It's time to party like it's MCMXCIX.
Look, we've all wondered about it. Welcome to the safe space where there is no judgement for asking the big questions of life: why does the Super Bowl brand itself with Roman numerals?
Super Bowl LVIII has arrived and we'd love to tell you the tradition was started by Titus Caesar Vespasianus enjoying a spot of gridiron football in ancient Rome – he certainly had the state-of-the-art stadium for it.
Unfortunately the truth feels disappointingly mundane compared to the idea of the Kansas City Chiefs duking it out with the San Francisco XLIXers at the Colosseum circa 80AD.
RadioTimes.com finally reveals why the Super Bowl uses Roman numerals.
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There's a very valid reason for the Super Bowl using Roman numerals beyond aesthetics. We will use this season to demonstrate.
The current NFL season is referred to as the 2023 season, as the regular season was staged between September and December 2023. The playoffs ran through January 2024 and the Super Bowl will be hosted in February 2024.
While 'Super Bowl 2024' is a perfectly valid expression for the big game taking place this weekend, it would cause confusion considering the 2024 NFL season will take place later this year.
This year's Super Bowl winners will be recognised as 2023 season champions, not 2024.
To avoid conflict, Lamar Hunt – former owner of the Kansas City Chiefs who also coined the term 'Super Bowl' – is credited with the idea for referring to Super Bowls with numbers, starting with Super Bowl 3.
The Roman numerals were introduced for Super Bowl V (5) in 1971 – following the 1970 season – and the earlier Super Bowl encounters were retrospectively rebranded as Super Bowl I, II, III and IV.
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Michael Potts is the Sport Editor for Radio Times, covering all of the biggest sporting events across the globe with previews, features, interviews and more. He has worked for Radio Times since 2019 and previously worked on the sport desk at Express.co.uk after starting his career writing features for What Culture. He achieved a first-class degree in Sports Journalism in 2014.
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