Considering a trip to the Super Bowl? You will want to start planning ahead and explore all your options early. Last year, super bowl packages had a price range starting as low as 00 and as high as 00 from many popular travel and ticket agencies. Proper planning now will prepare you for the best deal and the best accommodations.

Early planning is the key to getting the best accommodations. Even though most Hotels reserve space for Super Bowl packages, the best rooms are usually taken by the end of the regular season. You may want to design your own super bowl package, or use the services of a travel agency.

In planning your own super bowl package, check the internet for available accommodations, nearby restaurants, and transportation facilities. Make sure to request super bowl discounts at many of these retailers, who usually have special rates for super bowl attendees. Most businesses in the host city are more than happy to help you get your money’s worth by offering discounts when you let them know you are coming for the super bowl.

If you choose to use a Ticket or travel agency to plan your super bowl package, the best place to start is to find an agency that is certified, bonded and has plenty of years of experience in the business. Make sure you pay special attention to any fine print in regards to the super bowl package they offer, as well as their terms for cancellations and refunds.

Although many super bowl packages include transportation to and from the game, you should insist on this if it is not spelled out in your deal. There is usually shuttle service or taxi service from hotels to the stadium, however, you should make sure you will have suitable means of transportation. Even if that means renting a car for the weekend, which you may also find super bowl packages that include this option.

A few good tips to make sure you do not get caught up in any potential super bowl package scams:

If you are purchasing your ticket from any agency, make sure it is a valid ticket, check the date, time and the official NFL logo, and make sure you read the ticket release information carefully.

Use your credit card (preferably VISA or Mastercard), in case you are scammed, you will have purchase protection from your bank, and the company will make a chargeback

Make confirmation calls at least 2 weeks in advance to ensure your accommodations are what they were sold to you as, this includes the airline and car rental companies. If you find that your reservation is non-existent, you have time to correct it before the game. If you wait till the day of your travel, you may find yourself missing the kickoff

Do not give into high-pressure sales people, if the deal sounds too good to be true, call the hotel, airline, and car rental company to confirm the price. Your package price should be less, however if you are being offered an unbelievably low rate, this should send up a red flag

Planning ahead and sorting through the best deals will help you make the most of your chance to watch a live super bowl. Calls to a few agencies that specialize in super bowl packages will likely help you avoid frustration and give you an opportunity to get the best price for your super bowl weekend.

Football fans all across the United States prepare each year for an annual event they call the Super Bowl party. For most football fans the Super Bowl is all about the game, while for others the Super Bowl party is where all the action is. Preparing for a Super Bowl party will require a little planning and a reasonable budget. Practically every house in America hosts a Super Bowl party including the White House. This past year several congressmen joined president Obama at the White House for their own Super Bowl party.

While people enjoy having a Super Bowl party, there are always occasions where some people who are not a fan of football attend these parties with their friends or mates. If you are hosting a super bowl party, it is a good idea to make it enjoyable for all those attending, even the non-football fanatics. Aside from the multitude of food and drink, a provision for activities that will entertain your other guests is a good idea. A deck of cards at the dining table will occupy those that are not really into the super bowl, and if there are children around, a board game, video game setup or computer will help occupy their time, while the serious ‘players’ are watching the game.

Plan your super bowl party several weeks in advance by asking friends to help you put it together. Ask your friends to each bring a special dish or drink, and make sure one person is in charge of activities and decorationg. Since many of the super bowl parties involve alcohol, it is also a good idea to appoint one person to be in charge of bringing the beer, and not allowing anyone to go out for more later. To avoid someone becoming intoxicated, you should keep the alcohol under control. A responsible person to ensure nobody drives while intoxicated is also a safe idea.

Selecting a location for your super bowl party may require a little extra thought. Keep in mind, loud noise and a little rough-housing may occur, especially right before half-time and in the last quarter of the game. Make sure you choose an area large enough to accommodate all your guests, and somewhere that excess noise will not disturb the rest of your house. You can easily set up and decorate the garage, a den or game room to handle a large super bowl party, several weeks in advance of the game.

