When the Super Bowl is played Feb. 13 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, it will mark the first time in nearly 30 years that the game returns to its roots in Los Angeles.
Starting with Super Bowl I in 1967, the game has been played seven times in the Los Angeles area, all at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and LA Memorial Coliseum south of downtown LA.
Below, we have a look at those seven Southern California Super Bowls and memorable, sometimes bizarre, moments from each game, halftime shows, national anthem performers and more.
The 2022 Super Bowl is Sunday, Feb. 13. It will air live on NBC and the streaming service Peacock. The broadcast will begin at 3 p.m. PT, with a kickoff time set for 3:30 p.m.
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Super Bowl I: The First Super Bowl at LA Memorial Coliseum
- Date: Jan. 15, 1967
- Place: LA Memorial Coliseum
- Score: Green Bay 31, Kansas City 10
- National Anthem: The Pride of Arizona, Michigan Marching Band, UCLA choir
- Halftime Show: Trumpeter Al Hirt, and marching bands from the University of Arizona and Grambling State University.
The first Super Bowl bears little resemblance to the days-long cultural and sporting event we know now. About 62,000 people attended the game at the historic home of the USC Trojans and two Summer Olympics. That's the smallest attendance figure of any Super Bowl, illustrating the difference between the first game -- which also was broadcast by two TV networks -- and today's mega-event.
The game was actually called the American Football League (AFL)-National Football League (NFL) Championship Game. The two professional football leagues agreed to merge following the 1969 season and stage a season-ending duel between the champions of the NFL and the upstart AFL. That game was largely an afterthought following the complex merger that played out over several seasons.
LA wasn't settled on the site for the game until Dec. 1, 1966, giving organizers just a few weeks to prepare.
The halftime show? In an era that included the Beatles and Rolling Stones, the halftime show, titled "Super Sights and Sounds," featured marching bands, two guys with jet packs, some helium balloons and hundreds of pigeons.
Super Bowl VII: Miami Dolphins Achieve Perfection
- Date: Jan. 14, 1973
- Place: LA Memorial Coliseum
- Score: Miami 14, Washington 7
- National Anthem: Little Angels Children's Choir, Chicago's Holy Angels Church
- Halftime Show: "Happiness Is" featured the University of Michigan Marching Band, jazz musician Woody Herman and singer Andy Williams.
By 1973, the Super Bowl had gained in popularity. The 1973 game was significant because it featured the undefeated Miami Dolphins, who became the only team in NFL history to cap off a perfect season when they defeated Washington at the Coliseum.
With a temperatures of 84 degrees at kickoff, it also is the warmest Super Bowl.
The game wasn't as close as the score suggests. Feast your eyes on the Associated Press' summary of the game,.
“Welcome to the Super Bowl Fish Fry,” said the bedsheet banner in the massive Memorial Coliseum. However, it was the Washington Redskins who got neatly sautéed by pro football’s unbeatable underdogs, the Miami Dolphins.
"Washington’s Championship Menu: Filet of Dolphin,” said another home paean to coach George Allen’s Over-The-Hill Gang. However, it was Miami quarterback Bob Griese who feasted on the tasty gaps in the Redskins’ defense.
It was bullish Larry Csonka who gobbled up the Coliseum turf. It was Manny Fernandez who chewed up the Washington ground game. It was Jake Scott who speared the Redskins’ aerial attack like a hungry interloper amid trays of hors d’oeuvres.
Super Bowl XI: Everything's Rosy for John Madden's Raiders
- Date: Jan. 9, 1977
- Place: The Rose Bowl
- Score: Oakland 32, Minnesota 14
- National Anthem: Vikki Carr performed "America the Beautiful."
- Halftime Show: "It's a Small World" included the Los Angeles Unified All-City Band with the New Mouseketeers and an audience card stunt.
The picturesque Rose Bowl hosted the Super Bowl for the first of five times in 1977, but it wasn't a pretty picture for the Minnesota Vikings. They became the first team to appear in four Super Bowls -- losing four times. The halftime show produced by Disney was the first to include audience participation when fans held up cards in the stands. This was the only game at which the National Anthem was not performed.
