This essay is about the birth of the Super Bowl and how it changed American football forever. The Super Bowl changed football in a positive, permanent way. With the birth of the Super Bowl, I believe the sport started to become more and more popular because the winner of the Super Bowl would be the true champion instead of there being two champions (one in each of the two leagues). There was also much more money to be made with the Super Bowl because it would end up make the game more popular beyond belief which was another goal. I do not think that football would not have come as far as it has today without it. The first Super Bowl was held in Los Angeles, California on January 16, 1967. However, before this pro football was separated by two …show more content…
different league in America known as the AFL (American Football League) and the NFL (National Football league). The American football league was created in 1960 and only lasted a short nine years, whilst the National Football League was created in 1920 and lasted a whole 27 years before merging with the NFL. There were many reasons this merger took place but most likely the main reason is they really wanted a true champion. Since the leagues were apart there was always the debate who's league had the better team. However, creating the Super Bowl clearly solved this issue. Over the years the Super Bowl has gotten more and more popular because of the more and more people wanting to watch the game both in person at the stadiums or at home on their televisions with friends and family. Because more people want to attend games, the owners and cities ar emaking stadiums bigger than ever before. The average stadium size nowadays sets somewhere around 70,000 whereas in the 60’s it was only around 50,000-60,000. According to the site “Sportology”, “American Football is the most popular sport in America”. This site also says that American football is the 9th popular sport in the world. It in fact has even surpassed the popularity of sports with the likes of basketball, baseball and soccer. The players and owners have been hugely benefiting from this gaining popularity as well. With more people going to games, the owners make more money and so they can spend more on good players. For example, the Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had enough money to buy a whole stadium without having the city pay for anything. That helps everyone in a way because this way the city does not get taxed extra to pay for the stadium. Many players from pre-21st century say they are jealous of today's players because they get payed much more now then players before them. A lot of players did not change teams nearly as often as today. Some people say that all the free agency moves have somewhat ruined rivalries moving from one team to their biggest rival the next. According to NFL.com some people like the new free agency moves because their team can flip their record around by signing some good players. In my opinion, I believe that with so many players going to different teams, it adds another level of wild factor and excitement to the game. Players get paid more and more each year because there is always a person that gets paid more than them that they think they are better than so they want more money on their contract then that person. For example even today a NFL free agent quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick refuse to sign a contract with his former team the New York Jets because he feelt that they are not paying him enough for being a starting quarterback leading them most recently this last season to the playoffs. “The Jet’s offer on the table is little better than three-year, $21 million contract that Chase Daniel received in Philadelphia.” Another quote saying that based on his position he should be getting payed more. “The going rate for starting quarterbacks in today's market is roughly $18 million. Sam Bradford signed a two-year, $36 million contract. Brock "7 starts" Osweiler was handed $37 million guaranteed in the first two years of his $72 million deal.” Compared to in the 1960’s to where players very seldomly went to another team and most players made under $6,000 a season. Overall players are making much more money today than back when the game was getting started because of the rising popularity of the sport. There was a lot of controversy after the first two Super Bowls.
The reason being because the NFL dominated the AFL in the first two bowls when the Green Bay Packers won back to back championships. However things all changed on January 12, 1269 when the New York Jets stunned the Baltimore Colts. Led by now hall of fame quarterback Joe Namath, the Jets came out and showed everyone that the AFL is for real and is capable of winning games against the best the NFL has to offer on the biggest stage in football. However the game was still close with the colts only losing by a mere nine. In fact this Jets team is still the only Super Bowl team to win with only scoring one touchdown which is astonishing since there has been so many games now. And to further improve on the fact that the Afl could compete with the NFL the Kansas City Chiefs knocked off the Minnesota Vikings in which the Vikings were favorited by 12 points. Yet despite the prediction of Minnesota winning by 12, the outcome was very opposite with the Chiefs dominating the Vikings 23-7 which is now the first Super in which the AFL has blown out the NFL. The AFC then proceeded to win the next 5 out of 6 Super Bowls implementing themselves in the league forever. The AFL was renamed to be known as the “AFC” after being established in the league. A few teams were also moved from the NFC to the AFC in order to balance the number of teams in each conference. With the merger of the two leagues there was no longer controversy of …show more content…
where the best players would go now because they were all now under contract in one league. However something pretty funny is that the first player to ever be drafted never actually played a single down in the league because he felt that he was not being paid enough money and this man's name was Jay Berwanger. Berwanger was also the first winner of college football's most prestigious individual award. The NFL draft has made a lot of money for the NFL from tickets for seats to watch the draft, to getting money for advertisement while the draft is being aired on television. The Super Bowl has had a really large impact from the television point of view.
