Wer am 7. Januar 1970, also vor ziemlich genau 55 Jahren, die „St. Petersburg Times“ aufschlug, bekam auf der ersten Seite des Sportteils folgende Schlagzeile zu lesen: „Corny And Bit Presumptuous, But It’s Still the ‘Super Bowl’“. Kitschig und etwas anmaßend sei der neue Name für das neue, gemeinsame Finale der beiden wichtigsten Football-Ligen des Landes, aber, nun ja, es bleibe eben dabei. Das saß.
Selbst derjenige, der verantwortlich dafür war, dass „die größte Attraktion des Footballs“ künftig Super Bowl genannt werden sollte, sei darum im Nachhinein „verlegen“ und „nicht unbedingt stolz“. Und der Commissioner Pete Rozelle, der oberste Chef der National Football League (NFL), das ließ der über seinen Assistenten an die „St. Petersburg Times“ ausrichten, habe den Namen überhaupt nicht gemocht – und stattdessen jahrelang nach Alternativen gesucht. Vergeblich.
Längst ein popkulturelles Phänomen
Geschrieben hat der Autor diese Zeilen, die sich im Archiv der Zeitung nachlesen lassen, in New Orleans, und damit genau dort, wo sich in der Nacht von diesem Sonntag auf Montag (0.30 Uhr MEZ bei RTL und DAZN) die Kansas City Chiefs und Philadelphia Eagles im mittlerweile 59. Super Bowl gegenüberstehen werden.
Längst ist das Endspiel der NFL zu einem popkulturellen Phänomen geworden, zu einem Megaspektakel, das weltweit Millionen Menschen in mehr als 100 Ländern begeistert. Bei der vergangenen Ausgabe im Jahr 2024 schalteten offiziellen Angaben zufolge allein in den USA 123,4 Millionen in TV und Streams ein, mehr Zuschauer hat es noch nie gegeben. Außerhalb Amerikas kamen in der Spitze noch einmal 62,5 Millionen Menschen hinzu.
1970, als das größte und wichtigste Footballspiel des Jahres erst zum vierten Mal und erstmals in New Orleans ausgetragen wurde, rechnete mit einer solchen Erfolgsgeschichte kaum jemand. Lange und intensive Verhandlungen, Diskussionen, ja regelrechte Streitgespräche über die Zukunft des Football in den USA lagen hinter den „Oberherren“ des Sports, wie sie von der „St. Petersburg Times“ genannt wurden. Ob das, was sie sich ausgedacht hatten, Bestand haben würde, stand in den Sternen.

In 1966 the two most powerful football leagues in the country, the long-established NFL and the American Football League (AFL), which was only founded in 1960, had decided not to compete, the best players and, above all, to compete, but instead common cause close. Even though the complete fusion of the two leagues to the new NFL, as it is known today, was only fully carried out in 1970, the leagues introduced a joint season finale in 1967: a strength of the two best teams of AFL and NFL.
However, many of the mighty men had a wide variety of ideas about how this finale should be called and, above all, marketed. “The Game” or “World Championship Game” were two of the suggestions, in the end they agreed on the somewhat bulky title “AFL – NFL World Championship Game”. But he did not cope with the press and the fans, who had to pay an impressive $ 15 $bot for the game in 1970 (today corresponds to a value of around 117 euros).

It bothered a man huge: Lamar Hunt, multimillion-heavy oil tycoon and owner of the football team Kansas City Chiefs (formerly Dallas Texans). Hunt, who had previously been refused to become the owner of an NFL team, had launched AFL together with other bumped investors and made quite a bit right with the AFL for years. In the league, for example, there were slightly different rules than in the NFL, which caused the offensive game to be remarkable more often and the games often ended with higher results. This delighted the audience, as well as the colorful team jerseys that were common in the AFL; Both to this day success factors of sport from America.
As early as 1966, Hunt referred to the grand finale between AFL and NFL as “Super Bowl” in conversations and letters. At first not meant very seriously, as can be seen in Michael Maccambridge's book “America's Game”: “I jokingly called the 'Super Bowl', which can of course be improved,” wrote down Hunt back then the NFL boss Rozelle. The newspaper “The Evening Standard” in Kansas City can also be found in its archive, he said that this was “his name for this game”, which should belong to the future of sport.
Alone: Nobody wanted to please this name. Commissioner Rozelle, which put a lot of value on a good tone, was not “demanding” enough, even under his AFL colleagues, Hunt was at best smiled at. “We asked ourselves: Who are we to call us 'great something' before we even got started?” Said Rozelle's assistant Jim Kensil of the “St. Petersburg Times ”.

But the press liked what Hunt had come up with. “Super Bowl” was handy, short and concise. The fans also took up the name quickly, even among the players, writes Maccambridge, the name was used again and again from the start: “Super Bowl” spread “like a running fire”. However, the leagues, especially the former NFL, initially refused persistently, at least publicly from their name “AFL – NFL World Championship Game”. Also due to a lack of better alternatives.
But the triumphal march of the Super Bowl could no longer be stopped. As early as 1969, the final of the league was titled as such, and the following year 1970 in New Orleans also advertised in this way for the first time. From then on there was no back. On the lawn in 1969 the spectators had seen a gripping show of strength between the favorite Baltimore Colts from the early NFL and the New York Jets from the AFL after two previously one -sided final.
The surprising 16: 7 victory of the Jets delighted the more than 80,000 spectators in the stadium and the press present in such a way that the two leagues, the Rozelles assistant later, had nothing else than after this resounding success to keep in with the name “Super Bowl”: “We never accepted the name – not until this year.”
The two previously played games from 1967 and 1968 were also called Super Bowl retrospectively. Super Bowl I According to today's counting, the final from 1967 is.

But like Hunt, who initially invested $ 25,000 (now around 260,000 euros) in his team, which is estimated today is worth almost four billion euros and is managed by his son Clark, in this name, which initially hardly wanted anyone and yet should become so significant?
Well, “Bowl Games” have been mentioned important football games in the United States since the early 20th century. The origin is the so -called Rose Bowl Game, which was held as part of the “Tournament of Roses” in the stadium in Pasadena, which was reminiscent of a bowl or bowl reminiscent of “Rose Bowl”.
And “Super Bowl” he called the new, big football final, said Hunt the “St. Petersburg Times ”, because when thinking about a suitable name like a toy called“ Super Ball ”, he shot into his head. With his two oldest children Lamar Jr. and Sharon often played, he was almost omnipresent in Hunt: “So we got Super Ball from Super Ball. Pretty silly, right? I'm not proud of it. But nobody had a better idea. “
After all: The “Super Ball”, a small, black flummy, was a real hit in the 1960s. More than 20 million pieces were sold in this decade alone, and up to 170,000 pieces per day were produced. He was advertised as the “most fantastic ball that science has ever created”. Even for the White House and his staff, McGeorge Bundy, security advisor of the then US President Lyndon B. Johnson, ordered 60 pieces, as he later confirmed several media. A success story. The Super Bowl, which owes its name to this toy, was too.