Gigantic Dallas Stadium Will Host Super Bowl

It's America's biggest game, but don't expect world to care

(NEWSER) - The Super Bowl is like America, writes Michael MacCambridge in the Washington Post —"big, convivial, gaudy, passionate and, surely, self-important." But as popular as the Super Bowl is, there are five big myths about the big game:

• It's the world's most-watched sports event. Nope, just America's. Last year's Super Bowl was the most-watched program in US television history, with 153 million viewers—a mere shadow of the 700 million who watched last year's World Cup final. For the rest of the globe, football pales in comparison to, well, football.

2016 could be the year of losers

(NEWSER) - XLVI—the number of Sunday's Super Bowl—may be clunky, but at least it doesn't come with baggage. The NFL is preparing for the 50th Super Bowl in 2016, which will be Super Bowl L. Insiders are wary of T-shirts emblazoned with giant Ls: It could look like fans are just big losers, the Wall Street Journal notes. The "L" hand gesture is more recognizable than ever after TV's Glee adopted it in its logo. Maybe 2016 would "be a nice time to switch over to Arabic numerals," says an ad exec. More»

Next Sunday's games will determine who advances to Super Bowl

(AP) - For Eli Manning and the New York Giants, Lambeau Field has become a familiar launching pad. After beating the Green Bay Packers at home for the second time in four years, they only hope this trip ends the same way—at the Super Bowl. Manning threw three touchdown passes and the Giants shocked the Packers 37-20 in an NFC divisional playoff game today. Manning threw for 330 yards, sending the Giants to San Francisco for the NFC championship game next Sunday night. More»

111 million tuned in for big game: Nielsen

(AP) - For the second year in a row, the Super Bowl has set a new record for American television viewing. The Nielsen Co. said today that an estimated 111 million people watched the Green Bay Packers outlast the Pittsburgh Steelers in football's ultimate game. That tops the 106.5 million who watched the 2010 game between New Orleans and Indianapolis, and pushes the series finale of M-A-S-H, which had held the title of the most-watched TV show in the United States for 27 years, to No. 3. "We're excited about the fan reaction," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell today. More»

Six teams have no squads, and two of those teams play Sunday

(NEWSER) - Not in the Super Bowl this year: the Chicago Bears , the New York Jets … and the cheerleaders. For the first time in the game’s 45-year history, there will be no sideline supporters in attendance, because the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers just so happen to be two of the six NFL teams without pom-pom squads. And though, as an NFL rep tells Fox News , the league feels cheerleaders “enhance the overall game day experience,” neither team will be bringing in substitutes. More»