The Buffalo Bills (in white) against the New England Patriots (in blue).

The NFL logo and the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Speaker: Chuck Rolando (Standard American accent)

There are 316 million people in the United States. And one day every year, 100 million of them do exactly the same thing: they watch the Super Bowl!

THE BIG DAY

The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL). It is also one of the most important events of the year in the US. It takes place on the first Sunday of February, which is February 1st this year.
The day the Super Bowl takes place is called Super Bowl Sunday. Most Americans watch the game on TV with their families and friends. They eat lots of food – Americans eat more food on Super Bowl Sunday than on any other day of the year except Thanksgiving Day. Many of them eat fast food, like chicken wings, burgers and pizzas, and they drink beer – lots of it! At half-time millions of TV viewers go the bathroom: this creates a water pressure problem in many cities.

A RECORD

If you want to sell something to Americans, the Super Bowl is the best place to do it! More Americans watch the Super Bowl than any other programme on TV. More than 110 million people watched last year’s Super Bowl. This was the most-watched programme in US history!

ADVERTISING

The funny thing is that many people are more interested in the Super Bowl’s advertisements than in the game. Companies pay millions of dollars to advertise on the Super Bowl, which had more than 45 minutes of TV ads last year. The advertisements are often funny or shocking, and people talk about them for a long time after the game.
Many people also watch the Super Bowl just to see the half-time show. This is a 30-minute musical performance in the middle of the game. Some of the world’s biggest stars, including Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince and The Rolling Stones, have performed at the half-time show. This year’s half-time star is 30-year-old American singer Katy Perry.

THE ITALIAN CONNECTION

The first Super Bowl took place in 1967, and this year is the 49th Super Bowl. Roman numerals are used and so it is called Super Bowl XLIX. The stadium changes every year: this year the organizers have chosen the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The game will decide the winner of this year’s football season, which began last September. The team that wins the game will receive the Vince Lombardi Trophy. This is in honour of Vince Lombardi, the coach of the Green Bay Packers, who won the first Super Bowl in 1967. Vince Lombardi was an Italian American: his grandparents emigrated to the United States from Salerno.

SUPER TEAMS

The Pittsburgh Steelers, from Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, are the most successful Super Bowl team ever. They have won the Super Bowl six times – that’s more times than any other team.
Both the Dallas Cowboys, from Dallas, Texas, and the San Francisco 49ers, from San Francisco, California, have won the Super Bowl five times.
The Buffalo Bills, from a town near Buffalo in New York, played at four consecutive Super Bowls – that’s more than any other team – from 1990 to 1993. However, they lost all four games!

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