Having the help of your friends and adequate preparation will help you set up a great super bowl party. One that will be a good time for everyone to socialize and unwind, whether they are a die-hard fan, casual observer, or just along for the ride.

Without a doubt, the last Sunday of January or the first Sunday in February is the most active day in the year for millions of people as they prepare to watch all the action on Super Bowl Sunday. This event is so prolific in our society, it is practically a holiday as many businesses close early to allow employees and customers the opportunity to attend parties and watch the game. This annual festivity had its beginnings in 1967 with the first super bowl Sunday.

Originally, the first super bowl Sunday was actually called the AFL-NFL championship game. The term Super Bowl has a few legendary stories from where it originated. In the first super bowl Sunday, the media referred to the game as the super bowl after the college games, which had the term bowl games. This was to be the pinnacle of all football games and therefore the media gave it this unofficial name. However, the NFL did not actually use the name until a few years later as the Official name of the world championship.

Super Bowl Sunday may have also derived its namesake from an experience by Lamar Hunt. The story goes that one of Hunt’s children was playng with a popular toy of the time, called a super ball. Since the name super ball was well-established in commercials and advertising, Hunt told his fellow coaches that using the term Super Bowl would catch on quickly and help to spread the advertising efforts of the NFL championship game.

The annual tradition of Super Bowl Sunday attracts millions of fans to the game, regadless of the origin of the name. In the last decade, more than 50 million people watch Super Bowl Sunday on TV, and recently the audience has grown to nearly 100 million.

Aside from Thanksgiving, Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest ‘food holiday’ and family gathering event in America. The amount of money spent on super bowl Sunday parties, food, snacks and tailgating exceeds that of any other day of the year.
Even though the World Series has always been an American tradition embedded in our history, recent years has shown that super bowl Sunday is a more popular event, and has become the new great American pastime.

Every year right around fall a lot of people start to think about purchasing Super Bowl tickets for the upcoming Super Bowl game in the new year. Yet, the smart buyer should be looking to purchase their tickets as early as possible to save money.

The price of a super bowl ticket for the 2010 game will start at 0, Nevertheless you will have to pay more, unless you are fortunate enough to either find a generous seller or you are selected through the NFL’s random drawing.

Ticket agents and travel companies are not able to acquire Super Bowl tickets directly from the NFL, Instead, they conduct a drawing of randomly selected entrants to purchase super bowl tickets directly. Each year starting on February 01, and running until June 01, the NFL will accept requests from the general public to purchase tickets. Entries are limited to one per address and must be sent via certified or registered mail. Persons selected in the random drawing will have the opportunity to purchase two super bowl tickets.

Annually, the NFL prints and distributes more than 70,000 super bowl tickets. However, the total number of tickets available is dependent on the capacity of the Host stadium. Dolphin Stadium in Florida’s Miami Gardens will be the 2010 Super Bowl host, which has a stadium capacity of a little more than 76,000. In the most recent super bowl games held at Dolphin stadium, only super bowl XXIII exceeded 75,000, while super bowl XXIX, XXXIII, and XLI were just over 74,000.

By far, the best way and the least expensive method to obtain your super bowl tickets will be to enter the NFL random drawing, unless you prefer to wait later in the season of which it could cost as much as 00 to 00 per ticket. Super bowl tickets in late January 2009 were priced at close to 00 on many ticket and auction websites.

Nevertheless, if you do enter the NFL random drawing, and then decide not to attend the game, you can always sell your super bowl tickets for a nice profit as there are always buyers looking for super bowl tickets.

Dolphin Stadium in Florida brought on the wettest Super Bowl in history as the downpour continued throughout the entire game. Super Bowl XLI would not only be remembered for the torrential downpours as much as it would for the history the game made in featuring the first Black coach to ever win a super bowl. The Indianapolis Colts Tony Dungy had the honor of becoming NFL’s first black coach to win a super bowl.

