The general public cannot buy Super Bowl tickets at face value

The face value of a Super Bowl ticket rose 136% from 2016-26

At Levi’s Stadium, which first hosted the Super Bowl in 2016, face-value lower-bowl end zone seats increased from $1,800 to $4,250 by 2026, while price tiers expanded and the overall cost of attendance skyrocketed.

Some Super Bowl performers make less than $1K for the event

The NFL has a longstanding policy of not compensating Super Bowl Halftime show performers, with the idea that the true compensation for artists is the scale of the exposure to the artist’s music. Previous Super Bowl performers have made the union rate minimum, which is about $1K per day.

Legal gambling on Super Bowl 60 is expected to reach $1.76B

Legal Super Bowl wagering has grown sharply over the past decade as US states legalized sports betting. In 2018, sports betting was only legal in Nevada and accounted for $158.5M.

The NFL selects the Super Bowl host city years in advance and follows a list of criteria

Since 2018, the NFL has invited select cities to negotiate hosting rights rather than accept open bids, with owners voting based on stadium size, climate, hotels, transportation, security capacity, and infrastructure.

Dot-com companies paid $44M for Super Bowl ads in 2000

During the 2000 Super Bowl game, 17 dot-com companies paid $44M total for ads. Just the next year, only three dot-com companies ran ads in the game. The significant drop reflects just how hard the crash hit dot-com companies and how unsustainable the businesses were.

A 30-second Super Bowl 2026 ad is expected to cost $8M

By 2026, a single 30-second Super Bowl ad is projected to cost $8M. Advertisements for Super Bowl I in 1967 cost from $37,500 to $42,500 for a 30-second spot.

The Super Bowl is the National Football League’s championship game

Played annually in early February between the league’s two conference champions, the game was created as part of the 1966 merger between the American Football League and the National Football League. It has become the most-watched sporting event in the US each year.

NFL stadiums are designed to maximize profit, not number of seats

Most stadiums are actually getting smaller as the cost of land rises. Owners have sought to increase returns by designing prestige suits and clubs (rather than just more general admission) and laying out the stadium to maximize customer purchases.

The NFL makes most of its money through media licensing deals

The NFL, which reportedly earned more than $20B in 2023, generates its revenue through several key streams. The largest comes from media licensing deals, where networks and streaming platforms pay billions for the rights to broadcast games. Corporate sponsorships are another major contributor.

The Super Bowl is televised in over 180 countries in nearly 25 languages

First aired in 1967 on two US networks, the Super Bowl became a global broadcast in 1982, drawing about 4.5 million viewers in England, and is now televised in more than 180 countries in roughly 25 languages.

The first Super Bowl didn't sell out—and the Packers won in a rout

Played on January 15, 1967, as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, Super Bowl I failed to sell out the Los Angeles Coliseum as Vince Lombardi's Green Bay defeated Kansas City 35-10.

US consumers spent $670M on snack food during Super Bowl week in 2024

According to Circana and NielsenIQ, Super Bowl week drove $670M in snack spending and 107 million pounds of food, with most fans watching at home, spending about $44 on food and drinks each.

Pepsi dominates the list of the highest-rated Super Bowl commercials in history

The Super Bowl features the two best NFL teams, playing American football at the highest level. While the games may be forgotten by fans whose team didn’t make it, no one forgets the commercials.

Super Bowl LIX in 2025 made TV history with over 127 million viewers

Nielsen reported Super Bowl LIX drew an estimated 127.7 million viewers, the largest audience in Super Bowl history, with peak viewership near 138 million. This resource also includes viewership figures for every Super Bowl dating back to Super Bowl I.

From 1989 to 2022, Anheuser-Busch had exclusive alcohol ad rights to the Super Bowl

That meant if an alcohol company was not owned by Anheuser-Busch (and later after the merger, AB InBev), it could not advertise during the Super Bowl. This monopoly was part of how Budweiser became known for its Clydesdale Super Bowl ads.

A 1973 ad is credited with accelerating the Super Bowl advertising craze

The Super Bowl’s history as an advertising phenomenon began in earnest during the 1970s. In 1973, for instance, Joe Namath and Farrah Fawcett starred in Noxzema’s “Cream Your Face” ad, which Smithsonian Magazine says helped establish the game “as an event for advertisers.” Read this article to learn more about how the Super Bowl became advertising’s, well, Super Bowl.

