By Mark Bauer/editor-in-chief
For more than four decades, the Super Bowl has been entertaining millions of viewers as some of the most watched televised broadcasts in history.
The championship game first came about as a result of the merger between the American Football League and the National Football League in 1966.
Originally, the game was named the AFL-NFL World Championship Game and took place in 1967. But both the media and fans preferred the simpler and less winded Super Bowl. It was during negotiations for the AFL-NFL merge that then Kansas City Chief owner, Lamar Hunt, suggested the name after he watched his daughter play with a toy ball of a similar name—Super Ball.
Hunt did not intend for the name to stick. In fact, he only suggested it as a fill-in until another name could be considered. But “Super Bowl” stuck and was officially adopted in 1969.
The Green Bay Packers won the first two Super Bowls, and many people began to doubt if the AFL teams could effectively compete against the older, more experienced NFL teams. But those worries were soon put to rest as the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs won the third and fourth Super Bowls, respectively.
In 1970 another merge took place and the AFL and NFL became known as one league, the National Football League, with two conferences—the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference.
The Vince Lombardi Trophy, valued at $25,000 and named after the coach of the Green Bay Packers, is given to the winning team of the Super Bowl.