According to the site Sporting Charts, the Super Bowl has has the top 3 records for most watched televised broadcasts in U.S history. Most recently being when the Baltimore Ravens played against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 48. All 3 of these Super Bowls had more than 100 million viewers which means an average one out of three people in America watched the game. The 2011 season was a big year for the NFL with sites like Bleach Report saying that over 200 million unique people watched at least one game in the year. Sporting charts also reported that the cost to run a 30 second ad during the Super Bowl in $5 million dollars. Back when the Super Bowl started it was only a measly $42,000 per 30 second ad. The least watched Super Bowl was actually Super Bowl 2 when people were probably thinking that the NFL would just dominate. The average viewership during that game was just below 40 million people watching. Because all but one NFL team is privately owned, it is near impossible to record how much money each team makes. However the one team that is publicly owned is the Green Bay Packers, and for the 2013/2014 season the team made a nice $25.3 million dollars in profit. However if you are a owner of an NFL team it is very rarely because you want to make a profit. Since one of the main reasons of the creation of the Super Bowl was more money, it is fair to say that the goal has been more than
accomplished with the NFL as a whole making an estimated $9.5 billion dollars in the 2011/2012 season. The NFL commissioner takes a nice paycheck from all the money that the NFL is making racking up a staggering $44.2 million dollars just for him last year alone. That is a little more than double what the highest paid NFL player Aaron Rodgers with $22 million dollars. That is a little more than enough considering around everything; he made more last year than most people and even most players will make in their entire life. Even if you are an NFL referee you make a quite a lot of money much more than I had anticipated. Through the past three years the average for an NFL referee salary was $173,000. Still the money doesn't stop there because even the waterboys make an annual salary of $53,000 a year. Players on the practice squad even take home a paycheck of $6,300 a week which for a full NFL season would be right around $163,800. At the end of the year when the Super Bowl ends, players on both team take home big bonuses with the winning side being more of course. The winning side takes around a $97,000 bonus while the losers of the game still take home a good $49,000 per player. The NFL has come a long way since its creation and it a lot of it is because of the first Super Bowl in 1967. The Super Bowl has accomplished all of its goals that it was created for. There is now a one true, undisputed champion of football at the end of the NFL season. The game is also more popular than ever with the popularity only rising. It has more than surpassed the goal for money as well. The Super Bowl has changed football in a great way forever and what's next for the game is unknown because the sky's the limit.
there are many things you can compare and contrast between the superbowl and the NBA finals their are many things you can compare between these two,the superbowl is better for a lot of things, Halftime, also the team winning the trophy , like the Denver Broncos and the New England patriots. Dont forget about the roaring fans in the superbowl, they get louder and louder and go home with sore throats. NBA finals, their are some good teams also good players which ever you consider best. NBA finals fans are alright, they only get crazy in the fourth quarter because thats when the players really put in effort. why wait until the last twelve minutes to really start playing.
America’s newfound favorite pastime, football, came from a bizarre chain of events. Football started when a soccer player got fed up with just kicking the ball, so he picked up the ball and ran to the goal. His actions of picking up the ball and running with it fathered a new European sport, rugby, which was soon brought over to American shores, and was altered slightly, the shape of the ball and a few other small rules. The sport became organized into a league and produced the NFL(National Football League). The NFL had a slow beginning, but has picked up popularity, currently having a $9 billion yearly revenue.
Play style, rules differences, and passion for the game are on field differences between college football, and the NFL. There are also many off field differences, including money. Most general things about the game, are still the same though. Due to the differences between college football and the NFL, college football is more enjoyable to watch as a fan.
Douglas E. Foley offers an interesting analysis of American football culture in high schools, in his article titled “The Great American Football Ritual: Reproducing Race, Class and Gender Inequality”. The author covers the ways that the football culture splits people apart and segregates them into groups based on what they contribute to the football scene. The football scene seems to bring negativity to the lives of every group it touches, yet it is still a staple in American culture to this day.
Jim Thorpe was one of the first to change the game. He was an American Indian who was tremendously talented at football. He became the president of the league after he was done playing on a team. He named the league the NFL, which stands for National Football League. This name still stands today for the name of the league where the pros play.
The National Football League was formed decades ago by the merger of two national leagues. The Super Bowl is the traditional season-end activity that crowns the national champion. Each team represented starts with one of the original leagues.The number of teams active in the NFL does not remain the same for longr.o. the game of professional football is big business and can be highly profitable. When the NFL announces that it has approved new expansion teams, there is intense competition among team less cities to attract one of the franchises. The game is profitable for team owners and for players, but it also is profitable for the cities in which teams are centered. It contributes to the local economy and enhances the stature of the city in where a team is located.
