This season’s Super Bowl kicks off on Sunday, February 12th, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona. It is between the Eagles, whose performance has been impressive lately, and the Kansas City Chiefs who are also performing well this year and are no stranger to the Super Bowl. They currently hold a 7- 2 record and are being tipped by the majority of experts in the super bowl predictions.
As the biggest sporting event in the country, the Super Bowl brings life in the US to a halt on an annual basis as crowds gather to watch their favorite teams play. Beginning in the 1960’s the first Super Bowl cost just $6 for a ticket, which is a far cry from today’s offering where the average cost for a ticket is now around $4,728 for the cheapest ticket.
Despite rising costs, crowds gather every year for one of the most anticipated sporting events. Below, we’ll take a look at the history of the Super Bowl and dive into some of the top Super Bowls that have ever taken place.
Where did the Super Bowl originate
The Super Bowl originated in the 1960’s when a group of wealthy businessmen known as the Foolish club wanted their own pro football league after becoming dissatisfied with the progress of the NFL. They then established the American Football League (AFL). The AFL acted as an alternative league and began to sign star players. Their rivalry began to propel pro football ahead of baseball and had the most spectators in the country by the end of the decade.
The Very First Super Bowl
The first ever Super Bowl game was held in the Los Angeles Coliseum and was nowhere near a sell-out. At this time, football fans were simply used to watching their teams play on home soil and were accustomed to traveling out of state to watch a game. However, the game did have 65 million television viewers, which was the largest there had ever been for any sporting event at the time. Today, Super Bowl games receive an average of 100 million television viewers.
The game took place on January 15th, 1967 and featured the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City chiefs, 35 – 10. After their win, each player on the Packers team took home a $15,000 bonus. In comparison to this, each Chiefs player received a $124,000 bonus for their win at the 2020 Super Bowl.
The commercialization of the Super Bowl
While the Super Bowl began as a true sporting event, today’s Super Bowls are also one of the biggest commercial opportunities around. With so many viewers, businesses across the country fight for a commercial place during the game. On average, a 20 second Super Bowl commercial costs $5.6 million today, whereas the same type of commercial would have cost just $40,000 in the 1960’s.
Not only are these ads a significant commercial opportunity, Super Bowl ads have become a tradition over the years and have gotten more and more creative; so much so that fans now enjoy watching Super Bowl ads almost just as much as the game. Each year, a huge amount of planning goes into developing such commercials.
The top Super Bowls in history
The 1979 Super Bowl is known as one of the most famous games to go down in history. The game started as a close contest before turning into a steelers rout as Dallas made an 18 point comeback that ultimately fell short. This was the first rematch in Super Bowl history, in which Pittsburg came out on top.
Another iconic Super Bowl game to go down in history was the 23rd Super Bowl between the San Francisco 49ers and the Cincinnati Bengals. This game took place in 1989 and had one of the most dramatic endings going. Superstar quarterback of the time, Joe Montana led the way for the 49ers as they put together an 11 – play, 92 yard drive towards the end zone. They managed to snatch a comeback victory and earned their title as one of the greatest teams of all time. This was also the last time that the Bengals appeared in a Super Bowl until recently.
Perhaps one of the most memorable Super Bowl events was the 51st game between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons. The game was so iconic that it became a meme, with the New England Patriots known as the team of destiny from that point onwards.
Ultimately, the Patriots made a historic comeback in this game, scoring 31 straight points to secure their fifth Super Bowl victory.
Overall, the Super Bowl has become more and more popular each year in which people’s attitudes towards traveling to see the event take place live have drastically changed over the years. Today, fans are willing to go to the ends of the earth to secure an elusive ticket to the Super Bowl game. For those that can’t wait to play, don’t forget to get in on the action early and place your bets online now.
