101 Super Bowl Fun Facts

Alright kids, it’s that time of year again.  Break out the beer and guacamole because it’s Super Bowl week!  As an avid NFL fan (particularly the Minnesota Vikings), I can say with total and utter sincerity that I absolutely love the Super Bowl.  I love the drama, I love the fanfare and most importantly, I love the food!  To get in the Super Bowl spirit, I thought I’d compile one of my world-famous 101 lists of Super Bowl fun facts.  Hopefully you’ll have some interesting tidbits to impress your friends and family with during the big game.  Unless you’re one of those people mentioned in #24 – sorry! 😦

Super Bowl Food Facts

1. 8 million pounds of guacamole will be consumed on Super Bowl Sunday
2. 14,500 tons of chips will be eaten
3. Super Bowl fans spend more than $50 million on food during the 4 days before the Super Bowl
4. Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest winter grilling day of the year
5. 4,000 tons of popcorn are consumed on Super Bowl Sunday
6. 326 million gallons of beer will be consumed on Super Bowl Sunday – enough to fill 1.2 million pickup truck beds
7. Super Bowl Sunday falls short only to Thanksgiving when it comes to food consumption
8. About 1.25 billion chicken wings will be eaten on Super Bowl Sunday
9. 9 million pieces of pizza will be consumed on Super Bowl Sunday
10. 10 million man-hours will be spent preparing Super Bowl party food
11. The average person consumes 3,000 calories on Super Bowl Sunday
12. The Monday following the Super Bowl, antacid sales increase by 20%

Super Bowl History

13. The Super Bowl is measured in Roman numerals because a football season runs the span over two calendar years
14. The first Super Bowl was held on January 15, 1967
15. No network footage exists of Super Bowl I. It was reportedly taped over for a soap opera
16. There are 4 teams that have never been to a Super Bowl: Browns, Lions, Jaguars and Texans
17. A ticket to the first Super Bowl in 1967 would have cost you $6 – it ran over $1,000 for most tickets in 2011
18. Miami has hosted the Super Bowl 10 times – more than any other city
19. Super Bowl XXVII was originally awarded to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ, but was moved to the Rose Bowl because AZ did not recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the time
20. The name “Super Bowl” came about after Lamar Hunt, owner of the KC Cheifs, saw his kids playing with a Super Ball
21. The first two Super Bowls were actually called “The AFL-NFL World Championship Game”
22. Super Bowl III was the first to be numbered with roman numerals
23. Tony Dungy was the first Aftrican-American coach to win a Super Bowl

The Super Bowl and People

24. The average number of people at a Super Bowl party is 17
25. 5% of all Americans will watch the game alone
26. More drivers are involved in alcohol-related accedents on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year (except St. Patrick’s Day).
27. 35% of people who attend the Super Bowl write it off as a corporate expense
28. Half of all Americans would rather go to a Super Bowl party than a New Year’s Eve party
29. An estimated 50 million American women will watch the Super Bowl
30. 2 out of 5 Super Bowl watchers are not avid football fans
31. The Super Bowl is the most watched sporting event in the world
32. The median age of Super Bowl viewers is 43
33. Super Bowl XLV will be seen live and on videotape in more than 230 countries.
34. Spending in the U.S. on Super Bowl-related merchandise, apparel and snacks is expected to reach $10.1 billion in 2011.
35. 20 million Americans will be attending a Super Bowl party in 2011
36. Approximately 7 million workers will not show up to work on the Monday after the Super Bowl

Super Bowl Records

37. The lowest scoring Super Bowl was IX – Pittsburgh beat Minnesota 16-6
38. The Minnesota Vikings are the only team to ever play in 4 Super Bowls and to never have the lead.
39. Kurt Warner holds the record for the most passing yards in a Super Bowl with 414 yards in Super Bowl XXIII
40. Pittsburgh has won the most Super Bowls with 6 victories
41. Minnesota, Buffalo and Denver have lost the most Super Bowls at 4 times each.  Buffalo lost 4 times in a row.
42. There are 3 individuals who have won the Super Bowl as a player and as a coach – Mike Ditka, Tom Flores and Tony Dungy.
43. The record for most interceptions in a Super Bowl was set by Rod Martin of Oakland.  He intercepted the Eagles 3 times.
44. Jerry Rice holds the record for most receiving yards in a Super Bowl.  He gained 215 yards on 11 catches in 1989.
45. The Super Bowl’s longest punt and longest punt return came on the same play.  In XXIII, a 63-yard punt was returned for a record 45 yards.
46. Kurt Warner holds the top 3 passing yardage games in Super Bowl history
47. John Elway holds the record for the most Super Bowl quarterback starts with 5
48. Giant’s QB Phil Simms racked up a passer rating of 150.9 in Super Bowl XXI – a super record
49. No Super Bowl has ever gone into overtime
50. No Super Bowl loser has ever been completely shut out
51. A punt-return for a touchdown has never happened in the history of the Super Bowl
52. Charles Haley has the most Super Bowl wins of any player – 3 with Dallas and 2 with San Francisco
53. Steelers quarterback Ben Rothlisberger holds the record for the lowest passer rating by a winning Super Bowl quarterback.
54. His rating was 22.6 in Super Bowl XL
55. Ben Rothlisberger was also the youngest quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl at 23 years, 340 days
56. The Dallas Cowboys have the most Super Bowl MVPs with 7, followed by the Steelers with 6
57. The Super Bowl MVP award has gone to a quarterback 23 times.  Running backs come in second with 7 awards
58. Jerry Rice has the most touchdowns (7) in three Super Bowls
59. Mike Lodish has played the most Super Bowls (6), four with Buffalo and two with Denver
60. The Dolphins are the only team that failed to score a touchdown in a Super Bowl.  They scored just 3 points against Dallas in VI.
61. The longest field goal in Super Bowl history was 54 yards by Buffalo Bills kicker, Steve Christie
62. The Los Angeles Rams had the most losses (7) of any team to play in the Super Bowl