On September 17, 1920, some men gathered in Canton, Ohio at the Hupmobile showroom of Ralph Hay (“NFL Founded” 1). At the end of this meeting between these men the American Professional Football Association was formed but later will become the National Football League. This is a story of how the National Football League has transformed into the league it is today (1).
American Football is a huge spectator sport where offensive and defensive players will use teamwork and perseverance to try and score more points than their opponent. Football is highly respected in America, where boys will try and pursue the dream of playing in the NFL (National Football Association) someday; but if you look at an average neighborhood, you will find that kids and adults of all ages love to go out and throw around the pigskin. (Lerner and Lerner 275). One thing Americans will take pride in is the college and NFL football teams they root for. People sit down with a beer and talk hours upon hours of football and two individuals can get in a heated discussion in the local sports store of whose sports team is better.
“MLB [Major League Baseball] led all sports with $5 billion in retail sales in 2010, with Collegiate Licensing Company behind at $4.3 billion. The NFL lagged at about $3.3 billion,” (Dosh 2012). However, the NFL reached double-digit growth in 2011 when it pertains to women. The NFL did experience all-time highs in the 2011 season when it came to women. According to Dosh (2012), the number of American women participating in fantasy football doubles and TV rating increased from 3.7 to...
How football began, the first American football game was played on November 6, 1869. The Rutgers vs. Princeton played the first game (Bennett). Walter Camp introduced the line of scrimmage and down and distance (Bennett). The first professional “league” was the Ohio League (Bennett). The American Football League (AFL) started in 1960 (Bennett). The first Super Bowl was in 1967 and the Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chief (Brooks and King). The Houston Oilers defeated the Los Angles Charges in the first AFL championship (Brooks and King). Considered one of the greatest coaches, Vince Lombardi, died from cancer on September 3, 1970 at the age of 57 (Brooks and King). Seven days after Lombardi’s death, the National Football League honored him with the name of the Super Bowl trophy (Brooks and King). Franco Harris made the “Immaculate Reception” which lead to the first Pittsburgh Steelers victory for them (Brooks and King). In the 1970’s the Pittsburgh Steelers won four Super Bowls (Brooks and King). In 1978 the National Football League moved from 14 games a season to 16 games (Brooks and King). O.J. Simpson is the first player to rush over 2,000 yards (Brooks and King). In 1981 Ronald Regan said “Football is the last thing left in civilization where men can lite...
On Sundays in the fall people all over the world are watching pro football. But do they know how it came to be or how the rules have gotten to be the way they are today? Most people don’t, so I am going to tell you all about it.
Football is by all means an American sport. Since the day a baby is born in America whether it be a boy or a girl, one of the first words they learn to say is ball, and after a few months they add the word foot in front of the word ball, and by the time you know it your baby boy is playing football, and your little girl is cheering “Go Steeler’s go!” and without intention their cultural identity starts. As far back as I can remember, every year, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends would gather at my family’s home to watch this event called theSuper Bowl. It was something that could not be missed, because if you did you were considered a lost cause.
A common question asked is where American Football got its name even though it was played (for the most part) by hand. The answer for this is simple. When the game was first brought to the United States, it was nothing like the football we know and love today. The use of hands was minimal and it was an illegal play to throw the ball in a forward motion. At this time in History the extra point kick was worth six points in the late 1800’s and a touchdown only worth two. So as a result they named the game football because at this point kicking the goal was worth more points and were the main goal of the game. They were tempted to name the game something similar to the game it was made from, rugby, however they decided they would differentiate it by naming it something completely different.
For my historical subject I will be analyzing how the super bowl has changed over the past 50 years. Unlike sports such as baseball and the world series, the super bowl was a fairly young concept. The first game was played in 1967. Back then there were 2 different leagues that played the sport, the AFL (American Football League) and the NFL (National Football League). The super bowl was created as a result of a merger negotiation between the two leagues after years of constant competition. The winner of each league would now play each other in a championship match. In the earlier stages of the super bowl, it was not as popular as we see today. A few years after the original merger, the NFL split into what we now know has the NFC (National
A recent article in Readers Digest estimates that most Americans spend at least 13% of their income on sporting events and sport related products. Sports has entertained American people and drained money out of their pockets making sporting events an arena of pure economic activity. It has been proven that Americans will purchase tickets to attend sporting events, but this alone does not create enough revenue to keep sports teams profitable.