Angles, facts and figures of Super Bowl 50
Everything about the Super Bowl is important — all the way down to what color a team wears.
The AFC champion Denver Broncos are the home team in Super Bowl 50. They had their choice of what color uniforms to wear, and settled on white.
Historically, the Broncos are 0-4 when wearing orange in the Super Bowl. They are 1-1 in white, and 1-0 wearing blue.
That leaves the NFC champion Carolina Panthers wearing black. In their only other Super Bowl appearance, Carolina wore white and lost to the Patriots.
Making the call
The Super Bowl is not only special for players and fans, but it’s also special for the referees.
The seven-member crew includes referee Clete Blakeman, umpire Jeff Rice, head linesman Wayne Mackie, line judge Rusty Baynes, field judge Boris Cheek, side judge Scott Edwards and back judge Keith Ferguson. This will be Rice’s third Super Bowl.
Together, that’s 97 years of NFL officiating experience — probably a lot of flags.
Under the NFL officiating program’s evaluation system, officials must be rated in the top tier at their position to be eligible for the Super Bowl. They must have at least five years of NFL experience and previous playoff assignments.
For the close calls, Charles Stewart is the replay official, and Jimmy Oldham is his assistant.
Not camera shy
Super Bowl 50 will mark the 19th time that CBS has broadcast the game. It takes a lot of people and cameras to telecast one of the world’s biggest sporting events.
Here’s a by-the-numbers look at CBS’ coverage plans for Super Bowl 50:
3: Aerial camera systems
4: Sets used on Super Bowl Sunday, three at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara and one in San Francisco
12: Production trucks utilized for game and pregame broadcasts
16: Camera angles provided by the eight pylon cameras, which will debut for the first time in a Super Bowl
70: Game cameras
256: Microphones used
360: Number of degrees CBS Sports’ Eye Vision 360 replay system will show viewers on key plays
65,000: Square footage for CBS’ Super Bowl compound
1.1 million: Communication points in the compound’s intercom system
Super advertising
New York Giants superstar receiver Odell Beckham Jr. is showing up everywhere — even in a Super Bowl ad.
Buick’s first-ever Super Bowl ad will bring the brand’s award-winning “Experience the New Buick” campaign to the biggest night in TV advertising. The campaign launched in 2014 and challenges consumers’ false perceptions of the brand.
The 30-second spot, scheduled to air during Super Bowl 50, features Buick’s all-new Cascada luxury convertible and stars Beckham and actress/model Emily Ratajkowski.
A big house
Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., is a $1.2 billion venue with 1.85 million square feet. It seats approximately 68,500, and features 165 luxury suites and 8,500 club seats.
One of the most unique features of the facility is the green roof atop the suite tower on the west side of the stadium. The three solar bridges, connecting the main parking area to the stadium, include hundreds of solar panels.
New ground
Peyton Manning will be the first quarterback in NFL history to play in multiple Super Bowls for two different teams (Denver and Indianapolis).
Cream rises
The game marks the third consecutive season that the league’s top-seeded playoff teams reached the Super Bowl.
The Next Big Games
Super Bowl LI, Houston, Feb. 5, 2017 (tentative date)
Super Bowl LII, Minnesota, Feb. 4, 2018 (tentative date)
Third time coming
The San Francisco Bay Area is hosting a Super Bowl for the second time. Here’s how the 50 sites break down by total:
New Orleans: 10
South Florida: 10
Los Angeles: 7
Tampa Bay: 4
Arizona: 3
San Diego: 3
Detroit: 2
Atlanta: 2
Houston: 2
Bay Area: 2
North Texas: 1
Indianapolis: 1
Jacksonville: 1
Minneapolis: 1
New York/New Jersey: 1
Good record
The Panthers finished the regular season 15-1 to become the ninth team in NFL history to lose one or fewer regular-season games and advance to the Super Bowl:
Here’s a look at the others:
Team, Season, Super Bowl, Regular-season record, Result
Oakland Raiders, 1967, II, 13-1, Lost to Green Bay 33-14
Baltimore Colts, 1968, III, 13-1, Lost to New York Jets 16-7
Miami Dolphins, 1972, VII, 14-0, Beat Washington 14-7
Oakland Raiders, 1976, XI, 13-1, Beat Minnesota 32-14
Washington Redskins, 1982, XVII, 8-1*, Beat Miami 27-17
San Francisco 49ers, 1984, XIX, 15-1, Beat Miami 38-16
Chicago Bears, 1985, XX, 15-1, Beat New England 46-10
New England, 2007, XLII, 16-0, Lost to New York Giants 17-14
Carolina Panthers, 2015, 50, 15-1, To be determined
*Strike-shortened season
Position votes
If you’re trying to guess who will be the Super Bowl 50 MVP, the fast money is on a quarterback — either Cam Newton or Peyton Manning.
The long shot is a special teams player. There has only been one return specialist (Desmond Howard) to win the award and no kickers.
The winner of the award receives the Pete Rozelle Trophy.
Here’s a breakdown of Super Bowl MVPs by position:
Quarterback:27
Running back: 7
Wide receiver: 6
Linebacker: 3
Defensive end: 2
Safety: 2
Cornerback: 1
Defensive tackle: 1
Kick/punt returner: 1
Lots of eyes
Last year’s game, won by New England over Seattle, was the most-watched television show of all-time with a record average of 114.4 million viewers in the United States, according to Nielsen.
Cashing out
Each member of the winning team receives $102,000. Each member of the losing team gets $51,000.
This story was originally published February 1, 2016 at 10:49 AM with the headline "Angles, facts and figures of Super Bowl 50."