[ti:What is the Super Bowl?]
[al:Arts and Culture]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2025-02-08]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]This Sunday, February 9, is not a holiday in the United States, but it might seem like one to Americans.
[00:11.53]Many will be attending parties to watch Super Bowl LIX.
[00:19.33]The Super Bowl is the championship game of professional American football.
[00:27.05]The National Football League, or NFL, has 32 teams mainly based in large cities across the U.S.
[00:38.91]The first professional league was formed in 1920, when representatives of four teams met in Canton, Ohio.
[00:51.65]The group first called itself the American Professional Football Association but changed the name two years later to the National Football League.
[01:06.65]In 1960, Texas businessman Lamar Hunt pushed the effort to create the American Football League, or AFL. 
[01:19.15]The two leagues competed with each other to sign top football players from universities around the country.
[01:30.80]In 1965, established NFL players began negotiating to play for the competing league. 
[01:42.19]So, officials of the two leagues decided to work together.
[01:48.59]This agreement established a championship game between the two leagues. 
[01:55.73]It was officially called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game but became known as the Super Bowl.
[02:08.07]The first Super Bowl was played in 1967 in Los Angeles, California. 
[02:16.85]The Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs. 
[02:22.07]It was not a very exciting game. 
[02:26.32]Many of the seats in the sports center were empty. 
[02:31.75]That changed with the Super Bowl played two years later.
[02:37.46]Experts say the public finally accepted the new league when the New York Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts.
[02:47.83]After that game in 1969, officials of the two leagues decided to create a new National Football League.
[03:01.09]They divided the teams into two competing conferences, the American Conference, or AFC, and the National Conference, NFC. 
[03:16.84]Each year, the conference champions play in the Super Bowl.
[03:22.64]Today, the Super Bowl is a major sporting event. 
[03:28.38]Tens of thousands of people will be watching the game Sunday at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
[03:38.95]Tens of millions of other people around the world will be watching Super Bowl LIX.
[03:47.13]They will be watching to see if the AFC Kansas City Chiefs or the NFC Philadelphia Eagles become the champions of American football.
[04:02.01]Both teams have had success in the Big Game. 
[04:07.00]The Eagles are one-time NFL champions. 
[04:11.87]They defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII. 
[04:18.51]This Sunday will be the team's fifth NFL championship game appearance.
[04:26.68]The Kansas City Chiefs have played for the championship six times.
[04:33.82]They have won four times, including the last two Super Bowls.
[04:41.14]The Chiefs are the first team in NFL history to have a chance to win a third Super Bowl in a row.
[04:52.34]I'm Caty Weaver.