Super Bowl 50

Super Bowl 50
Date February 7, 2016[note 1]
Stadium Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California
TV in the United States
Network CBS
 < XLIX Super Bowl LI > 

Super Bowl 50, the 50th edition of the Super Bowl in American football, and the 46th modern-era National Football League (NFL) championship game, will decide the league champion for the 2015 NFL season.

Instead of naming it Super Bowl L with Roman numerals like in previous Super Bowls, this game will be marketed with the Arabic numeral "50".[1][2] The game is scheduled to be played on February 7, 2016,[note 1] at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, the home stadium of the San Francisco 49ers.[3] This will be the first Super Bowl held in the San Francisco Bay Area since Super Bowl XIX in January 1985.[4]

It has been dubbed as the Golden Super Bowl[5] because it will be located in the Golden State (California); held in the home stadium of the 49ers, a team named after the miners of the California Gold Rush;[6] and because a 50th anniversary is traditionally the "golden anniversary." CBS will telecast the game in the United States.[7]

Background

Host selection process

In early 2012, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated that the league planned to make the 50th Super Bowl "spectacular" and that it would be "an important game for us as a league."[8]

Even though the Los Angeles area currently lacks an NFL franchise, Goodell said in 2009 that the game could be held there to mark the fiftieth Super Bowl and to commemorate Super Bowl I, which was held at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.[9] At the time of Goodell's comment, there were proposals to build two stadiums that could have hosted the game: Farmers Field in Downtown Los Angeles (L.A. Live) and Los Angeles Stadium in City of Industry, California.[10] However, neither was scheduled for construction by the time the league announced the finalists for host city.[8] The Rose Bowl in Pasadena and the aforementioned L.A. Coliseum were also discussed as possible host stadiums in the area.[9] The Rose Bowl, despite never having hosted an NFL team, hosted the Super Bowl five times between 1977 and 1993. The NFL has not had a franchise in the city since the 1994 season and has not had a Super Bowl played in the metropolitan area since 1993.

Levi's Stadium at the soft opening on August 2, 2014

Other than the Los Angeles area, sites included in early discussions or that submitted bids included:

The league eventually narrowed the bids to three sites: New Orleans' Mercedes-Benz Superdome, Florida's Sun Life Stadium, and the San Francisco Bay Area's Levi's Stadium.[14]

The league announced on October 16, 2012, that the two finalists were Sun Life Stadium[18] and Levi's Stadium.[19] The South Florida/Miami area has previously hosted the event 10 times (tied for most with New Orleans), with the most recent one being Super Bowl XLIV in 2010. The San Francisco Bay Area last hosted in 1985 (Super Bowl XIX), held at Stanford Stadium in Stanford, California, won by the home team 49ers. The Miami bid depended on whether the stadium underwent renovations. However, on May 3, 2013, the Florida legislature refused to approve the funding plan to pay for the renovations, dealing a significant blow to Miami's chances.[20]

On May 21, 2013, NFL owners at their spring meetings in Boston voted and awarded the game to Levi's Stadium.[4] The $1.2 billion stadium opened in 2014.[21]

Promotion

Various gold-themed promotions and initiatives will be held during the 2015 NFL season to tie into the 50th Super Bowl. Gold-colored versions of logos for the NFL Draft, Kickoff, and Playoffs will be used, fields will feature gold NFL logos and have the numbering of the 50-yard line painted gold, and beginning on week 7, all sideline jackets and hats will feature gold-trimmed logos. The 2015 schedule will feature a number of Super Bowl re-matches, gold footballs will be each high school that has had a player or coach appear in the Super Bowl, and "homecoming" events will also be held by teams at games.[22][23]

Use of the Arabic numeral

The NFL announced on June 4, 2014, that the game would be marketed with the Arabic numeral "50" instead of the Roman numeral "L." Roman numerals have been used by the league since Super Bowl V in 1971.[24][25] The use of Roman numerals will resume with Super Bowl LI, which will take place at NRG Stadium in Houston in February 2017.[1][2][24][25] According to Jaime Weston, the league's vice president of brand and creative, one primary reason for the change was difficulty designing a suitable logo for the game. Despite the league standardizing the Super Bowl logos beginning with Super Bowl XLV so that all would follow the same template, the graphic designers determined that using the template with only the letter "L" would not have been aesthetically pleasing enough.[1] The logo will also differ in that the Arabic numeral "50" will be in large gold numerals behind the logo, with 5 and 0 each on opposite sides of the Vince Lombardi Trophy, instead of underneath and in silver as in the standard logo.[1] The regional logo includes "Levi's Stadium" and features San Francisco landmarks.[24]

Super Bowl Week events

The annual NFL Experience will be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.[26] More than 1 million people are expected to attend the festivities in San Francisco during Super Bowl Week.[27] In addition, there are $2 million worth of other ancillary events, including a parade down Santa Clara's Great America Parkway that will cost $1.2 million, a week-long event at the Santa Clara Convention Center, a beer, wine and food festival at Bellomy Field at Santa Clara University, and a pep rally. A professional fundraiser will aide in finding business sponsors and individual donors, but still may need the city council to help fund the event. Additional funding will be provided by the city council, which has announced plans to set aside seed funding for the event.[28]

