It’s almost time for the Super Bowl LV, a matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs. And yes, we’re all thinking the same thing: what the heck is LV?! It’s a roman numeral. Yes, the NFL is still use roman numerals instead of numbers.
LV is the roman numeral for 55. The roman numeral for 50 is L and five is V. So: LV. (It’s not always that simple, but we won’t bore you with the details. If you want them, you can check out this explanation.)
Per the NFL, “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.” But that doesn’t really explain why they didn’t just use numbers. Maybe it’s more official-sounding?
The NFL has always used roman numerals with one exception, Super Bowl 50, which should have been Super Bowl L, if not for the NFL deciding it was too unattractive and unremarkable.
Roman numerals are a numeral system, which started in ancient Rome. It stuck around in Europe until the middle ages. We still see it often in clocks (like Big Ben in England), architecture (sometimes from Roman times), outline documents and, of course, in Super Bowls.
Yes, it’s weird. No, the NFL probably won’t change it anytime soon.
