The Super Bowl Then and Now

With the Super Bowl around the corner, I was curious as to how this all came to be and I found several interesting, and some startling, items that I found of value… and I trust that you find them interesting as well:

Image found at https://www.historyextra.com/

The origin of professional football can be traced back to 1892 with Pudge Heffelfinger’s $500 ($16,285 now) contract to play in a game for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. In 1920 the American Professional Football Association was formed. The league changed it’s name to the National Football League (NFL) two years later, and eventually became the major league of American football (from Wikipedia).

The Super Bowl was created as part of a 1966 merger agreement between the NFL and the competing American Football League (AFL) to have their best teams compete for a championship. It was originally called the AFL–NFL World Championship Game until the “Super Bowl” moniker was adopted in 1969’s Super Bowl III.(from Wikipedia).

The first Super Bowl (Super Bowl III) was played on January 15, 1967, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Green Bay Packers won, 35-10.(from Arcadia)

The highest scoring Super Bowl was Super Bowl XXIX on January 29, 1995, in which the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers defeated the AFC champion San Diego Chargers 49-26 for a combined 75 points.(from Wikipedia)

The record for the most consecutive Super Bowl wins is two and is shared by seven franchises: The Green Bay Packers (1966-1967), The Miami Dolphins (1972-1973), the Pittsburgh Steelers (1974-1975 and 1978-1979 the only team to accomplish this feat twice), the San Francisco 49ers (1988-1989), the Dallas Cowboys (1992-1993),the Denver Bronco (1997-1998) and the New England Patriots (2003-2004).(from Wikipedia)

Bill Belichick owns the record for the most Super Bowl wins (eight), and appearances (twelve: nine times as head coach, once as assistant coach, and twice as defensive coordinator) by an individua.(from Wikipedia)

I will be curious to learn the direction Bill Belichick’s coaching career takes in the coming months!

This next tidbit really surprised me:

Among the 12 teams who have not won a Super Bowl, the AFC’s Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, and the Jacksonville Jaguars and the NFC’s Detroit Lions are the only four to have not appeared in the game.(from Wikipedia)

As of Sunday, January 28th, 2024, Detroit’s streak has not changed, although for most of the contest, Detroit controlled the game and looked to be headed for a showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs on February 11th.

The main reason the Super Bowl is so popular is that pro football is the only major professional team sport with a single-elimination playoff system. The other major sports declare their champions after a team wins four games in a best-of-seven series. The Super Bowl is do-or-die; that’s what makes the game so special.(from Wikipedia).

Over time, the NFL’s play-calling and strategy have changed dramatically. Teams and coaches now take a more creative approach, continuously adjusting to new fads and strategies. The strategy of the game has changed from being very run-oriented to being more pass-oriented and balanced.(from Manual.com)

Evidence of the turn towards a “Balanced” strategy, is the game time stats  regarding the number of running plays vs the number of passing plays.

In 2022 the date for each Super Bowl was changed to the second Tuesday in February.(from Wikipedia)

This year’s Super Bowl LVIII is scheduled to be played on February 11th at 6:30 PM at the domed Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada.

According to NEXSTAR , only one team will leave with the Lombardi Trophy, but the losers – even some players who don’t even clock a single second of game time will leave with a big bonus paycheck. That’s because of a provision in the NFL’s bargaining agreement with the Players Association which stipulates players on the winning team (2023) earned an extra $150,000 for playing in the Super Bowl, while players on last year’s losing team earned $82,000. Each player on the winning team in 2024 will earn $164,000. Players are set to receive their Super Bowl bonus pay within 15 days of the big game, according to the agreement. There are exceptions to who gets the full amount. If you’ve been on the team’s roster for less than three games prior to the Super Bowl, you’re only entitled to half the full amount. By the 2030-2031 football season (the last season covered in the most recent bargaining agreement), the Super Bowl winners will each take home an extra $228,000.