You can bet on the color of the Gatorade dumped on the winning coach for the Super Bowl

Legal gambling on Super Bowl 60 is expected to reach $1.76B

Legal Super Bowl wagering has grown sharply over the past decade as US states legalized sports betting. In 2018, sports betting was only legal in Nevada and accounted for $158.5M.

Gatorade was first designed for college football players in Florida heat

To help replenish crucial chemicals football players were losing fast to their profuse sweat in southern heat, researchers at the University of Florida developed a drink blended with salts and sugars that were easy to absorb. The drink, Gatorade, took its name from the school's mascot.

The general public cannot buy Super Bowl tickets at face value

The NFL controls every Super Bowl ticket, distributing none through a general public sale; after allotments to teams, players, sponsors, and the league, only about 11,600 tickets—roughly 16%—are available to fans at face value, mostly via team lotteries.

See the evolution of Super Bowl logos and how the NFL refined its visual identity over time

Tracing Super Bowl logos from early, varied designs to today’s standardized look shows how the NFL adapted to shifting design trends, television demands, and brand strategy.

Pepsi dominates the list of the highest-rated Super Bowl commercials in history

The Super Bowl features the two best NFL teams, playing American football at the highest level. While the games may be forgotten by fans whose team didn’t make it, no one forgets the commercials.

The NFL selects the Super Bowl host city years in advance and follows a list of criteria

Since 2018, the NFL has invited select cities to negotiate hosting rights rather than accept open bids, with owners voting based on stadium size, climate, hotels, transportation, security capacity, and infrastructure.

A children's toy inspired the name ‘Super Bowl’

The name “Super Bowl” was coined by AFL founder Lamar Hunt, who casually suggested it in 1966—riffing on his child’s Super Ball toy—after alternatives such as “The Big One” and “AFL-NFL World Championship Game” proved clunky and forgettable. The name was officially adopted for the third championship.

Among most mainstream sports broadcasts, sports betting ads appear most often in women's basketball and hockey

A random selection of 50 different sports broadcasts tracked one sports betting reference every four minutes. In one of the randomly selected hockey games, the longest stretch of no gambling reference lasted about five minutes towards the end of the game.

The quarterback cadence is a unique quirk to the game of football

Only the offense knows when the ball will be snapped, giving the team with the ball the advantage. Common combinations of colors and numbers (like "blue 42") were codes for plays early in the sport, but are now used arbitrarily.

College football rivalry trophies range from historic prizes to bizarre oddities

From the Paul Bunyan Trophy and the Golden Hat to the Old Brass Spittoon and the Bronze Pig, rivalry games feature prizes that mix tradition, regional pride, and a dash of eccentricity.

Breaking down the jargon and strategy of horse betting

Placing bets on horse racing isn't the same as a football or basketball game. You can pick a winner (win), who will come in second (place), and even third (show). And all the bets placed on a race are pooled together and divided among the winners. This Top Ten Picks video teaches the mechanics behind each bet, and shares insider tips that can lead to more informed betting choices.

John Madden is the only broadcaster to call Super Bowls on four networks

During his long career as an announcer, Madden called 11 Super Bowls across four networks—CBS, Fox, ABC, and NBC. Watch highlights from his first Super Bowl XVI in 1982.

Super Bowl XXXIV came down to the final play at the goal line

In Super Bowl XXXIV, Tennessee drove to the Rams' one-yard line on the final play, but Kevin Dyson was stopped by Mike Jones on the final play, sealing a 23-16 St. Louis win.

Texas’ 1,600-pound longhorn mascot Bevo charged at Georgia’s Uga, a small bulldog, at the Sugar Bowl

During a pregame photo op at the 2019 Sugar Bowl, Bevo broke through a barrier and charged toward Uga, creating a chaotic scene that instantly became one of college football’s most viral mascot moments. Luckily, Bevo was stopped before reaching Uga.

Tailgating is a cornerstone of college football culture

Hours before kickoff, fans gather in stadium parking lots and nearby lawns to grill, share drinks, and celebrate.

Rob Gronkowski dented the Lombardi Trophy during the Patriots' celebration

After their victory in Super Bowl LII, Patriots' tight end Rob Gronkowski dented the trophy by using it as a baseball bat before throwing out the first pitch at Fenway Park. Team owner Robert Kraft decided not to repair the trophy.

MLB pitchers were charged with benefiting from sports betting

In November 2025, two pitchers for the Cleveland Guardians were charged with coordinating with sports bettors to enrich themselves and others. In many instances, they shared the kinds of pitches they would throw at specific points in the game. Bettors then placed money on those actions.

How house colors can indicate gentrification

Reporters from the Washington Post share an analysis that indicates gray and neutrally toned houses are signs of gentrification in a neighborhood. Visuals of different paint swatches help illustrate which colors are chosen for newly built homes in certain DC districts.

As oil revenues decline, many Gulf States are investing in professional sports through sovereign wealth funds

Gulf States—including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia—have invested tens of billions of dollars in professional sports, owning high-profile soccer clubs like Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City. Many of these investments have been characterized as an increase in these countries' soft power, or global cultural influence, in Western countries, where the Middle East remains relatively misunderstood.

The Supreme Court decided that a public school coach's postgame prayers were protected speech

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of a high school football coach who had been suspended for kneeling in prayer at midfield after games. The decision shifted away from the Lemon test and toward a more expansive view of religious freedom in the Establishment Clause.

Red and green became Christmas colors thanks to holly—and Coca-Cola

Holly's green leaves and bright red berries linked the colors to winter festivals for centuries, but Coca-Cola's 1931 Santa—painted by Haddon Sundblom in Coke-red robes—helped cement red and green as the modern Christmas palette.

Ranking the highest college football coach salaries

See the pay received by notable college football coaches in the US. Topping the list is Georgia’s Kirby Smart, with a total pay of over $13M. Smart is followed by Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian, and USC’s Lincoln Riley. Scroll through the list of 134 names with the lowest displayed salary of $376,000.

Why your favorite color is probably blue

From a young age, we are primed to choose a favorite color, but strangely as we grow up, our preference often changes—and it’s largely due to influences outside our control.

Ohio State’s 2003 Fiesta Bowl win ended Miami’s 34-game winning streak

In a thrilling double-overtime BCS title game, Ohio State defeated defending champion Miami 31–24. This snapped the Hurricanes’ 34-game win streak and delivered the Buckeyes their first national championship since 1968.

Most Americans don’t want a new national anthem

Despite some citizens voicing distaste for the composition of the song or Key’s history as a slaveholder, the overwhelming majority of Americans want to keep “The Star-Spangled banner.” A 2020 YouGov poll of over 25,000 American adults found that 60% believe it should remain as the anthem.

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

When caught in the mouths of cardinal fish, seed shrimp release glowing, bioluminescent chemicals, which alert predators of the cardinal fish, prompting the shrimp's ejection.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

44% of Americans say they pray at least once a day—discover how your state's religiosity stacks up against the rest of the country.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Scientists testing how climate change affects plants found, in a years-long simulation study, that poison ivy grew 70% faster with the resulting extra carbon dioxide.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

The 2026 Ebola outbreak in the DRC is spurring new Ebola vaccine development for the Bundibugyo species.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.