From Then to Now, The Super Bowl: America’s Favorite Competition

By: Julia DeEll and Lauren Stroffolino, Staff Writers                                                 February 13, 2023

    Every football season ends with the biggest game of the year known as the Super Bowl, originally known as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. Since 1967, this championship game has been a mainstay in American culture and many are eager for this year’s outcome.

    The match originated in 1967 when the American Football League and the National Football League chose their best teams to enter the match for a chance to win the championship. The name was changed in 1969 to what we now know as the Super Bowl.

    After Chiefs owner, Lamar Hunt, suggested renaming the “AFL-NFL World Championship game” to “The Super Bowl”, the first big game was played on January 15, 1967, between AFL team Kansas City Chiefs and NFL team Green Bay Packers.

    The winning team gets awarded a valuable ring for each player and, as a team, receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

    It takes four months and costs about $50,000 to make the Super Bowl trophy. According to the news source CBC, “Named after the famous coach of the Green Bay Packers, the trophy is actually made by Tiffany & Company…the retailer makes 65 trophies for different sports, including the championship for the NBA, the men’s and women’s trophies for the U.S., and the World series for Major League Baseball.¨

    The bowl will be broadcasted in more than 170 countries, being one of the most watched sporting events in the world. Throughout the country, teams have equal chances of winning the Super Bowl, which has caused the game to excel in popularity in each state.

    Senior Fernando Queiroz, who attended the Giants vs Raiders game at the Metlife Stadium, states, ¨The game was very fun to watch and the atmosphere of an NFL stadium is very cool to be a part of.¨ He suggests others go to an NFL game because “it’s a unique experience with a lot of energy.”

    According to CBS news, this year’s big game pits the NFC’s top-seeded Philadelphia Eagles against the AFC’s top-seeded Kansas City Chiefs. This year the game will be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ and seen as the Roman numeral LVII, which is 57. Every year the big game is seen as a different numeral number and has been ongoing since Super Bowl V.