In 2016, the Super Bowl, the climactic spectacle of American professional football, celebrated its 50th anniversary. The Super Bowl stands as the broadest ‘shared experience’ in American culture. As television ratings, cultural practices, and scholarly tomes reveal, more people participate in watching the Super Bowl than in any other common endeavour in the United States. The Super Bowl has become a new national holiday dedicated to the celebration of consumption—the driving force underneath modern culture. Beyond the borders of the United States, the Super Bowl does not rank as highly as a global phenomenon, though it increasingly draws larger audiences in a few nations around the globe. Some watch as curious students of American habits, others seem to be developing affinity for American-style football. The global dynamics of the consumption of football reveal much about the dynamics of American ‘soft power’ and cultural influence in the new globalized social networks that are emerging as consumption increasingly powers not only the United States but also the world economy. A Half Century of Super Bowls: National and Global Perspectives on America’s Grandest Spectacle analyzes the Super Bowl in shaping American and global communities and identities. It was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.

After fifty years of celebration, the Super Bowl represents the broadest 'shared experience' in contemporary American culture and has become a new national holiday.

The Super Bowl redefined American sports. Over the past half century, the NFL's championship game has grown from humble beginnings to the biggest sporting event of the calendar year--an event that creates legendary stories, from Len Dawson's conversation with the president to Jim O'Brien's game-winning kick and Randy White's post-game duet with Willie Nelson. Covering 50 Super Bowls, from 1966 through 2016, this book gives an insider's view of each game, with recollections from the people who participated, many told for the first time.

Now in paperback, this first global history of sports offers all spectators and participants a reason to cheer—and to think. Games People Played is, surprisingly, the first global history of sports. The book shows how sports have been practiced, experienced, and made meaningful by players and fans throughout history. It assesses how sports developed and diffused across the globe, as well as many other aspects, from emotion, discrimination, and conviviality; to politics, nationalism, and protest; and how economics has turned sports into a huge consumer industry. It shows how sports are sociable and health-giving, and also contribute to charity. However, it also examines their dark side: sports’ impact on the environment, the use of performance-enhancing drugs, and match-fixing. Covering everything from curling to baseball, boxing to motor racing, this book will appeal to anyone who plays, watches, and enjoys sports, and wants to know more about their history and global impact.

A straight-from-the-source look at how NFL dynasties are built More than a half century has passed since the first Super Bowl was played in 1967. Over those decades, a small group of NFL franchises have dominated the sport, and in doing so, revolutionized the game of football. In Super Bowl Blueprints, Hall of Famer Bill Polian shares exclusive conversations with the executives, coaches, and players who describe how these dominant franchises achieved Super Bowl glory. Polian, the architect of the Super Bowl XLI champion Indianapolis Colts, provides a rare glimpse inside the executive suites, locker rooms, and sidelines for the key moments that define the modern NFL. Mike Holmgren explains how Bill Walsh's West Coast Offense was utilized by Walsh's San Francisco 49ers, Holmgren's Green Bay Packers, and Andy Reid's Kansas City Chiefs. John Madden and Ron Wolf describe how Al Davis built the iconic Raiders franchise. Art Rooney III traces the Pittsburgh Steelers' decades of dominance. Interviews also reveal the keys to success of the New York Giants under Bill Parcells and Tom Coughlin, Bill Belichick's New England Patriots, Joe Gibbs' teams in Washington, the 1990s Dallas Cowboys, and more. Super Bowl Blueprints reveals the secrets of success in the modern NFL, from those who know the game best.