Super Bowl 50: NFL Abandons Roman Numerals For 2016 Title Game, Unveils New Logos [PHOTOS]

Super Bowl 50 will mark the first time since 1971 that the NFL’s championship game will be stylized with numbers instead of Roman numerals.

NFL officials decided that a Super Bowl graphic featuring the lone Roman number “L” would be less appealing than a logo which utilized the number 50. In an exclusive interview with ESPN’s Darren Rovell, Jamie Weston, the NFL’s vice president of brand and creative, confirmed that the change would only occur for one year.

“When we developed the Super Bowl XL logo, that was the first time we look at the letter ‘L’,’” Weston told Rovell. “Up until that point, we had only worked with X’s, V’s and I’s. At that moment, that’s when we started to wonder what will happen when we get to 50?”

After exhaustive attempts to develop a Super Bowl logo using the Roman number “L,” the league decided to temporarily abandon its tradition. Instead, the NFL developed two separate graphics for the game; a national and a regional version. The national version features a superimposed Lombardi Trophy, while the regional logo will include San Francisco landmarks, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, in honor of the game’s host city.

But fret not, traditionalists; the NFL still plans to officially refer to the following year’s big game as “Super Bowl LI.”

Super Bowl 50 will take place on Feb. 7, 2016 at Levi’s Stadium, the new home of the San Francisco 49ers.