Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League (NFL). It is the highest-level game in all of American football.

History

The Super Bowl was created when the NFL merged with the American Football League. The new NFL retained a structure that kept the teams from each league in separate conferences, with the teams that won each conference meeting each other in the Super Bowl to decide the championship. The first Super Bowl, billed as the "First World Championship Game", was held January 15th, 1967, at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles.

Participants

The Super Bowl is still a game between the two conference champions. The champions for each conference are determined by a playoff between six teams: the team with the best record in each division (North, South, East, and West) and the two non-division-winners in the conference with the best records.

The officials for the Super Bowl are selected on the basis of evaluations made throughout the regular season. The highest-rated eligible official at each position is sent to the Super Bowl. To be eligible for Super Bowl duty, an official must have at least five years' experience in the NFL and have officiated at least one playoff game.

Media significance

The Super Bowl is a major media event as well as a sporting event. Because of its extremely high viewership in the United States, it has become the most important venue of the year for US TV commercial campaigns. The commercials now attract so much attention that there are now many viewers who watch the Super Bowl strictly for the ads, rather than the game.