Super Bowl XLII is the 42nd annual edition of the Super Bowl and will determine the champion of the National Football League after the 2007 regular season. It is scheduled for February 3, 2008 at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ. Kick-off will be at 4:18 p.m. (6:18 p.m. EST). This will be the 2nd time the Phoenix area will host a Super Bowl game. In January 1996, Super Bowl XXX was played in Tempe’s Sun Devil Stadium on Arizona State University’s campus. The game will be played by the National Football Conference champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference champion New England Patriots. The league considered holding the game in either New York City or Washington, D.C. to symbolize the recovery from the September 11, 2001 attacks. New York was not even a finalist, though. The NFL owners awarded Glendale Super Bowl XLII at their October 30, 2003 meeting in Chicago, IL because they wanted a warmer, drier climate.

This is the first time a Super Bowl game will be played on a retractable natural-grass field; the University of Phoenix Stadium removable surface is one of a kind for American sport venues. This is also the second Super Bowl game being played in a retractable-roof stadium. The NFL controls whether or not the roof will be open with no restrictions. During a February 2007 ceremony with AZ Governor Janet Napolitano, the NFL and AZ Super Bowl Host Committee revealed the slogan, “Who wants it more?” Also the mascot, “Spike the Super Ball,” a football with sunglasses and sneakers and a huge Super Bowl XLII Countdown Clock” at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport were revealed. The Super Bowl logo, which is in the shape of the state of AZ in red, was revealed also. The two horizontal white stripes in the middle symbolize the vertical lines on the University of Phoenix Stadium, the turquoise Roman Numerals symbolize Arizona’s Native American culture and the red star symbolizes the AFC while the blue star symbolizes the NFC.

The game will be broadcast on Fox in the United States and will be announced by Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, along with Pam Oliver and Chris Myers as the sideline reporters. The pre-game will be taken care of by the Fox NFL Sunday pre-game show team led by Curt Menefee along with Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson. Official pre-game coverage will begin at 2:00 PM EST. Beginning events, including NFL Films’ Road to the Super Bowl highlight show begins at 12:00 PM. Westwood One has broadcast rights to the game in the U.S. and Canada. Marv Albert and Boomer Esiason will be the announcing team for the network and BBC Radio 5 Live will broadcast in the United Kingdom.

It was announced that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will be the halftime entertainment on December 2, 2007. This year’s entertainment will have quite a few connections to American Idol because host Ryan Seacrest will be the emcee for the pre-game and halftime shows and season six winner and Phoenix native Jordin Sparks will sing the National Anthem. This promises to be quite a game! If you don’t have tickets already, you’ll just have to watch the game on Fox.