The Super Bowl might just be the most famous sporting event in the history of the world. Every year, whether people know who’s actually playing in the game or not, the world is a-buzz with the excitement that comes with the biggest game of the year. Despite that, many people don’t know the history of the big game.

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There have been more than 50 Super Bowl games over the years, but every historic tradition has to have its starting point. The first Super Bowl often goes unspoken about by the general football fan because of how long ago it was, and for a long time, how little was actually known about the specifics of the game.

10 It Wasn’t Even Called The Super Bowl

A Play From Super Bowl 1
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One of the first and most surprising things that a lot of people don’t know about the first Super Bowl is the fact that it wasn't even initially called the Super Bowl. The title Super Bowl wouldn’t actually be widely used until the third event.

The game was more fittingly for the time known as the First World Championship Game AFL Vs NFL. The name perfectly summed up the event, though it definitely is fair to say that “Super Bowl” sounds much more grand and exciting to the average person.

9 It Pitted Two Leagues Against Each Other

Super Bowl 1 Attempted Block
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As is suggested by the actual name of the first Super Bowl, the game was one that saw two different and distinct football leagues coming together in an effort to finally settle a serious rivalry.

Fans will know of the NFL, but some may not know that it merged with the AFL in order to provide modern fans with some of the most popular football teams of all time. The game was taken as seriously, and debatable even more seriously than even the exciting modern iterations of the game.

8 Two Different Balls Were Used

Super Bowl 1 Play
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The NFL is no stranger to controversies surrounding the balls that are used, but most people may be surprised to learn that two different balls ended up seeing use during the first Super Bowl. It wasn’t simply two different brands either, the dimensions were different.

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The NFL used what most consider to be a classic football during their possessions, while the AFL used a ball which was a bit more narrow and a bit longer than the standard football. Somehow, there was no real issue with this as it was seen as fair for each league.

7 It Was The Packers Vs. The Chiefs

Super Bowl 1 Hand-Off
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To be fair, there absolutely are football fans with encyclopedic-like knowledge of just about every Super Bowl, but most average people probably don’t even know who played in the first iteration of the big game.

The first Super Bowl saw the NFL’s best team at the time, the Packers going up against the AFL’s best teams at the time, the Chiefs. The game started out close, but the Packers ended up taking a heavy lead in the second half of the game.

6 The NFL Was Expected To Win

Super Bowl Stadium Black And White
Credit- CBS via Getty Images

It should be said that while the NFL wasn’t the only football promotion that was a household name, it certainly was the biggest, and that tended to come with the best players. Even with bidding wars with the AFL, the NFL still was considered the place to be.

Thanks to the pedigree of NFL talent that was on the Packers at the time, the league was heavily favored to win the game over the AFL. That expectation ended up being met as the NFL’s Packers would beat the Chiefs 35-10.

5 It’s The Only Super Bowl In History To Be Simulcast

Super Bowl 1 - The Chiefs Run
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The rights to broadcast the Super Bowl are a coveted thing. That shouldn’t be all that surprising considering one of the biggest parts of the game outside of the actual game itself is all the advertising that comes with it.

When the Super Bowl came around for the first time, both NBC and CBS broadcasted the game. The reason for this was that the AFL and NFL each had their own unique broadcasting deals, leading to both networks showing the big game off for the world to see.

4 Everyone Was Under A Lot Of Pressure From The Leagues

Super Bowl 1 Coaches
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When two rival promotions come together in an event that essentially proves which league has the better competition, there is a lot riding on everyone involved. Pretty much everyone involved with the first Super Bowl were stricken with tons of nerves.

Everyone from players to coaches, to even those broadcasting had different levels of nerves about the outcome of the game. Everyone was pressured to win, and thanks to the stellar Packers from that season, the NFL was the ultimate winner in a less than super competitive game.

3 It Is The Only Super Bowl That Didn’t Sell Out

Super Bowl 1 Packers
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These days, it’s almost impossible to imagine the Super Bowl not selling out as quickly as humanly possible. Tickets cost obscene amounts of money, and yet the game is often sold out before most fans can even check the price of tickets.

Thanks to how popular football is, it may be a surprise to learn that the first Super Bowl actually didn’t sell out. People were said to be shocked by the ridiculously expensive roughly $12 ticket cost to attend, something that fans today could only dream of.

Super Bowl 1 Chiefs Play
© Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

One of the most famous things to ever be mentioned about the first Super Bowl is that it kinda did have people flying around on jet packs. The strange choice of event was held during the game's halftime show.

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A group of rocket men flew around to entertain the crowd on what had to be fairly crude 1960s rocket packs. It’s an impressive choice for a halftime show from decades ago, and some might even argue, better than most of the music choices in recent years.

1 It Took Decades Before Anyone Could Watch The Game Entirely

Packers Run
Credit- James Flores:Getty Images

The history of the first Super Bowl was one that was mostly only spoken about from first-hand accounts for quite a while. Sure, small snippets of gameplay were eventually found, but it wasn’t until relatively recently (2016) in which the average person could watch just about the entire game.

The work that the crew had to put in to find each individual play from different sources, put them all in order, and then fully re-master the footage had to be immense. People have choice words for the NFL from time to time, but you can’t say that they don’t care about Super Bowl fans and football history.

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