Super Bowl Trivia

63. Over 700,000 footballs are produced every year for the NFL and 72 of those footballs are used for the Super Bowl
64. There are 12,000 parking spaces at Cowboys Stadium, home of Super Bowl XLV
65. The NFL purchases 150 Super Bowl rings to be distributed however the winning team sees fit
66. Each Super Bowl ring costs about $5,000, bringing the total cost of Super Bowl rings to $750,000 for one year
67. Super Bowl XLV will host a record 105,000 spectators watching the game live in Arlington, Texas
68. Green Bay has a population of 104,000 – 1,000 less than the number of people inside Cowboys stadium on game day
69. Las Vegas odds makers have put money on the Packers to win Super Bowl XLV
70. Super Bowl weekend is the slowest weekend of the year for weddings
71. Rick’s Cabaret, a strip club operator in the Dallas area, expects to see at least $1 million in extra sales at it’s 7 clubs from the Super Bowl
72. The Vince Lombardi Trophy, which is presented to the Super Bowl’s winning team is made by Tiffany & Co.
73. The trophy stands almost 21 inchest tall and weights 107 ounces
74. The Vince Lombardi Trophy is worth over $25,000
75. The Vince Lombardi Trophy takes 72 man-hours to produce
76. Super Bowl XLV in Dallas is forcasted to have a $612 million positive economic impact
77. The Metrodome in Minneapolis has the distinction of being the only stadium to host the Super Bowl, the World Series and the Final Four within a six-month span
78. The Steelers have played in the Super Bowl in the most cities with 7: New Orleans, Miami, Pasadena, Tempe, Detroit and Tampa
79. There are 14 teams that have never won a Super Bowl
80. The only team to win back-to-back Super Bowls twice is the Pittsburgh Steelers
81. The fewest passing attempts in a Super Bowl happened in VIII
82. The Dolphins beat the Vikings 24-7 and passed the ball only 7 times
83. The only non-profit, community-owned franchise in American professional sports is the Green Bay Packers
84. In the last ten years, there have been 10 NFC teams in the Super Bowl: Packers, Eagles, Saints, Cardinals, Giants, Rams, Seahawks, Panthers , Buccaneers and Bears
85. Cowboys stadium is home to the largest video board in the world.  It runs from 20-yard line to the opposite 20-yard line
86. The Super Bowl has been designated a National Special Security Event by the U.S. Secret Service and Homeland Security
87. The Super Bowl has never been played in a city without an active NFL franchise
88. The designated home team alternates between the AFC team in even numbered games and the NFC team in odd numbered games
89. Only three Super Bowls have been played in northern cities.  Two in Detroit and one in Minneapolis – all three in domed stadiums.
90. The coldest Super Bowl on record was VI in New Orleans.  The Cowboys beat the Dolphins in 39 degree weather.
91. Three Super Bowls have been tied in the final minute.
92. No team has ever played a Super Bowl in their home stadium.

Super Bowl TV Facts

93. Of the to 10 most watched TV programs of all time, 9 of them are Super Bowls
94. Budweiser has been the exclusive Super Bowl beer advertiser for the past 13 years
95. Since the 1980s, the Super Bowl has always started around 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
96. The Super Bowl is broadcast in 34 languages
97. 1.5 million TV sets will be sold during the week of the Super Bowl
98. 6 car makers ran a combined 5 1/2 minutes worth of ads in Super Bowl XLIV, costing over $31 million
99. The first famous Super Bowl ad appeared in 1974.  It was an ad for Noxema featuring Joe Namath
100. The 2010 Super Bowl contained a record 47 minutes and 50 seconds of network ads in an all time high 104 messages
101. A 2010 Nielsen poll found that 51% Super Bowl viewers tuned in more to watch the commercials than the Super Bowl