For the first time, the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee and the NFL have included disabled veteran and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-owned businesses in Business Connect, the Super Bowl program that provides local companies with contracting opportunities in and around the Super Bowl.[29] The Super Bowl 50 Host Committee has also dedicated 25 percent of all money it raises for philanthropic causes in the Bay Area.[30][31] The host Committee has already raised over $40 million through sponsors including Apple, Google, Yahoo!, Intel, Gap, Chevron, and Dignity Health.[26][32]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Date is tentative, pending possible future changes to the NFL calendar.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Rovell, Darren (June 4, 2014). "NFL: It's Super Bowl 50, not L". ESPN.com. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Rosenthal, Gregg (June 4, 2014). "NFL won't use Roman numerals for Super Bowl 50". NFL.com. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  3. ↑ Naranjo, Candice. "The Super Bowl is Coming to Levi’s Stadium in 2016". KRON-TV. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Rosenthal, Gregg (May 21, 2013). "San Francisco awarded Super Bowl L; Houston lands LI". National Football League. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Bay Area awarded Super Bowl". The Californian.com. May 22, 2013. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  6. ↑ "The Founder Tony Morabito". San Francisco Forty Niners. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
  7. ↑ Molloy, Tim (December 14, 2011). "NBC, Fox, CBS Extend NFL Deals Through 2022". TheWrap.com. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Florio, Mike (March 28, 2012). "NFL plans "spectacular" Super Bowl L". Profootballtalk.com. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "L.A. could host Super Bowl in 2016; Tampa in 2014?". NFL.com. February 3, 2009. Retrieved May 4, 2009.
  10. ↑ Farmer, Sam (November 9, 2008). "Team or no team, Los Angeles has a shot at 2016 Super Bowl". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 4, 2009.
  11. ↑ MacMahon, Tim (February 1, 2011). "Troy Aikman, Dallas Cowboys Want to Host Super Bowl L". ESPN. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Cowboys expected to be among bidders to host Super Bowl L". NFL.com. February 13, 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
  13. ↑ Kaplan, Daniel (February 13, 2012). "Super Bowl L: site-by-site look at 2016 possibilities". Sporting News. Retrieved February 13, 2012.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Bell, Jarrett (October 16, 2012). "NFL set to choose among three sites to stage Super Bowl L". USA Today. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  15. ↑ Rosenberg, Mike (December 14, 2011). "Santa Clara approves 49ers stadium deal; fate in NFL's hands". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
  16. ↑ Barrows, Matt. "49ers Blog and Q&A: Good hosts? 49ers plan to bid on Super Bowl L". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  17. ↑ "Seattle submits initial paperwork to host Super Bowl". NFL.com. February 6, 2012. Retrieved September 23, 2012.
  18. ↑ Davis, Craig (October 17, 2012). "South Florida a finalist with S.F. for 50th Super Bowl". Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
  19. ↑ Coté, John (October 17, 2012). "San Francisco a finalist to host 2016 or 2017 Super Bowl". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
  20. ↑ "Fla. Legislature refuses to aid Fins". ESPN.com. Associated Press. May 3, 2013. Retrieved May 3, 2013.
  21. ↑ Bigelow, Catherine (26 August 2014). "Super Bowl 50 team kicks off new HQ with S.F. soiree". SF Gate. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  22. ↑ "NFL goes gold, adding it to team logos, to celebrate Super Bowl 50". Washington Post. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  23. ↑ "NFL going gold in 2015 to celebrate Super Bowl 50: Five things to know". CBS Sports. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Rovell, Darren (5 June 2014). "NFL: It's Super Bowl 50, not L". ESPN. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Rosenthal, Gregg (4 June 2014). "NFL won't use Roman numerals for Super Bowl 50". NFL. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Roberts, Chris (15 October 2014). "Super Bowl 50 Gets Financial Boost from Big Tech". NBC Bay Area. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  27. ↑ "Bay Area Redefines ‘Super Bowl’ — A Look At What’s In Store For 2016’s Super Bowl 50". CBS SF Bay Area. 1 February 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  28. ↑ Rosenberg, Mike (19 January 2015). "A year from hosting Super Bowl 50, Santa Clara to get crash course in Arizona". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  29. ↑ Coté, John (9 November 2014). "For Super Bowl 50, NFL courts LGBT businesses". SF Gate. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  30. ↑ Leuty, Ron (2 February 2015). "Super Bowl 50 writes new playbook for giving". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  31. ↑ Aleaziz, Hamed (27 February 2015). "Super Bowl 50 hosts give $2.5 million for youth outreach". SFGate. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  32. ↑ Davidson, Alex (1 December 2014). "Super Bowl Fund to Launch on Giving Tuesday". The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Retrieved 25 March 2015.