Super Bowl Facts

The most watched television event of the year is upon us once again. No, it's not the Presidential Inauguration. No it's not some over hyped Hollywood award show. It's the Super Bowl.

This year nearly 90 million people are expected to be glued to their seats watching the game. In the 10 most watched events ever on television, the Super Bowl was 9 of them.

But not everyone is sitting there watching the touchdowns. Nearly 50% of the views are there for... you guessed it... the commercials. The average 30 second commercial shown during the Super Bowl this year cost around 3 million dollars. The fact that most bathroom breaks are taken durning the game and not the commercials must bring some relief to the companies that are shelling out the big bucks for these ads.

Here's a few more interesting facts about the Super Bowl.

1. The Super Bowl is a trademarked name and can not be used in advertisements without permission. That's why so many commercials use the name "The Big Game" instead of Super Bowl.

2. The only day of the year when more food is consumed than Super Bowl Sunday is Thanksgiving. This year nearly 60 million dollars of food is expected to be bought for this one day alone.

3. Nearly 15 tons of chips will be eaten during the game.

4. The name Super Bowl wasn't used until the 3rd championship game which was played in 1969.

5. There are no known video tapes of the first two championship games and the NFL is willing to pay 1 million dollars to anyone that has a copy.

6. MTV is banned from producing any half time shows since it's famous Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction.

7. The average game time for a Super Bowl is 60 minutes. The average commercial time is 30 minutes.

8. The state of Florida holds the record for the most hosted Super Bowl games.