America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions is an American annualdocumentary series created byNFL Films (broadcast onNFL Network andCBS). Its 59 installments profile the 59 winning teams of theNational Football League (NFL)'s annualSuper Bowl championship game; each episode chronicles an individual team.
Aspin-off debuted on September 18, 2008, titledAmerica's Game: The Missing Rings which chronicled five teams considered to be the best at the time to have not won the Super Bowl.[2]
America's Game weaves together archival NFL Films footage,videotape,audio clips, andinterviews into a new program with newtalking head style interviews from three or more of the winning team (players,coaches, or administrators) andnarration from a celebrity.
According toSteve Sabol, president ofNFL Films, only 20 teams were ranked instead of 40 because they feared negative mail from fans of the franchise whose team was ranked the lowest.[3] Sabol stated that, while the panel chose the1972 Dolphins as the #1 team, several voters hedged and said Miami's unbeaten season was "the greatest team achievement." Of the voting methods, Sabol said, "That's what I think people were voting on, rather than, 'Could this team beat the'85 Bears?'"[4]
For its initial airings the show was divided into two waves, with the first series being a weekly series counting down the top 20 winning teams, as selected by a 53-person panel of "Blue Ribbon" experts on the NFL.[3] The first 18 episodes aired onNFL Network beginning in November 2006 and the final two programs onCBS the day beforeSuper Bowl XLI in February 2007.
The remaining 20 champions' episodes aired during the NFL's off-season, February through April, before the2007 season began. The first episode of the remaining 20 champions aired on Thursday, February 8, 2007.
The show began its run with a one-hour "preview special" at 8:30 p.m.Eastern time on November 17, 2006, followed by the first of the countdown shows the following week. The "official" premiere episode aired on November 24, the day after the first liveregular season game telecast on NFL Network.
After some speculation on the future of the series, the2006 Indianapolis Colts, winners ofSuper Bowl XLI had their episode air on September 5, 2007, one night beforethe season opener.[5] The2007 New York Giants also received an episode, signaling that the series would be annually renewed at the beginning of the next NFL season; annual releases have come every year since.
Although the1990 New York Giants, winners ofSuper Bowl XXV, did not make the top 20 as chosen by the Blue Ribbon panel, their episode's debut was moved up from spring 2007 to the free-preview period of NFL Network that was offered onCablevision andTime Warner Cable in late 2006. The program debuted on December 29 at 12:31 a.m Eastern (December 28, 9:31 p.m.Pacific). It started 31 minutes late because of the length of theTexas Bowl and a full one-hourNFL Total Access that followed. Although most participating systems were located in theNew York tri-state area, some cable viewers inKansas also received it.[6]Alec Baldwin narrated andOttis Anderson,Carl Banks, andJeff Hostetler told their experiences of the season.
The special of the1971 Dallas Cowboys aired at 1 a.m. Eastern time December 30 (10 p.m. Pacific December 29) as part of the same preview, one week before the scheduled premiere. This was an hour behind schedule, as theInsight Bowl (that aired in place of what would have been a new episode) ended in overtime.
The following list compiles the top 20 Super Bowl teams, as determined by the experts. The teams listed below were revealed incountdown form in the weeks leading up toSuper Bowl XLI. The first 18 episodes aired on NFL Network, while the top two teams' specials were shown on CBS on February 3, the day before Super Bowl XLI. Each episode in the top 20 would be introduced with, "NFL Network presentsAmerica's Game, a countdown of the 20 greatest Super Bowl champions, and now, number ___"
Beginning February 8, NFL Network began to broadcast the remaining twenty champions' episodes. The2005 Steelers were not eligible to be in the Top 20 as the voting was done prior toSuper Bowl XL.
Following the original 40-episode run, the show took on an annual format. Beginning withSuper Bowl XLI and the2006 Indianapolis Colts, a new episode would air each September, usually the day before the regular season started, in order to commemorate the reigning Super Bowl Champions. The new episodes would air onNFL Network.
"The Missing Rings" redirects here. For the video game, seeThe Missing Ring.
A spinoff series,America's Game: The Missing Rings, debuted on September 18,2008 and aired for five consecutive Thursdays after that, starting at 10 p.m. ET. In this series, the producers picked five very good teams that came close to winning it all but finished short of Super Bowl victories, and devoted an hour to each of them. The basic format of the show was the same. However, the theme song cut off abruptly before the show started, symbolizing the unfinished goals of the teams being profiled.[7]
The episodes for the #1-ranked and #2-ranked Super Bowl champion teams first aired on CBS on February 3, 2007, the day beforeSuper Bowl XLI. They were reshown on NFL Network, with slightly more footage, on February 5.
On January 30, 2007,iTunes made twelve episodes (#20 through #9 of thecountdown) available for purchase atUS $1.99 an episode or US$29.99 for the top twenty teams' episodes.[8] All episodes, including the "Missing Rings" episodes, are now available.
During the top-20 countdown portion of the series, episodes were individually made available onDVD on the NFL's official web store,NFLShop.com, the day after their debut. Each episode's DVD art features a close-up of the team'sSuper Bowl ring.[9]
Currently, the only format available is Full Frame DVD. The program was filmed and broadcast in high definition but the DVD collection has been formatted as full frame.
In Australia,America's Game was previously shown onNetwork Ten andOne HD, but is now aired by7mate in support of its NFL broadcast rights.
Hulu reached a deal with theNFL and had almost every episode ofAmerica's Game viewable for free on their website. As of late 2012, the series is no longer on Hulu.
This series has aired on theTelevisa Deportes cable network in Mexico in recent years.
In Australia, Channel One HD playedAmerica's Game during the 2011–2013 NFL seasons. 7Mate took over for the 2014 Season but have only showed 2 episodes just prior toSuper Bowl XLIX. After Super Bowl XLIX, 7Mate started airing episodes every Saturday from 6 AM. Currently, 7Mate is screening all episodes in the series in order at 9 AM each weekday (although, for no apparent reason, at least two of those episodes were skipped and remain unaired).
