Why isn’t Super Bowl 50 using Roman Numerals?
By Mike Dyce
Why did the NFL decide not to use Roman Numerals for Super Bowl 50?
The golden anniversary of the biggest sporting event in the United States is upon us, Super Bowl 50. With the 50th Super Bowl, the NFL broke the tradition of using Roman numerals to go with Arabic numerals, 50 instead of L basically.
So why did the NFL decide to not use the traditional Roman numerals this year? Well, they said that the stand-alone didn’t look well. It is the first time Since Super Bowl X that the logo would have had a single numeral.
While the NFL pointed it to be an aesthetic reason, there is also a weird connotation that the letter L brings. In sports, an L is a loss and puts a negative damper on the Super Bowl as well, even if the NFL won’t officially acknowledge considering that as a reason.
Roman numerals weren’t always used in the Super Bowl, according to NFL.com Super Bowl V was the first.
The NFL will return to Roman Numerals afterwards with Super Bowl LI in Houston.
Does it really matter at this point anymore? The NFL has stripped each Super Bowl of it’s character and feel by gentrifying the logo instead of the years when each logo was representative of the host city or region and venue.