in it. In the 2007 season, the Patriots came back by becoming the first team in NFL history to have a 16–0 record in the regular season. They easily marched through the AFC playoffs and were heavy favorites in Super Bowl XLII. However, they lost that game to the New York Giants 17–14, in large part due to a play that would become known as the Helmet Catch, in which Giants receiver David Tyree caught an Eli Manning pass by securing it against the side of his helmet. This pass would set up the eventual game-winning touchdown. The Giants won another title after the 2011 season, again defeating the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI. Between the Giants' two titles, the Steelers logged their record sixth Super Bowl title (XLIII), the New Orleans Saints won their first (XLIV), and the Green Bay Packers won their fourth Super Bowl (XLV) and record thirteenth NFL championship overall. The Super Bowl is the most watched annual sporting event in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Mark, W. (2013). Good press for new orleans around super bowl 2013 reached an audience of millions says tourism study. nola.com. Retrieved from http://www.nola.com/superbowl/index.ssf/2013/02/good_press_for_new_orleans_aro.html