NFL Super Bowl LI Logo
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The NFL has had iconic Super Bowl logos and others that left us scratching our heads. Let’s look at the good, bad and the ugly NFL’s Super Bowl logos.
It might surprise you to know that the very first Super Bowl game wasn’t called the Super Bowl at all, but “the AFL – NFL World Championship Game.” In 1960, as the NFL entered its 40th season, a new group called the American Football League (AFL) had started encroaching on its territory. In the past, the NFL had been able to fend off any upstart leagues, but the AFL just wouldn’t go away. Not only would they not back off, but in fact they redoubled their effort to poach star players from the NFL.
In 1966, after six years of fighting, the AFL and the NFL had enough and decided to merge into one league. Per the merger agreement, the AFL – NFL World Championship game was established. There’s an apocryphal story that the “Super Bowl” was coined by legendary Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, the truth is, even before the first game was played The New York Times and The Washington Post were already referring to the final game of the year as a “Super Bowl.”
Branding the Super Bowl is not as easy as it looks. Coming up with a new logo design every year that will appeal to everyone is an impossible task for any company. Organizations like the National Basketball Association (NBA) can get it right the first time and stick with a logo for years, others have to start over from scratch. An organization like the Olympics only needs a logo every four years, and even they suffer from bad design.
The NFL has managed to avoid any major faux pas when it comes to its Super Bowl logos, but they all haven’t been great, especially in the early years. Even with the more streamlined Super Bowl logo, there are still problems being worked out. Let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the truly very ugly NFL Super Bowl logos.