The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League (NFL) in the United States. The game and its festivities constitute Super Bowl Sunday which over the years has become a de facto U.S. national holiday.

The first game was played on January 15, 1967 as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game in which the NFL championship team played against rival American Football League (AFL) for the “World Championship of Professional Football”. After both leagues merged in 1970, the Super Bowl became the NFL’s championship game. Since then, the game has been played annually on a Sunday, currently on the first Sunday in February. Americans prefer these games to conventional football because they are played with the most intensity and tell us who really is the best.

The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather than the year it was held. The location of the Super Bowl is chosen by the NFL well in advance, usually 3 to 5 years before the game. Cities compete to host the game in a selection bidding process.

Over half of the Super Bowls have been played in one of the following three cities: New Orleans , Louisiana (9 times), the Greater Miami Area and the Greater Los Angeles.

The winning team gets the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named for the coach of the Green Bay Packers, who won the first two Super Bowl games. Following his death in September 1970, the trophy was named the Vince Lombardi Trophy, first awarded at Super Bowl V in Miami.

Trivia

There has never been a Super Bowl between two non-division champions.

No Super Bowl game has ever gone into overtime play. The closest instances to overtime play were in Super Bowl V,

Super Bowl XXXIV, Super Bowl XXXVI, and Super Bowl XXXVIII.

No Super Bowl has ever ended in a shutout. Super Bowl VII with Garo Yepremian’s failed field goal attempt is perhaps the most dramatic example of a near shutout.

No team has ever returned the opening kickoff or a punt for a touchdown in a Super Bowl.