The most expensive Super Bowl ad cost $26M

Amazon’s 2022 “Mind Reader” ad with Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost is the most expensive Super Bowl ad to date. The ad is a minute and a half long, which drastically drove up the price of the commercial.

See the evolution of Super Bowl logos and how the NFL refined its visual identity over time

Tracing Super Bowl logos from early, varied designs to today’s standardized look shows how the NFL adapted to shifting design trends, television demands, and brand strategy.

You can bet on the color of the Gatorade dumped on the winning coach for the Super Bowl

Many sports books offer additional prop bets reserved only for the Super Bowl, including the Gatorade color, the length of the national anthem, and more. In 2026, the betting favorite for the Gatorade color is orange.

Rivalry between the AFL and NFL led to a merger—and the creation of the Super Bowl

Competition between the American Football League and the National Football League led to a 1966 merger agreement, with the Super Bowl created as a championship game to determine league supremacy before the two leagues were fully integrated.

Hear the stories behind each Super Bowl ring from the past 59 champions

Super Bowl rings are championship jewelry given to players, coaches, and staff to commemorate a title. Over time, they’ve grown dramatically—from the Packers’ 1966 ring with a single half-carat diamond to modern designs featuring nearly 10 carats.

The decline in value of the NFL running back

Running backs long held the role of superstar on NFL teams, carrying their team down by down to the endzone. Their salaries reflected that importance as well. But in the last 30 years, front offices and fans have taken more to the quarterback instead, who receives much higher salaries. This podcast episode breaks down the economics of the turn in the game's focus from rushing to passing.

17 cities have hosted a Super Bowl, with Miami and New Orleans tied for the most

The resource details where each Super Bowl has been played, listing every host city alongside its stadium, and shows how a small group of warm-weather and domed locations came to dominate hosting duties over time.

A children's toy inspired the name ‘Super Bowl’

The name “Super Bowl” was coined by AFL founder Lamar Hunt, who casually suggested it in 1966—riffing on his child’s Super Ball toy—after alternatives such as “The Big One” and “AFL-NFL World Championship Game” proved clunky and forgettable. The name was officially adopted for the third championship.

The NFL is the most valuable sports league in the world.

Hear how the Super Bowl went from a risky experiment to America's unofficial holiday

In this podcast episode, former Emmy award-winning ESPN producer Dennis Deninger traces the Super Bowl's unlikely rise from the AFL-NFL merger era to a national spectacle, explaining how it reshaped advertising, gambling, television, and American culture.

Watch a comprehensive history of the Super Bowl

This video traces the Super Bowl's history from its origins through major games, ads, and cultural moments, offering a comprehensive overview of how the event evolved. Note that the video covers through the 2020 season.

100 years of NFL history in under four minutes

Founded in 1920 in Canton, Ohio, professional football has grown into the premiere sport in the US. Generating more than $20B annually, the NFL gained significant popularity after merging with the American Football League in 1970, a move which among other things established the Super Bowl.

Americans spent nearly $150B in sports-related bets in 2024

These bets ranged from who would win the World Series to what color clothes famous celebrities would wear to the Super Bowl. Experts believe the industry will continue to grow.

Hosting the NFL Draft comes with hidden public safety costs

The economic upside of hosting the Draft—Detroit reported $214 million in impact in 2024—depends on months of behind-the-scenes work. Coordinating law enforcement, emergency medical services, and traffic control entails real public costs that rarely make the headlines.

How NFL teams mistake the values of their draft picks

The NFL draft is a highly anticipated event. Each spring football franchises take turns selecting roughly 250 players over seven rounds. Teams regularly trade draft picks to reach a certain player they expect to fall at their selection point, giving market analysts the ability to determine the value of those trades. This video explores the NFL draft market's inefficiency.

The rising cost of taking a family to the ballgame

While inflation affects the price of all goods and services across an economy, some hit harder for consumers than others. Taking data from the average cost of tickets all the way down to the number of hot dogs a family would buy, the average pricetag for a family of four to attend a baseball game is now just over $200–making America’s pastime cost-prohibitive for many families.

NFL explained

The NFL is the premier professional American football league, founded in 1920 in Canton, Ohio. It consists of 32 teams playing an 18-week regular season from September to January, culminating in the Super Bowl championship in February. The NFL has grown into the world's most valuable sports league, generating nearly $20B in revenue in 2023, and with teams valued at $163B combined. Learn its history here.

