10 Surprising Super Bowl Facts

The Super Bowl is one of the biggest sporting events in North America. Millions of fans - hardcore and casual - will tune in this Sunday to watch Super Bowl LV (55) in Tampa, Florida between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

There are many die hard NFL fans who could probably recite to you a lot of facts about the Super Bowl from every single winner to which team has the most Lombardi trophies to various performance records.

Well, today I'm going to take you through some some of my favorite Super Bowl facts, and some may even surprise you! My name's Julien Barnett from @ThePointAfterFF and @TrueNorthFFB and I have scoured the web to uncovered 10 facts that hopefully even a fanatic NFL fan doesn’t know about the Super Bowl!

Fact #1

Peyton Manning is shockingly the only starting QB to ever win a Super Bowl with two different franchises. He won his first with the Indianapolis Colts in 2007, taking down the Chicago Bears and then his second in Super Bowl 50 as a member of the Denver Broncos defeating the Carolina Panthers.

Fact #2

Originally, the “Super Bowl” was called “The AFL-NFL World Championship Game” but after the inaugural game in 1967, the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs owner, Lamar Hunt, proposed using the term “Super Bowl'' instead. Fifty fours years later, and the name still has a nice RING to it.

Fact #3

The first ever Super Bowl was the only Super Bowl to NOT sell out, with over 30,000 empty seats! This is especially surprising, because tickets ranged from just $6-12 dollars! When accounting for inflation, this is equivalent to approximately $89 a seat! In 2020, Super Bowl tickets ranged anywhere from $4,200 to $60,000!!

Click here to head on over to listen to the The Point After podcast with Julien Barnett.

Fact #4

Super Bowl half-time performers don’t get paid!! I found this absolutely astonishing. Apparently, the exposure and potential revenue that the 100 million plus people who watch the Super Bowl can potentially bring in for an artist, easily makes up for playing for free!

Fact #5

Artists have seen a MASSIVE increase in Spotify streams, billboard hits, concert sales and endorsement deals after performing on the “big stage.” No other one day event in the world offers the viewership (100 plus million) that the Super Bowl does, and the music industry knows it. Justin Timberlake saw a 214% increase in Spotify streams after he performed in 2018. Maroon 5 (2019) went from making approximately $200,000 per/city in concert revenue, to 1.7 million per/city!! And lastly, Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, who had an unforgettable halftime performance in 2020, saw an increase of up to 2,135% on sales of songs that they performed at the Super Bowl that night.

Fact #6

During Super Bowl XXI (1987), Disney - yes, the famous movie production company - paid both starting QBs John Elway of the Denver Broncos and Phil Simms of the New York Giants $75 000 each to shout out something after their victory. The Giants ended up winning the game 39-20 for their first ever Super Bowl championship, and can you guess what Phil Simms had to say?

“I’m going to Disneyland!!”

… Well played Disney, well played.

Fact #7

We all know that Tom Brady & the Patriots are tied with the Steelers for the most Super Bowl victories in NFL history (6 a piece). But, did you know that the New England Patriots are also tied for the most Super Bowl LOSSES?! They’ve lost in the big game FIVE times (three for Brady) in their 62 years as a franchise. That’s tied with Denver, who’s made a total of 8 Super Bowl appearances but has only pulled out 3 victories.

Fact #8

In 2005, the Jacksonville Jaguars wanted (and eventually did) to host the Super Bowl. Unfortunately for them, the city didn’t house enough hotel space to be able to support such a large event and influx of fans … so they had to get creative. The team called in five or more luxury cruise ships to serve as “portable hotels” for spectators of the game!!

Fact #9

Aside from accommodating the spectators of the game, the NFL also has a lofty list of expectations for cities that host the Super Bowl. To list a few:

• The NFL requires a hotel with at least 1,000 rooms and access to wifi, meeting facilities, snacks, drinks, free parking and even storage space.

• Host cities must also provide a minimum of forty 3-bedroom, thirty 2-bedroom, and twenty 1-bedroom apartments to accommodate security, stadium staff, etc.

• The NFL has the right to add or remove any ATMs they see fit. Oftentimes, they will remove the existing ATMs at a stadium to add ones belonging to their own sponsor.

• Any city hosting the Super Bowl must give the NFL at least twenty billboards, free of charge for advertisement of the big game.

• And these last two, which I found surprising, yet not unbelievable… The NFL requires access - again, free of charge - to at least three top tier 18-hole golf courses and two top tier bowling alleys for Super Bowl tournaments.

Fact #10

In 1971, Chuck Howley, a Dallas Cowboys Linebacker broke two records during Super Bowl V when he became the first ever non-QB to win the MVP award, but also the first ever LOSING team player to win it! He was awarded MVP honors after intercepting 2 passes and recovering a fumble. The Cowboys ended up losing the game 16-13 at the foot of rookie Jim O’Brian, who hit a 33 yard field goal with five seconds left to win it for the Baltimore Colts.

Thanks for checking out my article! I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it.

Make sure to check us out on Twitter @ThePointAfterFF & subscribe to the podcast on Spotify/Apple/Podbean & on the True North Podcast Network.

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Editor: Joe Simonetti (@joesimonetti77)

Graphic work: Dan Made Graphics (@DanMadeGraphics)