After XLIX years of tradition, wherein every single logo for the Super Bowl (save the first) was designed with macho, gladiatorial Roman numerals...
Apparently V was okay, X was okay, but poor L just wasn't gonna cut it. Why?
According to an article in Rolling Stone, the NFL has been test marketing "L" for nearly a decade and the response wasn't good. The funny part is that the driving force against the letter's use was pure superstition.
The NFL came to believe, or believed from the start, that the letter "L" was too closely associated with "Loser."
And this is where market research fails us ladies and gentleman, because you know what— it doesn't matter a whit what the damn logo looks like. People will always scoop up any memorabilia for the sake of (duh) the memory of the event. Caps, t-shirts and all manner of swag would sell no matter what the design was.
I think, in the end the real loser is the NFL for breaking tradition. And funny thing is, according to RS, when Super Bowl fifty-one rolls around, the NFL will return to Roman numerals with the inexplicably okay Super Bowl LI.
