Do not wait until late December to make your reservations, as the booking of hotels near the Super Bowl is near capacity well in advance. Even though most Hotels reserve space for Super Bowl packages, the best rooms are usually taken by the end of the regular season. You can choose to make your own itinerary for the super bowl or purchase a super bowl package from an agency.

If you choose to put together your own super bowl package, start by checking the Internet for hotels, restaurants car rentals and shuttles near the super bowl that you will make use of. Make sure to request super bowl discounts at many of these retailers, who usually have special rates for super bowl attendees. Along with the Hotel and car rental companies, many other establishments offer super bowl package deals for visitors to the host city.

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. Many companies may not offer refunds on your super bowl packages, so make sure you read, understand and are comfortable with their terms of sale, in case you need to cancel or request a refund.

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.

Avoiding falling victim to the many scams that crop up each year by following these tips:

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 a major credit card to pay for your tickets, this will protect you in case you need to make a chargeback (for example, the ticket company may have misled you or the tickets are invalid)

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

The super bowl package business is a very lucrative business, be wary of high pressure salespeople and those that insist you take action immediately. If something sounds too good to be true, call the Hotels or airlines and find out if the price is in-line with their general rates. If a company is offering you a ridiculously low price, you may want to investigate it before you give up your cash

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.

Not everyone who attends a super bowl party is a football fan, so keep this in mind when planning a party. 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.

Enlsit the aid of friends or family members and plan your super bowl party several weeks ahead of time. 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, especially if you can keep the drinking to a limit. This will help keep the chances of someone getting a little too ‘loaded’ during the game. Make sure to also have someone available to drive home those guests that may not be fit to drive on their own after the game.

Location will be important for your super bowl party as well. Consider that many fans of the game can get a little loud, most likely during the 2nd quarter and the last few minutes 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. Ultimately achieving the goal of having a good time and a fun get-together with friends and family and enjoying the game in a spirited environment.

The first Super Bowl Sunday was actually not called ‘Super Bowl Sunday’ it was the First AFL-NFL World Championship Game. There are two variations of where the term super bowl actually originated. Sportswriters and commentators were familiar with referring to college football games as ‘bowl games’ and began calling the professional world championship event the super bowl. This was to be the pinnacle of all football games and therefore the media gave it this unofficial name. Eventually, the name caught on and several years later the NFL designated the world championship game as the super bowl, and changed the name as such.

Lamar Hunt is also credited with naming super Bowl Sunday as the Super Bowl. It is remarked that Hunt recalls seeing his child playing with a toy that was extremely popular in the mid-1960s, 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.

Whether the legends are true is not as important as the amount of people who find themselves involved in Super Bowl Sunday as an annual ritual. 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.

Super Bowl Sunday also is the 2nd largest family-gathering and food-stuffing ‘holiday’ next to Thanksgiving. More money is spent on snacks, drinks and tailgating party supplies on super bowl Sunday than 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.

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. A certified or registered mail entry is limited to one per address. Persons selected in the random drawing will have the opportunity to purchase two super bowl tickets.

Every year for the last decade, the NFL has made available on average 75,000 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. However the last four times a super bowl was held at Dolphin Stadium, the capacity was never reached, (Super Bowl 23 – 75,129, Super Bowl 29 – 74,107, Super Bowl 33 – 74,803, and Super Bowl 41 – 74,512).

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.

Super Bowl XLI was played almost forty years after the first Super Bowl 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. However, the rain coupled with several missed opportunities, on each part of the teams, disappointed a lot of fans at super bowl XLI. One ESPN reporter called Super Bowl XLI ‘the Worst Super Bowl’ in history.

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). Although many others felt he deserved it for his outstanding 10-year career, he did not live up to his record in Super Bowl XLI. In total, Manning completed 65.8 percent of his passes, but his quarterback rating of 81.8 was the worst of any Super Bowl MVP. He had one touchdown pass and one interception.

Fans were also disappointed after the NFL announced a ban on tailgating at Super Bowl XLI. This was the first super bowl where the NFL stepped in to ban a time-honored tradition of partying outside the stadium during a super bowl. Dolphin Stadium management was permitting tailgating and announced it was 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 only permits one TV and it has to be less than 55″. This sparked an immediate backlash of bad publicity as churches all across the USA protested and newspapers began running the story. The NFL subsequently backed off and revised their policy

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. The regular season went well for the Ptriots with their 17-2 record against the Eagles record of 15 to 4.

The Patriots faced another challenge in the game, this was their first time playing a super bowl in an outside Stadium and a first east of the Mississippi River. Attempting to make a ‘three-peat’ in four years, the Patriots determination and heart in the game would lead them to accomplish this victory.

