0
The Super Bowl was created as part of the merger agreement in 1966 between the National Football League (NFL) and its competitive rival, the American Football League (AFL). One of the conditions of the AFL-NFL Merger was that the winners of each league's championship game would meet in a contest to determine the "world champion of football". Then NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle wanted to call the game "The Big One".
During the discussions to iron out the details, AFL founder and Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt is supposed to have jokingly referred to the proposed interleague championship as the "Super Bowl", a play on words from the new Wham-O Super Ball his daughter then liked to play with and college "bowl" games. Hunt apparently only meant his suggested name to be a stopgap until a better one could be found. Nevertheless, the name "Super Bowl" became permanent.
Note: The KC Chiefs Hall of Honor at Arrowhead Stadium includes a Wham-O SuperBall in honor of this story.
Still curious? Ask our experts.
Chat with our AI personalities
Ross
Blake
FranTraditionally, NCAA college teams hold post-season "Bowl" games by invitation. The games between the top professional teams was nicknamed the Super Bowl in 1969.
The "Super Bowl" name was applied retroactively to the first two AFL-NFL World Championship games, played between the two leagues in 1967 and 1968. There were two more world championships prior to the merger of leagues for the 1970 season.
So the first true "Super Bowl" was Super Bowl III in 1969. Beginning in 1971, it became the official title for the NFL Championship Game between the champions of the American and National Conference champions.
Does anybody know why they call it a "bowl game?" It is because in 1916 the first end of season championship game was played in 1901 on New Year's Day between the Michigan Wolverines represented by the east and Stanford University representing the west and Michigan won 49-0. This game was called the Tournament East-West Game sponsored by the Tournament of Roses Association. The game spawned from the first 1890 Tournament of Roses Parade. The president of the Tournament of Roses Association at that time, James Wagner, guaranteed $3500 of his own money to bring the teams to play in Pasadena. The cost of admission to the game was 50 cents to a dollar. An additional $1 was charged to admit the family's horse and buggy on the grounds. This first game was played in Tournament Park about 3 miles southwest from what they now call the Rose Bowl Stadium. The games were moved to the stadium in 1923 and it looked like a bowl in its architectural design. From that one game between colleges in 1901 we now have 34 bowl games in 2008 including the professional teams.
The term 'Super Bowl' has been trademarked by the NFL. This means that a person or company cannot use the term 'Super Bowl' to advertise or sell their product without the consent of the NFL. This consent comes by paying the NFL a fee for the right to use the term 'Super Bowl' in their advertising.
For example, when a person or company is advertising/selling a television they are not allowed to say or write something like "The Super Bowl will look great on this TV" unless they have paid the NFL for the right to use the term 'Super Bowl'. But they can say "The Big Game will look great on this TV" and the NFL can do nothing about it. Most folks understand that 'Big Game' and 'Super Bowl' are one in the same.
This restriction is not carried over to the news or Talk Shows. Sportscasters may use the term 'Super Bowl' without fear of repercussion from the NFL since they are not attempting to sell a product or service.
The Super Bowl was created to see that team was the best. At the time there were two football leagues, the National Football League and the American Football League. In order to see who was the best, the leaders of each league decided that a championship game between the two leagues should be held each year. And so the Super Bowl was born.
Add your answer:
Earn +20 pts