Super Bowl XLI was held nearly 40 years after the first World Championship Football game in 1967. Super Bowl XLI featured the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears. Both teams had played in one previous super bowl of which they had each won. Facing off two previous champions, both with nearly equal regular season records seemed to make for an exciting and interesting game. Nevertheless, the excitement was short-lived when the rain and several mistakes mad e by both teams proved to be a disappointment to many fans. A report from ESPN defined Super Bowl XLI, between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears, as the worst Super Bowl ever.

A major disappointment according to many fans and sports writers was the fact that Peyton Manning was awarded the Super Bowl’s Most Valuable Player (MVP). Even though his game was off, many felt he well-deserved it after his exceptional 10 year career. Manning’s record for Super Bowl XLI was one of the worst for a Super Bowl MVP after he completed less than 66% of his passes, and had only one touchdown pass.

Another disappointment to the fans was the announcement by the NFL that tailgating would not be permitted. The ban was the 1st time the NFL took a position on tailgating, by prohibiting it. Angry fans were upset that the NFL would ban this annual tradition. At first, a spokesman for Dolphin Stadium announced tailgating would be allowed, Shortly thereafter, the NFL owners released a statement banning tailgating and prohibiting fans without a ticket within a 2-block radius of Dolphin Stadium.

Probably the event that garnered the most outrage was the NFL’s attempt to prohibit churches from hosting super bowl parties during Super Bowl XLI. An Indianapolis church was targeted by the NFL and their legal counsel after they advertised a party on their website, and used the Super Bowl logo. The NFL explained that they could not televise the game at the church. The NFL letter prompted many news media and churches across the USA to threaten a boycott. The bad publicity from newspapers and media had a negative impact on the NFL and soon prompted the NFL to reverse their decision.

Jacsonville Municipal Stadium in Florida hosted the super bowl XXIX held on February 6th, 2005. This was the first time the city was chosen to host the game and would be a great opportunity to invigorate the local economy.

The AFC’s champion New England Ptriots faced off against the NFC’s champ, Philadelphia Eagles. Super Bowl XXXIX offered the Patriots an opportunity to win their second super bowl in a row, an event that last occurred in 1998. Going in to the game, the Patriots had a 17-2 season while the Eagles showed 15 wins and 4 losses in their regular season.

Super Bowl XXXIX would also be the first time the New England Patriots played a Super Bowl in an outdoor stadium, and the first super bowl they would play east of the Mississippi. Attempting to make a ‘three-peat’ in four years, the Patriots determination and heart in the game would lead them to accomplish this victory.

The Philadelphia Eagles, having only appeared in one other super bowl (1980), Super Bowl XXXIX would give them a chance to win their first super bowl title. Unfortunately, Deion Branch’s super bowl record 11 receptions for 133 yards and the Patriots’ exceptional defense would not allow Philadelphia this honor. Philadelphia’s 74 yard drive and 10-yard TD pass, late in the third quarter was just not enough, although the game was tied going into the fourth. The patriots scored early in the 4th pushing a 10 point gap at 24-14.

With less than six minutes on the clock, Philadelphia, determined to win super bowl XXXIX, made a 79-yard drive and accomplished a TD pass to Lewis to close the gap at 24-21. The Eagles gained possession of the ball with less than 2 minutes on the clokc and made a valiant attempt to at least tie the game. In the last minute the Eagles McNabb hit Westbrook at the scrimmage line, Westbrook attempted to run and was quickly tackled. This move kept the clock running as Philadelphia scrambled to the second down with no huddle, where McNabb threw an incomplete pass. The third down resulted in a Patriot interception by Harris and left less than 10 seconds on the clock. This sealed the fate of the Eagles valiant efforts and gave the Patriots the win in Super Bowl XXXIX.

Deion Branch was named the Super Bowl XXXIX Most Valuable Player (MVP) after tying a Super Bowl record 11 receptions and gaining 133 yards.

The Super Bowl history as we know it today had its beginnings in the mid-1960s when a group of football owners decided to streamline the game, the rules and to produce a world champion game for professional football players, much like the World Series does for baseball.

