Super Bowl
San Francisco 49ers cornerback Darryl Pollard celebrates Jan. 28, 1990, after beating the Denver Broncos 55-10 in the XXIV Super Bowl in New Orleans. Reuters

Super Bowl XLIX is upon us -- that's the 49th, just in case you don't remember Roman numerals. The huge football event is scheduled to start Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. The game is the latest in a long line of faceoffs between American Football Conference and National Football Conference teams, but there's still a lot of mystery around the event: Why do organizers use Roman numerals? How much does the trophy weigh? Who gets to host? Wipe the wing sauce off your fingers and scroll down to read 17 facts about the history of the big game:

1. The first Super Bowl was played Jan. 15, 1967 in Los Angeles between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Green Bay Packers. The Packers won 35-10.

2. Lamar Hunt, who owned the Kansas City Chiefs, coined the term "Super Bowl" based on a Super Ball toy his kids had been playing with. At the time, he said the name "obviously can be improved upon," but it became official in 1969.

3. Hunt also made the call to use Roman numerals. The first Super Bowl in history that won't use the letters will be next year -- the NFL doesn't want to have Super Bowl L. It'll change back in 2017, USA Today reported.

4. The winner of the Super Bowl gets the Vince Lombardi Trophy, which is named after the coach of the Packers in the 1960s. It weighs about seven pounds.

5. The on-field trophy presentation began in 1996. Before that, the winning team got the trophy in the locker room, according to Topend Sports.

6. The Pittsburgh Steelers have won the most Super Bowl championships: six. Tied for second place with five wins each are the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers.

7. The Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans have all never made it to the Super Bowl.

8. The Buffalo Bills are the only team to have played in four consecutive Super Bowls -- and lost all of them.

9. The highest number of points ever scored in a Super Bowl is 55, achieved by the San Francisco 49ers in 1990. The Denver Broncos only scored 10 in that game, which is known as the biggest point differential in Super Bowl history.

10. University marching bands used to play the halftime shows. The first celebrities to perform at halftime included jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald and trumpeter Al Hirt.

11. Other halftime performers have included Chubby Checker, Gloria Estefan, Michael Jackson, Prince, Paul McCartney and Phil Collins.

12. The national anthem is also sung by a star. Over the years, everyone from Barry Manilow to Billy Joel to the Dixie Chicks have sung "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the crowd.

13. NBC will broadcast the game this year, but 2016's game belongs to CBS, and 2017's to Fox. This annual rotation will end in 2023.

14. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in 2007 the Super Bowl could be played abroad -- maybe London, according to the Associated Press.

15. The most people to ever attend a Super Bowl was 103,985 in 1980. The smallest audience was 61,946 during the game's first year, followed by 64,130 in 1992.

16. With 10 each, Miami and New Orleans have hosted the most Super Bowls.

17. The 2016 Super Bowl will be in San Francisco, with 2017 in Houston and 2018 in Minneapolis.

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