Super Bowl Roman Numerals: Complete List From I to Today

March 9, 2026

Why the NFL Uses Roman Numerals

When the AFL-NFL merger created what would become the biggest annual sporting event in America, the league faced a practical problem: the Super Bowl is played in the calendar year after the season it concludes. The 2025 NFL season, for example, culminates in a game played in February 2026. To avoid confusion about which season a championship belongs to, the NFL adopted Roman numerals as a neutral, season-independent numbering system starting with Super Bowl V in 1971.

The choice of Roman numerals also served a branding purpose. They lend an air of grandeur and timelessness to the event — fitting for what the NFL wanted to position as America's premier sporting spectacle. The tradition stuck, and today the Roman numeral designation is inseparable from the Super Bowl's identity.

Complete List of Super Bowl Roman Numerals

Below is every Super Bowl from the first game in 1967 through the most recent. The Roman numeral, year played, matchup, and winner are listed for each.

The Exception: Super Bowl 50

Sharp-eyed fans will notice one break in the Roman numeral tradition: Super Bowl 50, played on February 7, 2016. For the first and only time, the NFL used a standard Arabic numeral instead of the Roman numeral L.

The reason was purely aesthetic. The NFL's creative team felt that a single letter "L" looked underwhelming as a logo — especially compared to the visually rich numerals like XLVIII and XLIX that preceded it. The league designed a special golden "50" logo for the milestone game, which Denver won 24-10 over Carolina.

The NFL returned to Roman numerals the following year with Super Bowl LI, and has confirmed that the Roman numeral tradition will continue going forward. Super Bowl 50 remains the sole exception in the event's history.

How to Read Super Bowl Roman Numerals

If you're not familiar with Roman numerals, Super Bowl numbering can seem confusing. Here's how to break down the pattern:

• I through X (1-10): Simple counting. I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X.
• XI through XX (11-20): X (10) plus ones. XI, XII, XIII... XX.
• XXI through XXX (21-30): XX (20) plus ones.
• XL through XLIX (40-49): XL means 40 (50 minus 10), then add ones.
• L through LIX (50-59): L means 50, then add ones. This is where we are now.
• LX (60): The next milestone — Super Bowl LX will be played after the 2025 season.

For a deeper understanding, read our complete guide to how Roman numerals work.

Upcoming Super Bowls

The NFL has already assigned Roman numerals to future Super Bowls:

As the numbers climb, the Roman numerals become progressively longer. By Super Bowl C (100), expected around 2066, the NFL will face a clean reset to a single character — assuming the tradition survives that long.

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