Super Bowl history actually began in the 1920s when football teams started to form professional organizations into two distinct groups known as the AFL (American Football League) and the NFL (National Football League). The idea was to separate teams into conferences according to different areas of the USA. Each team would join their respective conference and at the end of the regular season, a play off against the top two champions of each conference would play in what was known as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game.

Super Bowl history starts in 1967 when the AFL-NFL had their first annual championship game, however, the media dubbed this game the ‘Super Bowl’ because of the college games known as bowl games. After the Rose Bowl, sports writers referred to college games as Bowl games because of the shape of the Rose Bowl stadium. When this first championship game of professional football players had convened the media insistently referred to it as the Super Bowl. However, it was not until later, when the NFL officially called the game, the super bowl.

Super Bowl III would be the first championship game in super bowl history to officially be termed a super bowl by the NFL. Another super bowl history fact was the trophy awarded to the winning team was named the Vince Lombardi Trophy after the coach of the Green Bay Packers, who had won the first two super bowls.

Super Bowl history would be made several times over the course of the 40-plus years, culminating with the Pittsburgh Steelers victory in Super Bowl XLIII. The Steelers would be the first team to reach 7 super bowls and the first team to own 6 Vince Lombardi Trophies.

Other Super Bowl History facts: Super Bowl XLI would have the first Black Coach as a winner of a super Bowl. 10 super bowls will have been hosted in Florida as of Super Bowl XLIV, making it the most hosted city. 15 of the present 32 NFL teams have never won a super bowl. The super Bowl has never been held at a playing team’s home stadium. More than 90 million people watch the live event each year on television. The first Super Bowl tickets were as low as , while the current lowest price (face value) to see the live game is 0. Willie Parker holds the record for the longest touchdown run in super bowl history at 75 yards (Super Bowl XL).

{Football teams across America will continue to make Super Bowl history as the game has gained national in international popularity over the last 40 odd years.

The Pittsburgh Steelers gained their sixth opportunity since 1967 to play in the world championship games at Super Bowl XL. This would also give the Steelers a chance to tie the world record with the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco forty-niners, by winning a 5th super bowl.

The regular season for the Steelers did not go so well as they had an 11-5 record, they were the #6 seed in the playoffs and had to overcome the Seahawks 13 to 3 season to win Super Bowl XL. The final score of 21-10 gave Pittsburgh the ‘one for the thumb’ they had waited nearly 25 years for. The Super Bowl XL win would be the first for coach Bill Cowher, since taking the job as head coach in 1992, even though the Steelers had made the playoffs in 10 out of his 14 seasons.

The NFL logo was “The Road to Forty” as this was the 40th annual super bowl. Super Bowl XL was held at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. The three year old stadium was chosen in 2001, making Detroit a two time host of the Super Bowl (the other one was Super Bowl XVI).

The start of the game was rough for the Steelers as they struggled to gain yardage. With less than five minutes in the 2nd quarter, and the score at 3-0, Pittsburgh needed 28 yards for a first down turnover. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw to Hines Ward, receiver, gaining 37 yards. On the next two plays, Jerome Bettis carried the ball to within 1 yard of the goal line. The two-minute warning sounded on the third down as Roethlisberger faked a handoff and dove into the end zone himself. The second quarter ended with Pittsburgh ahead at 7-3 .

Willie Parker was determined to seal the Steelers Super Bowl XL victory with an NFL record 75 yard touchdown run, making the score 14-3 in the third quarter. Seattle would catch up with a 16-yard pass from Matt Hasselbeck to Jerramy Stevens, closing in on the Steelers at 14-10. A fourth quarter play by Randle El in a reverse threw a 43-yard pass to Hines Ward, and Jeff Reed kicked the field goal to put the score at 21-10. Seattle drove for 48 yards however was unable to make it deep enough. When Pittsburgh gained possession, they held it for almost 5 minutes, making it difficult for Seattle to score ion the last 2 minutes of the game.

The Seahawks gained 48 yards in 2 receptions then made a few pass attempts resulting in incompletions. With 11 seconds left, the Seahawks incomplete pass on the 4th down turned the ball over to the Steelers. Only three seconds remained in the game, when Roethlisberger’s kneel-down ended Super Bowl XL.

