Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League (NFL), the premier association of professional American football. It was first played on January 15, 1967, as part of a merger agreement between the NFL and its then-rival league, the American Football League (AFL). It was agreed that the two leagues champion teams would play in an AFL-NFL World Championship Game until the merger was consummated in 1970. After the merger, each league became a "conference (Conference (sports))", and the game was then played between conference champions. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather than the year in which it is held. Super Bowl I was played in 1967 to determine the championship of the regular season played in 1966 (1966 NFL season), and Super Bowl XLIV was played on February 7, 2010, to determine the champion of the 2009 regular season (2009 NFL season).

The day on which the Super Bowl is played is now considered a de facto American national holiday, called Super Bowl Sunday. It is the second-largest day for U.S. food consumption, after Thanksgiving Day (Thanksgiving (United States)). And in most years, the Super Bowl is the most-watched American television broadcast (List of most-watched television broadcasts#United States). Super Bowl XLIV, played in February 2010, became the most-watched American television program ever, drawing an average audience of 106.5 million viewers and taking over the spot held for 27 years by the final episode of M*A*S*H (Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen).

Because of its high viewership, commercial airtime for the Super Bowl broadcast is the most expensive of the year. Due to the high cost of investing in advertising on the Super Bowl, companies regularly develop their most expensive advertisements for this broadcast. As a result, watching and discussing the broadcast?s commercials has become a significant aspect of the event. In addition, many popular singers and musicians have performed during the events pre-game and halftime ceremonies (Super Bowl halftime shows) because of the exposure.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have won six Super Bowls, while two other teams have won five. Fifteen other NFL franchises have won at least one Super Bowl. Only four active NFL franchises,the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions (the only NFC team yet to do so), Jacksonville Jaguars, and Houston Texans, have not appeared in the Super Bowl: The Browns and Lions have both won NFL championships prior to the Super Bowl era, while the Jaguars (who joined the NFL in 1995) and Texans (2002) joined the league after the Super Bowl era began. TOC limitlimit=4