Super Bowl XIV: Steel Curtain Descends on LA
- Date: Jan. 20, 1980
- Place: The Rose Bowl
- Result: Pittsburgh 31, Los Angeles Rams 19
- National Anthem: Cheryl Ladd
- Halftime Show: Up With People and the Grambling State Marching Band performed in a salute to the Big Band era.
This Super Bowl, featuring the hometown team against the Steelers, still holds the game's attendance record of 103,985. It was the first time the game was played in home market of one of the teams.
The Rams actually held a 13-10 over the powerhouse Steelers at halftime, but the defending champs pulled away with 14 points in the final quarter to become the first team with four Super Bowl titles.
TV viewers got a sign of things to come when former Raiders coach John Madden served as a network studio analyst. He went on to a celebrated career as one of the game's most beloved, insightful and entertaining broadcasters.
Super Bowl XVII: Strike-Shortened Season Ends at the Rose Bowl
- Date: Jan. 30, 1983
- Place: The Rose Bowl
- Score: Washington 27, Miami 17
- National Anthem: Leslie Easterbrook
- Halftime Show: "KaleidoSUPERscope" and featured the Los Angeles Super Drill Team.
Joe Theismann, his distinctive burgundy and gold single-bar face mask helmet looking glorious in the Rose Bowl, and the Redskins won their first Super Bowl in a strike-shortened season. Teams played only nine games that season instead of the usual 16 -- they played 17 this season -- and the playoff format was a 16-team tournament consisting of four rounds. Workhorse Washington running back John Riggins finished two records -- most rushing yards (166) and most rushing attempts (38) in a Super Bowl.
Super Bowl XXI: 'I'm Going to Disney World'
- Date: Jan. 25, 1987
- Place: The Rose Bowl
- Score: New York Giants 39, Denver 20
- National Anthem: Neil Diamond
- Halftime Show: A "Salute to Hollywood's 100th Anniversary" featured a performance by Southern California high school drill teams and dancers.
This one got out of hand when the Giants scored 26-consecutive points en route to the franchise's first Super Bowl victory and earning Coach Bill Parcels a Gatorade shower, which has become the standard for post-game celebrations.
As for the entertainment, the pre-game show featured a salute to California with a performance by The Beach Boys. The halftime show titled a "Salute to Hollywood's 100th Anniversary" included an introduction from comedian George Burns and a performance by Southern California high school drill teams and dancers.
Phil Simms, the Giants quarterback, became the first Super Bowl MVP to be part of an "I'm going to to Disney World" TV commercial.
Super Bowl XXVII: Michael Jackson Revolutionizes the Halftime Show
- Date: Jan. 31, 1993
- Place: The Rose Bowl
- Score: Dallas 52, Buffalo 17
- National Anthem: Garth Brooks
- Halftime Show: Michael Jackson
You'd think a game tied for the third-highest scoring Super Bowl ever would be exciting. The problem was one team did most of the scoring.
Buffalo was in its third straight Super Bowl, but the Bill's misfortune in the game reached new lows. Dallas scored 35 points off a Super Bowl record nine Bills turnovers in a game that seemed decided not long after the coin toss, which included former Bills running back O.J. Simpson.
Super Bowl XXVII was notable for reasons other than the lopsided game. Primarily, the halftime show, which would never be the same. After a special episode of "In Living Color" broadcast on FOX during halftime of the previous year's Super Bowl took away some of the game's audience, organizers sought a big name that would retain viewers after the first half. That magnetic star power was generated by the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, who performed several songs and was joined by a choir of Los Angeles students.
The playbook for today's blockbuster halftime shows had arrived.
The game was originally scheduled for Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. The NFL moved the game to Pasadena after Arizona's refusal to make Martin Luther King Day an official state holiday. A voter referendum on the holiday was rejected in November 1990.