The NFL is so successful because it is perfectly suited for television

The predictable weekly cadence of football games ritualizes the experience of watching together, and their relative scarcity makes every game meaningful. With the stop-and-go play of the sport, there are predictable, repeating stoppages to allow broadcasters to sell lots of advertising inventory. The league sits in the sweet spot compared to MLB (many games) and NBA and soccer (continuous play with fewer ads). This Acquired episode distills fascinating insights into the NFL's business and history.

The Chicago Bears are the only professional sports team to score a Billboard Hot 100 hit

The 1985 track "The Super Bowl Shuffle" was recorded for charity, but the song (with its rudimentary raps and goofy taunts) became an unexpected hit, reaching No. 41 on the Hot 100 chart. This podcast digs into the history of the song and how it became an unexpected pop culture phenomenon.

Michael Jackson's halftime show created the modern Super Bowl spectacle

In 1993, Michael Jackson's Super Bowl halftime performance prompted the NFL to extend the break and reimagine it as a must-watch event. It is widely regarded as the first modern halftime show built around a global superstar.

A major upset in Super Bowl XLII prevented the Patriots from completing an undefeated season

In Super Bowl XLII, the heavily favored New England Patriots lost 17-14 to the Giants, ending a 16-0 season after David Tyree's improbable helmet catch set up the winning drive.

The Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots are tied for the most Super Bowl wins

The Steelers and Patriots each have six wins, while the Cowboys and 49ers are tied for second with five wins. The Patriots have the most appearances with 11, while four teams—the Browns, Lions, Texans, and Jaguars—have never played in a Super Bowl.

See a ranking of the most iconic Super Bowl advertisements ever aired

The list highlights ads that reshaped Super Bowl advertising, including Snickers' Betty White spot, Budweiser's endlessly quoted "Whassup," and Wendy's "Where's the beef," showing how commercials became as memorable as the game itself.

Some found the Temu ‘Shop Like a Billionaire’ Super Bowl ads out of place in the Big Game

“It had no A-list celebrities or beloved cultural touchstones; not a single heartstring was tugged,” wrote one writer of the Temu ad that aired five times during the 2024 Super Bowl.

Learn how the NFL Draft works

Teams select players in a set order over seven rounds, with the weakest teams from the prior season picking first. Picks can be traded, and teams that lose free agents may receive additional compensatory picks.

Explore an archive of Budweiser’s past Super Bowl ads

With about 47 of them airing over the past few decades, Budweiser’s Clydesdale ads have basically become synonymous with the Super Bowl—but how many have you actually seen? From 1991 to 2024, this website includes many of Budweiser’s most famous Super Bowl ads.

Selling beer during college football games was once taboo, but it's now commonplace for the country's biggest teams.

Tom Brady has played in and won the most Super Bowls of any NFL player

Appearing in 10 Super Bowls and winning seven—both NFL records—Tom Brady captured championships with two different teams, an unmatched résumé that has led many to regard the former sixth-round pick as the greatest player in league history.

Malcolm Butler's late interception sealed the Patriots' Super Bowl XLIX victory

In Super Bowl XLIX, the Seattle Seahawks' potential game-winning drive ended when Malcolm Butler intercepted a goal-line pass, sealing a 28-24 victory for the New England Patriots.

The first Super Bowl halftime show featured marching bands and two men on jetpacks

At Super Bowl I, the halftime show featured college marching bands, a rifle drill team, and two performers flying jetpacks, in an era before music stars and spectacle defined the break.

Whitney Houston's 1991 Super Bowl rendition is the only recording of the national anthem to reach the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.

College football generates over $13B annually—but many programs run at a loss.

Janet Jackson's 2004 halftime show sparked a broadcast backlash

During Super Bowl XXXVIII, Justin Timberlake tore part of Janet Jackson's costume during the halftime finale, exposing her breast. The moment triggered widespread controversy, negative career repercussions for Jackson, FCC fines, and stricter standards for live television broadcasts.

Hear the story behind 11 iconic Super Bowl photos, told by the photographer who shot them

Sports Illustrated legend Walter Iooss Jr. revisits 11 unforgettable Super Bowl images—including Namath, Montana, and Taylor—explaining how light, access, and timing captured moments that defined the game’s visual history.