What is the Super Bowl?
This Sunday, February 9, is not a holiday in the United States, but it might seem like one to Americans.
Many will be attending parties to watch Super Bowl LIX. The Super Bowl is the championship game of professional American football.
The National Football League, or NFL, has 32 teams mainly based in large cities across the U.S.
The first professional league was formed in 1920, when representatives of four teams met in Canton, Ohio. The group first called itself the American Professional Football Association but changed the name two years later to the National Football League.
In 1960, Texas businessman Lamar Hunt pushed the effort to create the American Football League, or AFL. The two leagues competed with each other to sign top football players from universities around the country.
In 1965, established NFL players began negotiating to play for the competing league. So, officials of the two leagues decided to work together. This agreement established a championship game between the two leagues. It was officially called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game but became known as the Super Bowl.
The first Super Bowl was played in 1967 in Los Angeles, California. The Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs. It was not a very exciting game. Many of the seats in the sports center were empty. That changed with the Super Bowl played two years later. Experts say the public finally accepted the new league when the New York Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts.
After that game in 1969, officials of the two leagues decided to create a new National Football League. They divided the teams into two competing conferences, the American Conference, or AFC, and the National Conference, NFC. Each year, the conference champions play in the Super Bowl.
Today, the Super Bowl is a major sporting event. Tens of thousands of people will be watching the game Sunday at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Tens of millions of other people around the world will be watching Super Bowl LIX. They will be watching to see if the AFC Kansas City Chiefs or the NFC Philadelphia Eagles become the champions of American football.
Both teams have had success in the Big Game. The Eagles are one-time NFL champions. They defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII. This Sunday will be the team's fifth NFL championship game appearance.
The Kansas City Chiefs have played for the championship six times. They have won four times, including the last two Super Bowls. The Chiefs are the first team in NFL history to have a chance to win a third Super Bowl in a row.
I'm Caty Weaver.
Caty Weaver wrote this report for VOA Learning English with contributing information from the Associated Press.
____________________________________________________
Words in this Story
league –n. sports teams that play each other and are linked by a business agreement and rules
exciting –adj. something that causes excitement
in a row –phrase one following another in a series
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Voice of America
28-02-2025
- Voice of America
Russian chess grandmaster Boris Spassky dies at 88
Soviet chess grandmaster Boris Spassky, who was famously defeated at the height of the Cold War, has died at 88, the Russian Chess Federation announced Thursday. "The tenth world champion Boris Spassky has died at 88," the Russian Chess Federation said in a statement on its website, calling this a "great loss for the country." The statement did not say when exactly he died or from what cause. Spassky is best remembered for his duel with American Bobby Fischer in 1972, which was emblematic of the confrontation between East and West. The iconic Cold War duel has been the subject of numerous books, documentaries and films. Most notably it inspired the Walter Tevis novel The Queen's Gambit, which was adapted into the acclaimed Netflix series in 2020. Spassky became world champion in 1969 and held the title until he played the match that would define his career, facing the eccentric American prodigy. With the Soviet Union having dominated the game for years, Spassky faced a must-win situation and initially took the lead. But the American roared back to win, ending an unbroken streak of Soviet world champions since 1948. Although the loss was a slap in the face for Moscow, Spassky admitted decades later it was a relief to be rid of a "colossal responsibility." Born in 1937 in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, Spassky showed prodigious talent early, becoming junior world champion and the youngest grandmaster in history at the time at 18.
Voice of America
14-02-2025
- Voice of America
Russian- and Soviet-born coaches still shaping US figure skating's future
The tragic deaths of Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov in a plane crash late last month in Washington have shone a spotlight on the role of Russian- or Soviet-born coaches in the world of competitive figure skating. Their influence has shaped a generation of American skaters, raising the question: Why have these coaches been so successful in the U.S.? Maxim Adams has the story. Video editor: Serge Sokolov, Anna Rice
Voice of America
10-02-2025
- Voice of America
Philadelphia defeats Kansas City in Super Bowl
The Philadelphia Eagles dominated the Kansas City Chief in this year's Super Bowl, defeating the reigning champions by a score of 40-22. The Chiefs had been slightly favored to win the game, going into the American football showdown with hopes of winning their third consecutive National Football League title. But the Eagles held the Chiefs scoreless until late in the third quarter. By that time, the Philadelphia team already had 34 points on the board at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was named the game's MVP. President Donald Trump attended the matchup, the first sitting U.S. president to do so. Before the game, the president issued a press release stating that 'football is America's most popular sport—for good reason—it fosters a sense of national unity, bringing families, friends, and fans together and strengthening communities.' 'This annual tradition transcends our differences and personifies our shared patriotic values of family, faith, and freedom heroically defended by our military service members, law enforcement officers, and first responders,' he noted. The Super Bowl was estimated to attract more than 120 million viewers, with 30-second advertisements costing a record $8 million. Before the kickoff, a ceremony honored those killed and wounded in a truck-ramming New Year's Day terror attack in New Orleans on Bourbon Street, as well as first responders.
