Why is it called the Super Bowl? Exploring origins of Big Game's moniker

When the NFL was first established in 1920, its championship game was only called the NFL Championship game for more than 40 years. The yearly extravaganza has become the most watched sporting occasion in the United States since the inaugural Super Bowl took place in January 1967.

This year's Super Bowl, the 59th edition, will take place on Feb. 9 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. Given that there will be another Super Bowl in a few weeks, it might be appropriate to take a look back at how the NFL Championship game got its name.

Lamar Hunt, the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs and founder of the AFL, is widely believed to have come up with the name for the NFL Championship Game. Hunt proposed in a letter written to NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle before the 1966 season that the AFL and NFL hold a championship matchup between their respective leagues' winners.

According to reports, Hunt chose the term "Super Bowl" explicitly in his letter to Rozelle. He seemingly came up with the name after watching his kids play with a "Super Ball" toy.

Don Weiss, a former NFL publicity director, claimed that Rozelle disapproved of the name. According to reports, if the league's all-star contest wasn't already known as the "Pro Bowl," he would have used that title instead. Also, Hunt's proposal was not immediately rejected, but the other league owners reportedly laughed when they heard the term "Super Bowl.”

The media then started using Hunt's phrase, "Super Bowl." According to some stories, the Super Bowl became so popular that new words with "Super" before the noun were coined, such as Super Teams, Super Week, Super Sunday, Super Players, and so forth. Over the course of the next year, the phrase "Super Bowl" became widely used by players, fans, national analysts and media networks.

The first game to use the Super Bowl title in authorized marketing was Super Bowl III in January 1969. The two NFL-AFL championship games before then were therefore subsequently renamed Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II.

The AFC championship trophy has since been named the Lamar Hunt Trophy, in Hunt's honor, while the Super Bowl trophy is also named after Vince Lombardi. Interestingly, Hunt's Kansas City Chiefs will take on the Philadelphia Eagles in February in an attempt to capture the team's fifth Lombardi Trophy.

When is Super Bowl LIX?

The Kansas City Chiefs will have the chance to become the first team in NFL history to three-peat the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, when they take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX, which will be held at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. Fox will broadcast the game.

New Orleans will host the Super Bowl for the 11th time. They will equal Miami for the hosting the most Super Bowl games in history. The last time Miami held the major event was in 2020. New Orleans has not hosted the NFL Championship game since 2013.