The Super Bowl: the high mass of American football

One Sunday in February, America comes to a halt. In front of more than a hundred million television sets, whole families gather around platters of chicken wings and nachos. On the field, two helmeted teams clash in violent bursts; at halftime, a pop superstar unfurls a stadium show; between the plays, advertising spots sell for millions a handful of seconds. This is not just a game: it is the Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl is the annual final of the National Football League (NFL), the professional championship of American football. Become the most-watched television event in the United States, it goes far beyond the sporting frame: a near-national holiday, advertising showcase and giant concert all at once, it condenses into a few hours a good part of American popular culture.

A sport born of rugby#

American football has nothing to do with the "football" of the rest of the world — what Americans call soccer. It is a contact sport derived from rugby and college football, which took shape in the universities of the East Coast in the nineteenth century. In the 1870s, the first matches between Harvard, Yale and Princeton still resembled rugby; it was by breaking away from it that a new game was born.

The key figure of this mutation is Walter Camp, nicknamed the "father of American football." From the 1880s, he imposed the rules that set the sport apart: the line of scrimmage, the system of downs (a limited number of attempts to gain ground) and the team of eleven players. From this framework was born a game of strategy and power, more broken-up and more tactical than its British ancestor.

American football is not a continuous run: it is a series of calculated assaults, where every yard is contested and planned.

The rules, in brief#

The aim of American football is simple: to carry the oval ball into the opponent's end zone to score a touchdown (six points), or to send the ball between the posts for a field goal (three points). The field measures 100 yards (about 91 metres) between the two end zones, marked by lines every ten yards.

The attacking team has four attempts, the downs, to advance at least ten yards; if it succeeds, it gains four new attempts, otherwise the ball changes sides. At the heart of the game, the quarterback orchestrates the attack: he receives the ball, passes it or hands it to a runner. The collisions being violent, the players wear a helmet and padded protection, the visual signature of the sport.

From the NFL to the Super Bowl#

The NFL was founded in 1920, first under the name American Professional Football Association, before taking its current name in 1922. For decades, the championship took shape and grew in popularity, until the birth of a rival league, the AFL, in the 1960s.

The Super Bowl was born precisely of this rivalry: held for the first time in 1967, it pitted the champions of the two leagues against each other, before they merged within the NFL. Since then, the final has been held every year, in January or February, and crowns the national champion. Over the decades, its audience has exploded: the Super Bowl regularly figures among the most-watched programmes in the history of American television.

More than a game: a national ritual#

What sets the Super Bowl apart is everything that surrounds the game. Halftime has become a musical spectacle in its own right: the halftime show unfurls, in about fifteen minutes, a concert of superstars followed by hundreds of millions of viewers. The advertising spots reach record rates there — a few seconds of airtime sell for several million dollars — to the point that the commercials are themselves awaited as an event.

Around the screen, the Super Bowl is also a domestic feast: people gather with friends to share chicken wings, dips, pizzas and beer. The next day is so massively taken off, in practice, that voices regularly call for making it a public holiday. Few countries have turned a sporting final into such a collective gathering.

A mirror of America#

From the university field of the late nineteenth century to the country's greatest televised show, American football tells a certain idea of the United States: strategy, collective power, unashamed spectacle. The Super Bowl is its annual apotheosis, where sport, music and advertising merge into a single ritual.

To understand it is to grasp why a winter Sunday can gather a whole country in front of the same screen — and to learn English is to be able to follow the commentary, decipher the rules of the down and the touchdown and step right into a conversation that millions of Americans will have the next day at the water cooler.

FAQ#

What is the Super Bowl? The Super Bowl is the annual final of the NFL, the professional American football league. Played since 1967, it crowns the national champion and has become the most-watched television event in the United States, as much for the game as for its halftime show and its commercials.

What is the difference between American football and football (soccer)? American football derives from rugby: it is played mostly with the hands and an oval ball, on a 100-yard field, with helmets and padding. Football (soccer in American English) is played with the foot and a round ball. They are two distinct sports.

What is a touchdown? A touchdown is worth six points: it is scored when a team carries the ball into the opponent's end zone. It is the most rewarding play in American football, ahead of the field goal (three points), made by sending the ball between the posts.

Why is the halftime show so famous? The Super Bowl halftime show is a concert of about fifteen minutes entrusted to music superstars, followed by hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide. It has become a cultural event in itself, on a par with the game.

Photo credits: the images used in this article come from Pexels and Unsplash and are royalty-free.