We’re getting ready for Super Bowl 60 on Sunday night in Santa Clara between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, but if you’re familiar with the marketing for the big game, you know that “Super Bowl 60” isn’t exactly how it’s officially described.
Instead, the NFL has chosen to use Roman numerals to represent the iterative version of the NFL Championship we’re in. This year is the “10th Super Bowl”.
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If you’re not familiar with how Roman numerals work, the letters can be confusing, but the system is actually quite simple. Roman numerals have only seven digits that have corresponding numerical values ​​and are put together in addition and subtraction.
Here are seven numbers:
These numbers are usually listed in order from larger number to smaller number, with each letter added to form the number. The exception is numbers involving four or nine, in which case the smaller number is subtracted from the larger number (e.g., XL = 40, XC = 90, etc.).
So, that means this year’s game is Super Bowl LX (50+10). Last year it was Super Bowl LIX (50+9), next year it’s Super Bowl LXI (50+10+1), and so on. Pretty simple, right?
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Now, hopefully you won’t be Googling “what do the Super Bowl letters mean” before next year’s game.
This article originally appeared in For Victory: Roman Numerals in Super Bowl Titles, Explained