Every year there is a flurry of activity surrounding the Super Bowl as celebrities, politicians, sports announcers and hard core gamblers set out their super bowl predictions. Some of these super bowl predictions start out as early as the day after the most recent super bowl. The odds on whether a team will make it to the super bowl the following year are usually available immediately following the current super bowl.

Avid gamblers are the most likely perpetrators of serious super bowl predictions, as even Las Vegas will set the odds for anyone wanting to gamble on who will win the next championship. Nevertheless, there are those who get involved in super bowl predictions merely for the fun of it. That includes fans from each hometown team as well as local and state politicians.

An example is Super Bowl XLIII, where many oddsmakers prophesied the 2009 winner would be the Indianapolis Colts. With more than 50% of ‘experts’ putting their faith in the Colts seeing their second super bowl in three years, a fact they based on the Colt’s excellent regular seasons for the last several years. However, that super bowl prediction did not pan out even with their 13-3 season.

Many super bowl predictions feared that Kurt Wagner of the Arizona Cardinals would be a serious hinderance to the Steelers at the 2009 Super Bowl XLIII, preventing Pittsburgh;s bid for a record 6th super bowl trophy. Yet, the Steelers were favorite in Las Vegas by 61/2-points over the Arizona Cardinals. A super Bowl prediction that has come true in 7 out of the last 10 Championship games is the team that was favorite has won, that means 70% of the time, the super bowl prediction is right.

In addition to the more serious super bowl predictions by the sports aficionados, there are always a few comical ones laid out by celebrities and entertainers. In 2008, Howie Mandel chose the Steelers as favorite and guessed the game would end with a 21-14 victory for Pittsburgh. Mandel said, “Because, and I won’t mention who, I have gotten some notes from two players on the Steelers that they are fans of my show ‘Howie Do It’.”

Although to some, the super bowl predictions are a matter of fun, it is not taken as lightly for the avid gambler who wants to make a profit. It is estimated that more than billion will be wagered by more than 200 million people worldwide on what is called the biggest sports betting event of the year.

Billions of dollars are wagered on one single event, making it the largest gambling day of the year, The Super Bowl surpasses every sports betting event as the most favorite of gamblers. This event is so lucrative to bookmakers, the next year’s super bowl odds are actually made available immediately after the current years super bowl has concluded.

A illustration is, right after Super Bowl XLII, Vegas bookmakers posted the super bowl odds on the Super Bowl XLIII winner. Their super bowl odds on the two teams who did make it to the super bowl are quite interesting. The Pittsburgh Steelers were at 18/1 and the Arizona Cardinals a whopping 50/1. The New England Patriots had an amazing 9:5 odds of winning the super bowl according to the odds makers, making the Patriots the absolute favorite.

In reality, it is usually the teams in the middle of the odds that likely will win the super bowl. Even though bets may be placed as early as the preseason when sports bookies set the super bowl odds, many gamblers wait until the teams are determined for the super bowl before placing their bets. The reason behind this is the super bowl odds are relatively closer to a realistic return as opposed to the preseason long shots who may be as much as 100 to 1.

Other super bowl odds that are fun to examine are historical odds from super bowls past. In two-thirds of the cases, the first team to score, won the super bowl. In 80% of the super bowls, if your team was behind at halftime, get ready to pay the bookie,you only have a 20% chance your team will make a comeback, while teams in the lead at the end of the third quarter were 88% to win. Betting on a field goal being made is a sure bet, as 41 of the last 43 super bowls has had at least one field goal made. If you want to take a real gamble, bet against a field goal being made, it has only happened twice since 1967!

Future super bowl odds for Super Bowl XLIV in 2010 have the New England Patriots at 8/1, Dallas Cowboys at 9/1, while the super bowl XLIII champion Pittsburgh Steelers are 10/1 and the defeated Cardinals remain an underdog at 30 to 1. The list is rounded out with the 100 to 1 super bowl odds on Kansas City and Detroit. Now, that is a bet you probably do not want to make.