Super Bowl XLVI will take place on the home field of the Indianapolis Colts, Lucas Oil Field February 5, 2012. This marks the first time the Super Bowl has ever been held in the Midwest city famous for the Greatest Spectacle on Earth, the Indianapolis 500.

Now the NFL invades the town in February to give the economy a boost a few months before 400,000 racing fans invade the town in May. The game matches up the champions from the AFC and the champions from the NFC.

Indianapolis is the second cold weather city to be awarded the Super Bowl in recent years. Normally cities hosting the Super Bowl are in Southern California and Florida. A warm weather climate is common for the Super Bowl and the media and players like it this way.

NBC will air Super Bowl XLVI on February 5 at 6:15 p.m. The host crew, led by Bob Costas and Dan Patrick will be in Indianapolis all week. The broadcasting tandem of Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth will be in the booth to call the game and they are respected as the new top combination of play-by-play and color commentator in the NFL.

Madonna has been chosen as the entertainer for Super Bowl XLVI and with previous issues regarding racy halftime acts it will be interesting to see if Madonna pushes the envelope.

Last year Fox made $3 billion off sold advertisements for the game and this year's figure could go north of that number if NBC markets the game well.

History of the Super Bowl

The history of the Super Bowl starts with two things: the merging of the American Football League with National Football League, and a bouncy rubber ball.

The NFL - AFL World Championship Game was created as a piece of the merger agreement between the NFL and the AFL in 1966.

During the negotiations between the NFL and the AFL, Kansas City Chief owner, Lamar Hunt, thought of the name "Super Bowl" for the Championship game, after observing his daughter playing with her toy Super Ball. Hunt only meant the name to be a stop-gap until the powers that be could think of something better. Not having thought of one, the game was named "The NFL-AFL World Championship Game".

The first Championship took place in 1967. With the official title being quite a mouth full, the fans as well as the media took to the short, unofficial name, Super Bowl. In 1969, the name, "Super Bowl" became official.

The Green Bay Packers won the first two Super Bowls convincingly, causing many people to question if the AFL teams could compete. The very next year, the New York Jets upset the Baltimore Colts for the AFL's first Super Bowl Title. The Chiefs won the 4th Super Bowl, evening the record at 2-2.

In 1970, the NFL and AFL merged into one combined league with two conferences, which resembles today's National Football League. Three NFL Teams joined the 10 AFL teams forming the AFC (American Football Conference). The remaining 13 teams from the old NFL formed the NFC (National Football Conference).

Since the construction of the combined league, former AFL teams have won 10 Super Bowls while original NFL teams have taken 23. Two Super Bowls have been won by teams created after the merger.

The Winner of each Super Bowl receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named after Vince Lombardi, the great coach for the Green Bay Packers who led his team to victory in each of the first two Super Bowls. Following his death, the trophy was named prior to Super Bowl V in his honor.

Bart Starr led the Packers to victory in Super Bowl I.

The Green Bay Packers opened the Super Bowl series by defeating the AFL champion Chiefs behind the passing of Bart Starr, the receiving of Max McGee, and a key interception by all-pro safety Willie Wood.

Green Bay broke open the game with three second-half touchdowns, the first of which was set up by Wood's 50-yard return of an interception.

McGee, filling in for ailing Boyd Dowler after having caught only four passes all season, caught seven from Starr for 138 yards and two touchdowns. Elijah Pitts ran for two other scores.

The Chiefs' 10 points came in the second quarter, the only touchdown on a 7-yard pass from Len Dawson to Curtis McClinton. Starr completed 16 of 23 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns and was chosen the most valuable player.

The Packers collected $15,000 per man and the Chiefs $7,500-the largest single-game shares in the history of team sports.

For more information check out www.superbowlhistory.net and www.nfl.com