Beginner’s Guide to the Super Bowl

There isn’t a bigger or more eagerly anticipated event on the American sports calendar than the Super Bowl. The game has grown from being the decisive battle between the two best football teams of the year into a gigantic spectacle that brings together the many facets of modern American culture (sports, music, television, etc.).

But despite the NFL’s nearly ubiquitous popularity throughout the country, there are still some sections of the population that have very little clue what the fuss is about with this Super Bowl, or have willingly chosen to ignore it. If you just so happen to be one of those people, this is exactly the piece for you.

Let’s take a look at the things that make the Super Bowl so super – from the ads to the media attention – and what you can expect from the 49th edition. Believe us: it’s a lot of fun, and there’s something for everyone. If you’re interested in a more detailed take on Super Sunday and Super Bowl XLIX, check out our handy props picks and predictions, both the serious and fun varieties.
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A Beginner’s Guide to the Super Bowl

What is the Super Bowl?

So, just what is this “Super Bowl”?

[sc:NFL240banner ]The Super Bowl is to football what the World Series is to baseball or the Stanley Cup is to hockey; it’s the pinnacle of achievement for the teams in those leagues: the championship. But because of football’s single elimination playoff format (translation: lose once and you’re out) the Super Bowl is a one-game final as compared to a best-of-seven series in the other three major North American sports.

Thanks to the unmatched popularity of football in America for the last few decades, “Super Bowl Sunday” has gotten so big that it has become sort of an unofficial holiday. The television viewership for the game seemingly gets better every year. It’s reached over 110 million viewers in the U.S. alone and doesn’t appear to show any signs of dropping any time soon.

Schedule & Highlights

The Super Bowl is not a sporting event so much as it is a multimedia spectacle of epic proportions. A regulation NFL game usually lasts somewhere between three and 3.5 hours. But because of all the pageantry and additional coverage before, during and after the game itself, the overall coverage of the event will be much, much longer than that.

NBC, the network that will broadcast this year’s Super Bowl, has prepared a whopping six hours of Super Bowl coverage during pre-game alone, which starts at 12 noon on Feb. 1. That’s like watching two full football games before the actual kickoff, which is at 6:30 pm EST.

The game often goes along as scheduled, right until halftime. That’s when the usual 12-minute intermission extends to 30 minutes to accommodate the Super Bowl’s long-standing tradition of getting a marquee musical performer to hold a mini-concert in the middle of the most important game of the year.

The clock could be hitting 11 by the time a champion is decided, but the coverage doesn’t end there. There’s still an hour or two worth of celebrations, the awarding ceremony for the champs and the game MVP, as well as postgame interviews. All in all, that’s close to 12 hours of Super Bowl coverage. Don’t feel obliged to watch all of it: we recommend catching the last 30 minutes of pregame, which invariably consists of some of the most impressive production elements technology can put on television, and then hunkering down until the game is over.

The Ads

The hype surrounding the ever-popular Super Bowl ads can often be bigger than the game itself. People have developed high expectations for those ads to be entertaining, funny, and memorable, in part because the standards have been set so high over the years.

(Check out our list of the 10 best Super Bowl commercials.)

Not everyone that watches the Super Bowl has a rooting interest in either team, or is even a fan of the sport. But the ads have made it such that these people will still watch the game just to see those 30 second to minute long clips. A study conducted just last year showed that almost 78 percent of Americans looked forward to the Super Bowl more for the ads than for the actual game!

It costs a small fortune to get those ads up on the air in the Super Bowl. Forbes reported last year that 30 seconds’ worth of air time cost a staggering $4 million. That’s excluding the cost to actually produce the commercial, which can be huge all on its own. But based on the staggering Super Bowl ratings and the fact that people tune in specifically for them, those companies are probably getting their money’s worth.

This Year’s Matchup

Now for a little primer on this year’s event. 2015’s matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots has all the makings of a classic. The Patriots are currently 1.5-point favorites in the game, which means there’s very little separating these two great teams.

(Learn about how both teams match up in greater detail with our complete Super Bowl XLIX preview.)

The Seahawks’ calling card over the last few years has been their incredible defense, which can legitimately lay claim to being one of the best in NFL history. But the Patriots have an all-time great quarterback in Tom Brady and an unstoppable force in Rob Gronkowski powering their offense. They also have an evil genius head coach in Bill Belichick to gameplan an offense capable of scoring on the Seahawks.

The storylines in this game are almost too many to count. There’s the Seahawks’ quest to become the first team to repeat since the Patriots. The Pats, meanwhile, are looking for their first Super Bowl since 2004 (and possibly last in the Brady-Belichick era). There’s Pete Carroll and Brandon Browner going against their former teams. And of course, there’s the infamous “Deflategate” saga that has hogged the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Nevertheless, this is shaping up to a Super Bowl for the ages, one that definitely should not be missed. Create a betting account now and don’t miss out on this Super showdown. Happy Football Christmas!
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