In professional American football, the Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League (NFL). The game is played on Super Bowl Sunday. Over the years, the Super Bowl has become the most-watched American television broadcast. The football game and its associated festivities are now considered to be a de facto American national holiday. Many popular singers and musicians have performed during the event’s pre-game and halftime ceremonies. Over 200 million people watch the Super Bowl around the world.

The Super Bowl was first played on January 15, 1967, as part of an agreement between the NFL and a rival league, the American Football League (AFL). It was agreed that the two leagues’ champion teams would play in an annual AFL–NFL World Championship Game. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather than the year in which it is held. Super Bowl I was played in 1967 to determine the championship of the regular season played in 1966, and Super Bowl XLIV will be played in 2010 to determine the champion of the 2009 regular season.

After the two leagues merged in 1970, the Super Bowl became the NFL Championship Game; the game was then played between the champions of the NFL’s two conferences—the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC).