2016 Super Bowl will be "Super Bowl 50," not "Super Bowl L"

The NFL has been using Roman numerals to designate Super Bowls since the fifth installment of the game in 1971. If you were a football fan growing up, there’s a good chance that because of this, you had a better grasp of the system than most of your classmates and friends.

The league announced Wednesday, however, that the designation will change in 2016, as it has decided to go with Super Bowl 50 rather than utilizing the Roman numeral “L.”

When asked about the change, the NFL’s vice president of brand and creative, Jamie Weston (via ESPN’s Darren Rovell), stated that this decision actually began to swing into motion back with Super Bowl 40, the first time the league had to use the “L.”

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“When we developed the Super Bowl XL logo, that was the first time we looked at the letter ‘L,’” Weston said. “Up until that point, we had only worked with X’s, V’s and I’s. And, at that moment, that’s when we started to wonder what will happen when we get to 50?”

Super Bowl 50 will be played at the new San Francisco 49ers’ home, Levi’s Stadium, on Feb. 7, 2016.

Now if there is anyone out there that is disappointed by this move, for whatever reason, the good news is that once this Super Bowl has been played out, the league will be going back to using the Roman numerals.

heavenlyfatheragain wrote:i think the 50 will look better than the L to be honest so i can see why they have done it...

its the game that matters anyway...

Ben_Reilly wrote:

heavenlyfatheragain wrote:i think the 50 will look better than the L to be honest so i can see why they have done it...

its the game that matters anyway...

Agreed, "SUPER BOWL L" will looking confusing; "SUPER BOWL 50" will look kinda bad-ass.

They're changing it back to the Roman numerals after that one, anyway. I guess it just has some purists upset.