Another year, another Super Bowl. And another Super Bowl Roman numeral.
We’re fast approaching Super Bowl 57 between the Eagles and the Chiefs, the official title of which is Super Bowl LVII.
NFL fans have been seeing these jumbles of letters in Super Bowl titles for decades now, but many may not know exactly what they mean or how to use them. Understanding Roman numerals also has real-world applications, with dates on buildings, monuments and other public works often written using the ancient method.
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The Sporting News is here to help. Here’s a comprehensive guide on how to understand Roman numerals, in Super Bowl titles and beyond:
What number is the Super Bowl this year?
This year marks Super Bowl LVII, or Super Bowl 57. But how do four letters equal 57?
When it comes to Roman numerals, each symbol corresponds to a number. Here’s a chart to reference for each symbol’s value:
| Symbol | Number |
| I | 1 |
| V | 5 |
| X | 10 |
| L | 50 |
| C | 100 |
| D | 500 |
| M | 1,000 |
It’s helpful to think of Roman numerals as a math equation.
When you use numerals to write out a number, you’re basically using the symbols at your disposal to add up to the desired number. So for Super Bowl 57 this year, it is L for 50, V for 5, and two Is for 1s.
50 + 5 + 1 + 1 = 57
Generally, the symbols will go in descending order from largest to smallest, which is why it’s LVII and not VLII or some other variant. But there are exceptions to that rule.
If you see a symbol that is smaller in value than the symbol immediately to the right, you have to subtract the smaller from the larger. For example, the number 4 is written IV, the number 9 is written IX, the number 40 is written XL and the number 90 is written XC. This is done for efficiency’s sake, because it was easier for ancient Romans to carve something like XLI out of stone rather than XXXXI, which would both equal 41. Less carving is a good thing.
You might also be wondering why you can’t just write out LIIIIIII or XXXXVVVII for 57. Again, this is just because each numeral is designed to be as streamlined as possible. Technically, both of those would also add up to 57, but the only “correct” numeral for a given number is the one that uses the fewest characters.
Roman numerals chart
You can use this handy chart to see the corresponding Roman numeral for every number (and Super Bowl) between 1 and 99:
The longest Super Bowl Roman numeral to date was number 38: Super Bowl XXXVIII. That won’t be surpassed again until number 88: Super Bowl LXXXVIII.
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Why does the Super Bowl use Roman numerals?
The first Super Bowl to use Roman numerals was Super Bowl V back in 1971.
From the NFL’s media guide:
The Roman numerals were adopted to clarify any confusion that may occur because the NFL championship game — the Super Bowl — is played in the year following a chronologically recorded season. Numerals I through IV were added later for the first four Super Bowls.
Technically, the upcoming Super Bowl will determine the champion of the 2022 NFL season. However, the game is obviously taking place in the year 2023. The league chose to label Super Bowls with Roman numerals in an effort to avoid any confusion over which year a championship game happened.
Other sports have taken a simpler approach, hyphenating seasons that span across two calendar years. For example, the ongoing NBA and NHL seasons are referred to as the 2022-23 seasons.
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It’s unclear why the NFL decided to use Roman numerals rather than standard Arabic numerals. Maybe they just thought it looked cooler and sounded more grandiose.
The only Super Bowl to date which used an Arabic number instead of a Roman numeral was Super Bowl 50, played between the Broncos and Panthers in 2016. This is presumably because the NFL wanted to avoid any potential memes about “Super Bowl L.”
For what it’s worth, The Sporting News has used Arabic numerals to refer to Super Bowls every year since Super Bowl 50. We just think it’s easier that way.