NFL ditches Roman numerals for Super Bowl 50

The NFL announced on Wednesday that it will go away from Roman numerals when it comes to the 50th Super Bowl, set for February 2016. Instead of being called Super Bowl L, with the Roman numeral L representing the number 50, the league will instead brand the game Super Bowl 50. The move breaks a tradition of using Roman numerals for the NFL's title game that dates back to Super Bowl V in 1971. Jaime Weston, the NFL's vice president of brand and creative, told ESPN the move is only a one-year break and is being made because the "L" isn't as pleasing to the eye. "When we developed the Super Bowl XL logo, that was the first time we looked at the letter L," Weston told ESPN. "Up until that point, we had only worked with X's, V's and I's. And, at that moment, that's when we started to wonder: What will happen when we get to 50?" The game will be played Feb. 7, 2016, at Levi's Stadium, the new home of the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, California.

The NFL will go back to using Roman numerals for the 51st edition of the league's biggest game, with Super Bowl LI tentatively scheduled for Houston's NRG Stadium on Feb. 5, 2017.