Before super bowl what was it called

It would take two more years before the game earned the official moniker of "Super Bowl. At the time, the 7-year-old AFL, an upstart that was launched to compete with the NFL and bring football teams to new markets, had just signed a deal to combine the two rival leagues. A provision of the merger called for the two leagues to stage an annual season-ending contest between their respective champions.

While official, it never took off. Norma Hunt, whose husband was the owner of the Chiefs and a founding member of the AFL, was buying some gifts for her young children in a Dallas, Texas, toy store when she came across some balls that bounced so high they could go over a small house. Others thought it was a bit corny, even though it was used unofficially in the first game in Los Angeles in Though the NFL officially formed in , the Super Bowl wasn't played until more than 40 years later.

In , a group of businessmen who wanted to own football franchises—but were denied by the NFL—launched an alternative league, known as the American Football League AFL. Then, in , owners negotiated an agreement to merge the leagues by The champions of each play in the Super Bowl.

Against the Jets, though, Baltimore didn't score until the fourth quarter. As he left the field that afternoon at the Orange Bowl in Miami, "Broadway Joe" Namath pointed his index finger in the air. The Cowboys resurged in the s, and the Buffalo Bills became a powerhouse franchise, although they never won a Super Bowl, infamously losing four title games in a row from The AFC has bounced back in the years since the Bills' run of losses. Since , the Patriots have established themselves as a dynasty, with Tom Brady leading them to nine Super Bowl appearances and six wins.

Louis Rams 23, Tennesee Titans 16, Jan. Louis Rams 17, Feb. The early Super Bowls featured modest marching bands from local high schools or colleges during halftime shows. As the years went on, popular musicians began to take the stage, and the shows evolved into much-anticipated spectacles. Some viewers consider the halftime show, now a full minute act, a bigger event than the football game, tuning in solely for the musical entertainment.

The halftime show is famous for musical surprises…and mishaps. While some might consider it just a game, the Super Bowl has become a unique, shared experience in American culture.

The Kansas City Star newspaper quoted Hunt's term of "Super Bowl" shortly thereafter, and other media began following suit. The NFL didn't jump all over it, considering alternatives such as the "Merger Bowl" and simply "The Game," but apparently no one liked those, either.

Retroactively, the first Super Bowl was played on Jan. But that game, and the edition that followed in , wasn't officially known as a "Super Bowl. It's obviously hugely popular now and would be near-impossible to change without totally baffling the public. American Football. Buccaneers v Chiefs. Who is Robert Hunt? Meet the Dolphins lineman who scored one of the best touchdowns that didn't count. American Football 2h ago. Odell Beckham Jr.