Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League (NFL), a professional American football league.

The game features the champions of the NFL’s two conferences, the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC). These teams are the winners of their conference’s playoff, which follows a 17-game regular season. The team that wins the Super Bowl is the league champion.

In contrast to other major professional team sports in the U.S. (such as baseball, basketball, and hockey) that determine the league champion with a championship series, the Super Bowl is a single game.

The Super Bowl is typically held on the second Sunday in February (though for many years it was held in late January or the first Sunday in February). The start of the game (kickoff) is usually around 6:30 p.m. Eastern time.

There is usually a two-week gap between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl (meaning the Super Bowl is played two weeks after the conference championship games, with no game occurring in the weeks between).

The date of Super Bowl LVII in 2023 is February 12. Super Bowl LVIII in 2024 falls on February 11, 2024.

The NFL championship game was first called the Super Bowl in 1967. It was created as a result of the merger of the NFL and the American Football League (AFL). The bowl in Super Bowl comes from the tradition of calling football championships bowl games (due to being played in large stadiums sometimes called bowls).

Because the name Super Bowl is a trademarked term, the game is sometimes referred to as the Big Game, such as by advertisers who do not have permission to use the official name. Each year’s Super Bowl is usually named with a number written in Roman numerals, a tradition that began in 1971 for the fifth Super Bowl, labeled Super Bowl V.

The team who wins the Super Bowl is awarded the Vince Lombardi Trophy, which is named for famed football coach Vince Lombardi, whose Green Bay Packers won the first two Super Bowls. Players and coaches on the winning team are also each awarded a unique Super Bowl ring, with players also receiving a cash bonus.

The Super Bowl is known as a widely televised event watched by a massive worldwide audience (sometimes 100 million viewers or more). Advertisers pay millions of dollars to air commercials during the broadcast, and these have become part of the appeal of the Super Bowl for many viewers. The game also usually includes a halftime show featuring a popular musical act.

Many people in the U.S. host or attend Super Bowl parties, including some who are not especially passionate football fans (or even football fans at all). All of this has made the Super Bowl a significant event in U.S. pop culture.

Due to this popularity, the term Super Bowl is sometimes used to refer to a championship or competitive event in another activity, as in This is the Super Bowl of robotics competitions. 

What are some terms that often get used in discussing the Super Bowl?

• Big Game
• football
• championship
• game
• NFL
• NFC
• AFC
• commercial
• party
• champion
• halftime

The Super Bowl is a major pop culture event that’s popular even among some people who are not football fans.

How bout that Eagles Nation?! Super Bowl here we come!!!! #FlyEaglesFly

— Carson Wentz (@cj_wentz) January 22, 2018

It's also been more than 20 years since either the NFL rushing leader (Terrell Davis, 1998) or the NFL receiving leader (Jerry Rice, 1994) won the Super Bowl. The NFL passing leader has NEVER won the Super Bowl. https://t.co/RvTjKJyzEr

— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) January 25, 2021

tbh I just watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, half time show, and good food

— katie evans (@katievansss) February 7, 2016

True or False?

The Super Bowl is held on February 1 every year.