One of the most watched sporting events in the world every year is the Super Bowl and this final game where the best team from the National Conference faces the best team from the American Conference did not have this globally recognizable name from its origins
The story of how the name Super Bowl came about goes back to the early years of this iconic tournament, where Lamar Hunt, founder of the AFL, along with a children’s toy, would completely change the perspective of the name of the NFL final.
Jerry Rice silences Eagles fans by flexing his Super Bowl rings
What is the origin of the name Super Bowl
In 1960, in the United States, there were two professional football leagues: the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). When the NFL and AFL agreed to merge in the mid-1960s, a decision was made to create a game to pit the champions of both leagues against each other, thanks to a letter from Lamar Hunt, founder of the AFL and who also owned the Kansas City Chiefs, to then NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle.
Initially, the game had a long and unattractive name in the eyes of the executives and the general public, as the name of this game was the AFL – NFL World Championship Game. The name was not functional for television marketing and did not encourage the public to enjoy the event. But Hunt, naturally and without context or symbolism, called the game the Super Bowl.Lamar Hunt recounted in a 1986 op-ed for The New York Times that the name came out of nowhere at a 1966 joint committee meeting. Hunt corroborated that the origin of the name, in fact, goes back to a children’s toy called the Super Ball.
“I don’t remember any pre-thought about this unhistoric moment. I think I probably remembered it because my daughter, Sharron, and my son, Lamar Jr. had a child’s toy called Super Ball and I probably exchanged the phonetics of ‘bowl’ and ‘ball'”.
The Super Bowl 2026 is scheduled to take place on February 8, 2026
The Super Bowl 2026 will be played on Sunday, February 8, 2026, and the game is scheduled to kick off at 6:30 pm ET, the traditional time for the big game, where Bad Bunny will perform at halftime with a show that is expected to be one of the best in recent years.
As every year, Super Bowl Sunday will include extensive pre-game coverage, analysis, special ceremonies and musical performances before kickoff and much more, so the broadcast will begin several hours before this great event.
