For over half a century now, millions of Americans and sports fans across the world have tuned in to watch the Super Bowl — the special name for the annual NFL championship game.
The first ever Super Bowl was played at the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California on Jan. 15, 1967. That day, Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers (the NFL Champion) defeated the AFL Champion Kansas City Chiefs to claim Super Bowl I.
It’s only fitting that the Chiefs played in the first ever Super Bowl game. The AFL and Chiefs franchise founder, the laye Lamar Hunt, came up with the “Super Bowl” term. It was eventually picked up by the AFL and NFL, and the name was retained after the two leagues merged in 1970.
The Chiefs won Super Bowl IV in the 1969 season and Super Bowl LIV in the 2019 season. In the latter year, Patrick Mahomes rallied the Chiefs from a 10-point fourth quarter deficit against the San Francisco 49ers — leading KC to 21 unanswered points for a 31-20 victory.
The hope is that online and retail sports betting in Kansas will launch at some point in 2022, potentially before or during the upcoming NFL season. If it launches, customers in The Wheat State would likely be offered risk-free bets from several sportsbooks such as BetMGM, FanDuel and Caesars.
Perhaps no NFL team is better suited to dominate the remainder of the decade than the Chiefs, who are now run by Hunt’s son, Clark. At FanDuel, the Chiefs have the third-best Super Bowl LVII odds at +950, and they share the third-best odds with the Green Bay Packers (+1000) at DraftKings.
One Game, Winner Takes All
One key reason why the Super Bowl game is must-watch for sports fans? It’s a one-game winner-take-all showdown. This isn’t a best-of-seven playoff series that you get in the NBA, NHL or MLB.
It all comes down to who plays better football for 60 minutes. The NHL and NBA postseasons both last for about two months, and the MLB postseason runs through the month of October.
But Super Bowl Sunday only comes once a year, so it’s essentially a holiday for sports fans. If the NFL ran a best-of-five or best-of-seven series for the Super Bowl (they never will, of course), then the league certainly wouldn’t attract hundreds of millions of viewers for each game.
The NFL also runs a halftime show featuring some of the world’s top music stars/bands every year. They simply wouldn’t pour this much money into the Super Bowl entertainment value if it was a series showdown instead of a winner-take-all game.
The Halftime Show
You don’t have to be an avid sports fan to love the Super Bowl.
Chances are, some of your favourite music artists and/or bands have performed during one of the Super Bowl halftime shows.
Prince, The Rolling Jones, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Beyoncé Dr. Dre, Eminem, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Aerosmith and Britney Spears are just some of the many all-time music legends that performed at a Super Bowl halftime show.
How often do you get to see your favourite music artists perform live on television? Only so often, which is why the halftime show is such a popular entertainment program. Including for non-sports fans.
The Commercials
It’s well-known by just how much companies must pay to air a commercial during the Super Bowl. It costs millions of dollars, even for something as short as a 30-second advertisement.
Companies know that with millions and millions of people watching, they need to be especially creative and unique with their commercial ads. Just think of the many epic Super Bowl ads that have ran over the years: The Apple Macintosh “1984”, the ‘Mean’ Joe Green Coca-Cola “Hey Kid, Catch!” ad and the beloved Betty White Snickers commercial.
Chances are high that you know several non-football fans who still tune in for the Super Bowl to watch the commercials. Many of them are full of humor and great laughs, and others are incredibly emotional and wholesome.
Commercials play a huge role in the Super Bowl entertainment value. From the start of kick-off to the trophy presentation, fans get several hours worth of excitement: Football championship action, a can’t-miss halftime show and several humorous and lighthearted commercials.
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