| The Super Bowl was created as part of the merger agreement between the National Football League (NFL) and its rival, the American Football League (AFL). After its inception in 1920, the NFL fended off several rival leagues before the AFL began play in 1960. The intense competitive war for players and fans led to serious merger talks between the two leagues in 1966 (See AFL-NFL Merger for more information).
One of the conditions of the agreement was that the winners of each league's championship game would meet in a contest to determine the "world champion of football". During the discussions to iron out the details, AFL founder and Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt had jokingly referred to the proposed interleague championship as the "Super Bowl." Hunt thought of the name after seeing his daughter playing with a toy called a Super Ball. The ball is now on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The name was feasible because postseason college football games had long been known as "bowl games" (The term originates with the Rose Bowl game, which was in turn named for the bowl-shaped stadium in which it is played). Hunt only meant his suggested name to be a stopgap until a better one could be found. Not having thought of one, the owners named the contest the NFL-AFL World Championship Game. Unsurprisingly, fans and media tended to use the shorter, unofficial name. Starting with the third contest in 1969, the name "Super Bowl" became official.
After the NFL's Green Bay Packers won the first two Super Bowls in convincing victories, some team owners feared for the future of the merger, since many doubted that AFL teams could compete with their NFL counterparts. However, in one of the biggest upsets in American sports history, the AFL's New York Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. One year later, the Chiefs won Super Bowl IV.
When both the NFL and the AFL merged into one combined league before the 1970 season, three NFL teams joined the 10 AFL teams to form the American Football Conference (AFC), and the other 13 teams became the National Football Conference (NFC). Since then, the Super Bowl has featured the champions of the AFC and NFC. As of 2005, former AFL teams have won 10 Super Bowls, pre-1970 NFL teams have won 23 games, and two games have been won by teams created after 1970.
The winning team receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named for the coach of the Green Bay Packers, who won the first two Super Bowl games. The trophy was named the Vince Lombardi Trophy prior to Super Bowl V in his honor following his death in 1970.
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