12 surprising things you probably didn't know about the Super Bowl

In the very first Super Bowl on January 15, 1967, the Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 35 to 10, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Back then, 60 million people tuned in for the first broadcast, a number that's closer to 100 million today. 

After their win, each player on the Packers team took home a $15,000 bonus. In comparison, every Chiefs player received a $171,000 bonus for their win at the 2024 Super Bowl.

Even if you're not a sports fan, Super Bowl parties are a great place for good food.

In 2020, the National Chicken Council projected that Americans would eat a record-breaking 1.4 billion chicken wings over Super Bowl weekend

According to the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, this Sunday in February is the second-highest day of food consumption in the US, behind Thanksgiving.

There are 12 NFL teams that have never won the Super Bowl: Browns, Bills, Chargers, Bengals, Cardinals, Falcons, Lions, Jaguars, Panthers, Texans, Titans, and Vikings.

Of those 12, four of them — Browns, Jaguars, Lions, and Texans — have never even made it to a championship game.

As of this year, a 30-second Super Bowl ad costs at least $7 million. In comparison, ads at the first game in 1967 went for about $40,000.

These commercials are so expensive because the games draw in extremely high viewership, which can potentially lead to revenue.

The advertisements have also become a heavily valued tradition over the years.

Super Bowl LVIII, during which the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers, was the most-watched championship game in the sport's history. By the NFL's numbers, it brought in about 123.4 million viewers.

Super Bowl XLIX in 2015 previously held the record with 114.4 million viewers.

Tom Brady was the quarterback for the New England Patriots for 20 years, and he also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The 43-year-old player has the most Super Bowl appearances and wins of any quarterback in NFL history, with 10 appearances and seven wins.

In 2023, Brady announced via X that he's now officially retiring from football "for good" after previously announcing his retirement in 2022. 

Lamar Hunt, the former owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, came up with the Roman numerals system because NFL officials wanted to avoid confusion — given that the actual championship game is played the year after the corresponding football season.

The professional football season usually starts in the late summer/early fall of one year, but the Super Bowl occurs at the beginning of the next year.

The Roman numeral tradition began with Super Bowl V in 1971 and has continued ever since.

A ticket for Super Bowl LIV in 2020 cost between $4,220 and $60,000, and that doesn't even include the cost of getting to the game and accommodations. 

By comparison, according to The Balance, the average American income per capita was $54,129 in 2019.

For years, contradictory reports have circulated that halftime performers are paid exorbitant amounts to play at the NFL game.

The New York Times said the NFL doesn't pay artists an "appearance fee." However, the organization does cover all expenses for the performance as well as the cost of things like lighting, bodyguards, and stagehands.

One of the NFL's top concerns is ensuring that footballs are properly inflated to avoid cheating.

For regular games, each team typically breaks in 12 footballs to be used during the game. These footballs are presented to officials and inspected for air pressure and proper protocol two hours and 15 minutes before the game.

During Super Bowl XLIX in 2015, each team had 54 balls inspected, making a total of 108 balls for the game.

In 2013's Super Bowl XLVII, Jim and John Harbaugh, of the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens, respectively, made history as the first brothers to compete against each other as coaches.

The game earned the nicknames "the Harbaugh Bowl" and "the HarBowl" because of the family's presence.

The brothers said it was tough to play against each other, and it was a day full of both "elation" and "devastation."

Since then, Travis and Jason Kelce have also competed against each other in the big game.

Several crucial factors are considered when choosing where to play Super Bowl games, and the stadiums are chosen years in advance.

The NFL considers things like weather, the quality of the stadium, and the accommodations available near the location.

Correction: January 25, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated how many NFL teams have never played in the Super Bowl. The Bengals have been in three Super Bowl games, and only four teams have never played in the Super Bowl. 

This story was originally published in February 2018 and most recently updated on February 7, 2025.

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