It was an afterthought game that only filled a stadium two-thirds full. Now, it's must-watch viewing and draws a worldwide audience.
The Super Bowl may compete with events like the UEFA Champions League final as the most-watched annually-held single-game sporting event in the world.
"I don't think anyone saw it coming," Lombardi-era Green Bay Packers guard Jerry Kramer told 620WTMJ's "Wisconsin's Afternoon News." He has witnessed the ascendancy of the game from its modest beginning, when he won the first two with the Packers, to the 50th edition being played in Santa Clara, Calif. on Sunday.
I remember reading in the Super Bowl 25 book that the press required two buses to carry all of them to the Super Bowl game....now, it would take 50 buses to haul people to the Super Bowl from the media center."
The moment that got Kramer to realize the enormity of the game when he talked with an international audience.
" 'I got a call from a guy in London at the BBC. He said 'Jerry, this broadcast is going around the world, and I'm going to ask you some maybe fairly simple questions about American football,' " he said.
"I'm looking at the phone thinking 'Around the world. A billion and a half people. Wow.' "
Listen to Kramer tell even more Super stories about the coach the Super Bowl trophy is named after, Vince Lombardi. Check out his interview in your Soundcloud player above.
