Detroit Michigan’s Ford Field played host to the 2006 Super Bowl pitting the Pittsburgh Steelers (AFC Champs) against Seattle’s Seahwaks (winner of the NFC playoffs). The 2006 Super Bowl would be the 40th Super Bowl played since the inception of the World Championship game in 1967. The February 5, 2006 super bowl would have the Steelers seeking their coveted ‘one for the thumb’ as the 5th super bowl ring of their teams career. A feat sought after since their last super bowl appearance in 1980.

The rookie team, Seattle, had never played in a world championship game, however, the 2006 Super Bowl was the 6th time for the Steelers. Experience in past Super Bowls proved to be an advantage as the Steelers were familiar with the pressures of winning a world championship and avoiding the rookie mistakes, which plagued the Seahawks. Although they scored first late in the 1st quarter, the Seahawks suffered from a few missed opportunities, dropped balls and penalties. The end of the First quarter had the Seahawks leading with 3-0, however, with less than 2 minutes left in the first half Steelers Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger ran a 1 yard sneak, putting the half time score at 7-3, Steelers.

The gap widened at 14-3 when willie parker made an amazing 75 yard touchdown, breaking an NFL record. Seattle tried to close the gap with a successful 16-yard TD reception by Jarramy Stevens, this ended the third quarter with 14-10, Steelers.

Wide Receiver Hines Ward and Randle El shut out the Seahawks with a fake reverse play that resulted in a 43 yard TD pass. This put the score at 21-10, Steelers, and pretty much cinched the game for the Steelers, with just a few minutes left in the game, The Seahawks would not be able to close the gap.

The 2006 Super Bowl victory placed the Steelers in a tie with Dallas and San Francisco as the teams that had won the most Super Bowls. Another record at the 2006 Super Bowl was Ben Roethlisberger, being the youngest quarterback to ever win a super bowl at 23 years and 11 months, despite having the lowest quarterback rating (22.6) ever by a Super Bowl winning quarterback.

The 2006 Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award went to wide receiver Hines Ward for completing 123 yards in 5 receptions, this culminated his outstanding regular season and 10 year career.

The 2007 Super Bowl was held on February 4, 2007, at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, making this the 9th time the Super Bowl was hosted in the state of Florida since it’s beginning 40 years earlier. Only one other state, Louisiana, has hosted the Super Bowl as many times.

The 2007 Super Bowl was a game of firsts, setting some unusual records in super bowl history. Bpth teams had an African American as head coach, meaning this would be the first time a black coack would win the Super Bowl in it’s 40 year hiostory. This also was the first time the super bowl was played on a wet and soggy field, as the rain did not let up all day. The Chicago Bears also made a record first, by scoring within the first minute of the game after Devin Hester made a run back for a touchdown off the opening kick.

The 2007 super bowl featured AFC champs, Indianapolis Colts against the NFC Chicago Bears, both teams having an excellent regular season. Both teams also had appeared in one other super bowl previous to the 2007 Super Bowl, Indianapolis in 1970s Super Bowl Five and Chicago in 1985s Super Bowl Twenty.

Peyton Manning for the Colts was named the 2007 Super Bowl Most Valuable Player (MVP) after completing 25 out of 38 passes for a total 247 yards and a touchdown, with one interception. Peyton Manning’s exceptional 10-year career as a quarterback would finally pay off with this coveted title, his first one.

The first quarter of the 2007 Super Bowl was lively as the Bears took the lead 14-7 over the colts. The Colts made an attempt to keep from kicking to Hester the rest of the game after his record breaking 92 yard TD in the first minute of the 2007 Super Bowl. By the end of the 2nd quarter, the Bears gained a 2-point advantage over the Colts with the score at 16-14.

Indianapolis kept their lead throughout the remainder of the game as the Bears made several attempts to make their comeback. Two field goals by Indianapolis and one by Chicago would make the score 22-17 (Colts) at the end of the third. The lead was not significant, however, in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter, Kelvin Hayden’s 56-yard interception return resulted in a touchdown for the Colts as they broke away with a 29-17 lead.

The Bear’s fruitless attempts to close the gap was staved off by Indianapolis’ excellent plays to keep possession of the ball. The 2007 Super Bowl would belong to the Indianapolis Colts, as the Bears last 5 plays netted no score. The Colts received their second and long awaited super bowl trophy.

More than 90 million people each year prepare to watch the Super Bowl on television as this event has become one of the great American pasttimes. With this enormous following, the super bowl has become more than just a football game, pumping millions of dollars into the economy each year.

Originally started as a world championship event in 1967, to pit the American Football League (AFL) against the National Football League (NFL), the super bowl was known as the ‘First AFL-NFL World Championship Game’. It was not until the media coined the term ’super bowl’ that all subsequent championship games became known as super bowls.

In 1970, the AFL and The NFL merged into the NFL, while the teams stayed in their respective leagues. The American Football League became the American Football Conference (AFC) while the National Football League became the National Football Conference (NFC). The top team from each conference then went on to play in the annual ‘Super Bowl’.

Recently the Super Bowl was held on the first Sunday in February, although in years past it was held at the end of January. The NFL sets the date of the game about a year in advance, while the location is determined as much as 3 years in advance. Deciding on the location is achieved by a vote of all MFL team owners, once cities have placed bids to be chosen.

The NFL evaluates each city according to their ability, and a vote is taken by the NFL owners to grant a particular stadium the privilege. This process is done several years in advance of the games to allow host cities to prepare. The Future super bowl hosts will be Dolphin Stadium in 2010, Dallas Cowboys in 2011, and Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in 2012.

The NFL also chooses which major television network will have exclusive broadcasting rights. The two most recent super bowls had more than 95 million viewers enjoying the game, while live attendance at the super bowl has lingered around 70,000 for the last 15 years

The large number of viewers of the super bowl has created an enormous expense for commercials aired during the super bowl. A 30-second commercial in the 2008 super bowl cost .7 million dollars. The total gross revenue from the 2008 super bowl commercials exceeded 6 million. The overwhelming amount of commercials on TV are food and drink commercials, which may explain why the super bowl is called the second largest food holiday after Thansgiving, cnakc food commercials dominated 2 of the top 5 spots in 2008 commercials.

Generating tens of millions of dollars and pumping nearly 1 billion dollars into the immediate economy has proved that the Super Bowl is one of the largest annual economic events in Anerica. The super bowl has accomplished a great feat in being a game that is admired not only by football fans, but businesses and retailers as well.