What is Super Bowl LVIII? How to read Roman numerals and why the NFL uses them
It's Super Bowl week, but what edition of the game is it?
The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers will play for the Lombardi Trophy on Sunday in the latest version of the NFL's title game. The Super Bowl is unique from all other North American sports in that it doesn't use a year to signify its championship game, but instead numbers.
But to make it even more confusing, instead of using a numerical digit, the NFL uses Roman numerals to number the Super Bowl, which likely confuses viewers seeing the logo since its a system rarely used in today's world. So to help avoid the confusion, here's a quick guide to Roman numerals and the Super Bowl.
What Super Bowl is it?
This season's NFL championship game — Super Bowl LVIII — is Super Bowl 58.
SUPER BOWL CENTRAL: Latest Super Bowl 58 news, stats, odds, matchups and more.
How to read Roman numerals
Roman numerals use letters of the alphabet and used in combination the higher the number. Here are what the symbols are for 1-10:
- 1: I
- 2: II
- 3: III
- 4: IV
- 5: V
- 6: VI
- 7: VII
- 8: VIII
- 9: IX
- 10: X
When it comes to number prefixes or suffixes on the letters, IV could be read as "one less than four," or VIII can be read as "three more than five." So for example, XIV is 14 and XVII is 17. When it gets to any number after 19, you use as many X's for every 10. Example, XXXIII is 33, or "three more than 30."
But when the number gets to 50, L is used as the first numeral, which is why it's in this year's logo. So for example, Super Bowl Bowl 65 will be Super Bowl LXV.
After that, new letters aren't introduced until 100. Then, 100 is C, D is 500 and M is 1,000. So the year 2024 is MMXXIV.
The only time the NFL didn't use a Roman numeral was Super Bowl 50, likely because it didn't want it to be Super Bowl L.
If it's still confusing or hard to remember, then just read a USA TODAY story mentioning the Super Bowl. Here, Super Bowls are always referred to in numerical digits, so Super Bowl 58 is used.
Why does the NFL use Roman numerals for the Super Bowl?
The confusing number choice for the Super Bowl dates back all the way to the very first one.
The idea came from late Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, who also came up with the name "Super Bowl." According to the NFL, Roman numerals were used to avoid any confusion that could happen since the championship win is recognized the year the season started and not the year in which it ended. Example, the winner of this year's Super Bowl will be recognized as the 2023 champions, not the 2024 champions.
The league says the Super Bowl term was first officially used with Super Bowl 3, and Roman numerals were first used in Super Bowl 5. The league later added Super Bowl and Roman numerals to the first four editions.