Why does the Super Bowl use Roman numerals?
Roman numerals may have gone the way of cursive penmanship for the average American, but once a year, during the Super Bowl, America gets a crash course in counting with letters.
The championship game has been keeping count in Roman numerals since Super Bowl V in 1971, and Roman numerals for the first four Super Bowls were retroactively used. Lamar Hunt, former owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, is credited with the idea of using Roman numerals,
"It was [Hunt鈥檚] brainchild," . "I think people felt from the start that it had something to it, even if they couldn鈥檛 quite put their finger on exactly what it was. Before long it was just part of it. Now it wouldn鈥檛 be the same without it."
Hunt, who also gave the Super Bowl its name, is one of the founders of the American Football League and was on a committee to organize the first Super Bowl in 1967, when it was still officially called the NFL-AFL Championship.
"The NFL didn't model after the Olympics,"
Instead, NFL and AFL representatives decided to number the games, rather than referring to them by year, to prevent confusion due to the fact that the championship game is played in a different calendar year than the regular season.
The Roman numerals were used to make the game seem more prestigious, back when the Super Bowl was not yet the most watched television event of the year. 鈥淚t鈥檚 much more magisterial,鈥�
In the early years, the Roman numerals were simple and recognizable, but they got more complex as the years went on. Many people have complained about the Roman numeral system, saying it is pretentious and outdated.
But the NFL is committed to honoring its roots.
However, for next year's Super Bowl 50,聽 and will opt for the Arabic numerals instead. This move was made because of concerns about confusion arising from using only an L, the Roman numeral for 50, in the event's name. The NFL will return to Roman numerals for Super Bowl LI.
