Fun Facts: The Super Bowl

On Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers will be playing in the Super Bowl, the biggest event of the American football season. To commemorate this event, and get you ready for the big game, here is a list of 10 fun and interesting facts about the Super Bowl.

Facts About the Game

• This year, the Super Bowl is being played in Louisiana, at the Superdome, the home stadium for the New Orleans Saints.  The game starts at 6:30 PM Eastern Standard Time, which is 11:30 PM in London, 12:30 AM in Madrid, 3:30 AM in Moscow, 8:30 AM in Tokyo, and 9:30 AM in Sydney.

• 2013 is Super Bowl XLVI (47). However, it was only called the Super Bowl as
  of Super Bowl III. Before that, it was the AFC/NFC Championship.

• The NFL (National Football League) is made up of 2 conferences, the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference. In 1970, the two leagues, which had existed independently, merged into the National Football League.

• The location for the Super Bowl is decided 3.5 years beforehand, by a collective vote among the NFL team owners.

• It is the second-most watched sporting event in the world, after the Champions League Final.

• With the Super Bowl expected to be broadcast in 232 countries in 32 different languages, it should be easy to catch!

• Known for its commercials, this year, the cost of one commercial in the Super
  Bowl is around $3.8 million. Some are expected to exceed $10 million. (One 2013 Volkswagen commercial has been re-filmed more than 100 times!)

• Beyoncé (and maybe Destiny's Child!) will be performing at this year's half time show. However, she won't be paid for her performance. The artists receive no compensation from the NFL for being there.

• This year, Psy (the artist behind Gangnam Style) will be in an ad spot for a new Super Bowl advertiser - Wonderful Pistachios. No more details have been released so watch out for it!

Vocabulary:

commemorate - to recall and show respect for something
collective -  done by people acting as a group
commercial - a television or radio advertisement (more common in US English)