In what year was the first Super Bowl played?

The first Super Bowl was played in 1967. Officially called the first AFL–NFL World Championship Game, it took place on January 15, 1967, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The game matched the NFL champion Green Bay Packers against the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs, reflecting the rivalry between the two professional leagues before their merger. Green Bay won 35–10, with Packers quarterback Bart Starr earning the game’s Most Valuable Player award.

The contest was not originally branded with the Roman numeral “I” in the way later Super Bowls were. That numbering was applied retroactively after the leagues merged. Another common mix-up is the season: the game was played in January 1967, following the 1966 NFL and AFL seasons.

Super Bowl I was also the only Super Bowl televised nationally by two competing networks, CBS and NBC, because each network held the broadcast rights to one of the rival leagues.