Their first Super Bowl appearance in 25 years gave the Philadelphia Eagles something to shoot for as well, they wanted this win to be their very first. 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 5:40 left on the clock, the Eagles made a 79-yard, 13-play touchdown pass to Greg Lewis to bring the score up to 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. With barely 46 seconds left, Philadelphia’s McNabb made a rushed pass to Westbrook at the line of scrimmage, Westbrook, instead of dropping the ball to stop the clock, caught it and was promptly tackled. The clock continued as the Eagles scrambled for another play without a huddle, McNabb made an incomplete pass on the 2nd down. 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.

Early super bowl history from the 1920’s; football teams started to form professional organizations and over the course of the next 40 years, several owners formed a committee as part of the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). Each league would produce a championship team to compete in an annual world championship game. The AFL and the NFL would have conference teams play against each other in a regular season and then, the top two teams, one from each conference would play each other in a World Championship Game that later became known as the Super Bowl.

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. Thus, when the professional championship gmae came about in 967, the media incessantly referred to it as the ‘Super Bowl’. However, it was not until later, when the NFL officially called the game, the super bowl.

In the late 1960’s it was decided to call the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, the Super Bowl and to designate a roman numeral after the super bowl to chronologically list each annual game Starting with Super Bowl III. Super Bowl history would also change the name of the Trophy awarded to the winner of the game to the Vince Lombardi Trophy, the coach of the Green Bay packers, whom had won the first and second Super Bowls.

Super Bowl history has been made many times by many teams and players over the last forty odd years, however none have compared to the outstanding performance by one team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the early years, the Steelers had a rough beginning, not seeing a championship game for almost 10 years, they now have made super bowl history by being the only team to play in seven super bowls and winning six trophies.

Other Super Bowl History facts: Tony Dungy in super XLI would be the first black coach to win 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. It is one of the most watched events on live television, annually. The price of the first super bowl ticket: , today’s price: (face value) 0. Each year new super bowl history is being made as teams, players and coaches strive to better the great American game of Football. In fact Super bowl history was again made in super bowl XLIII, when coach Mike Tomlin became the youngest coach to ever win a super bowl at age 36.

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. For over 20 years the Steelers had tried to get their ‘one for the thumb’, the final score of 21-10 made that a reality. 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.

Super Bowl XL was played at Detroit’s Ford Field, and the official logo chosen by the NFL was ‘The Road to Forty’. The stadium was opened in 2002 and this was only the second super bowl ever held in Detroit, the first 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. Hines Ward made a 37 yard reception from QB Roethlisberger to get their first down. The subsequent two plays resulted in the ball being on the 1 yard line, thanks to a Jerome Bettis play. 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 .

In the third quarter of Super Bowl XL, Willie Parker made a record breaking 75-yard touchdown run to push the Steelers to 14-3. The next play Seattle closed the gap with a Hasselback-Stevens 16 yard pass putting the score to 14-10 Steelers. However, the fourth quarter would prove difficult for the Seahawks as Randle El passed a 43 yard touchdown to Ward, and Reed making the field goal would widen the score to 21-10. The Seahawks next drive went 49 yards, however they could not keep possession for a turnover. 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.

Although Seattle gained 48 yards right away, they were plagued with several incomplete passes to attempt a score. Only 11 seconds remained in the game and Seattle’s 4th down incomplete pass gave Pittsburgh possession. Roethlisberger’s kneel down on the reception with merely 3 seconds left in the game gave the Steelers their One for Thumb victory in Super Bowl XL.

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. However, there are plenty of people who make their super bowl predictions and bets out of pure fun and admiration for the game. 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. Nearly half of the super bowl expert predictors were sure the Colts would see their 2nd super bowl in 3 years, largely based on their outstanding play the last few seasons. 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. However, Las Vegas odds made the steelers a 61/2-point favorite over the Cardinals. In the last ten years, the favorite has won seven times, which would indicate choosing the favorite is the most likely super bowl prediction to actually come true.

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. He stated, “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’.”

Even though it is just for fun for many fans to make their super bowl predictions, it is a serious game for gamblers. 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.

A illustration is, right after Super Bowl XLII, Vegas bookmakers posted the super bowl odds on the Super Bowl XLIII winner. The picks they made at the time are fascinating, especially on the two competitors who made it to Super Bowl XLIII. 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.

Historically, the middle of the pack, when it comes to odds is usually the teams that make it as far as the super bowl. Bets can be placed before the start of the regular season, as soon as bookmakers post the super bowl odds, However, 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. 64% of the time, the team that scored first ended up winning their 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, and your odds of winning go down to 12% if your team is not in the lead at the end of the 3rd quarter. 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. So if someone wants to give you super bowl odds on whether a field goal will be made, this might be your best bet!

The 2010 Super bowl odds show 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 bottom of the Super Bowl odds chart for 2010 has the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs at 100/1. If you like longshots, you can make a bet on either of those teams for a huge return.