Super Bowl 50

February 7, 2016 • Levi's Stadium • Santa Clara, California • CBS • 3:39 p.m. PST (1) Carolina Panthers Super Bowl 50 (1) Denver Broncos 10 Team 1 2 3 4 Totals Panthers 0 7 3 0 10 Broncos 10 3 3 8 24 24

Super Bowl 50
Carolina Panthers (1) Denver Broncos (1) (NFC) (AFC) (15–1) (12–4) 10 24 1 2 3 4 Total CAR 0 7 0 3 10 DEN 10 3 3 8 24
Date	February 7, 2016
Stadium	Levi's Stadium
City	Santa Clara, California
MVP	Von Miller, linebacker
Favorite	Panthers by 5.5
National anthem	Lady Gaga
Coin toss	Fred Biletnikoff, Marcus Allen, Joe Montana, Jim Plunkett, Jerry Rice, Steve Young
Referee	Clete Blakeman
Halftime show	Coldplay feat. Beyoncé and Bruno Mars with Mark Ronson and Ariel Winter with Duncan Tucker
Attendance	71,088
TV in the United States
Network	CBS
Announcers	Jim Nantz (play-by-play) Phil Simms (analyst) Tracy Wolfson and Evan Washburn (sideline reporters)
Nielsen Ratings	46.6 (national) 53.9 (Denver) 55.9 (Charlotte) U.S. viewership: 111.9 million est. avg., 167.0 million est. total
Market share	72 (national)
Cost of 30-second commercial	$5.01 million
Super Bowl 50 Program  < XLIX Super Bowl LI >

Super Bowl 50 was the 50th edition of the Super Bowl in American football, and the 46th modern-era National Football League (NFL) championship game. The AFC champion Denver Broncos defeated the NFC champion Carolina Panthers 24-10 to earn their third Super Bowl title and the first and only with Peyton Manning in the final game of his career. Denver gained an early 10-0 lead over Carolina in the first quarter, which Carolina was unable to overcome due to Denver's strong defense, helmed by Von Miller.

Instead of naming it Super Bowl L with Roman numerals like in previous Super Bowls, this game was marketed with the Arabic numeral "50". The game was played on February 7, 2016, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, the home stadium of the San Francisco 49ers. This was the first Super Bowl held in the San Francisco Bay Area since Super Bowl XIX in January 1985. This marked the first Super Bowl appearance by the Panthers in 13 years since Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2003.

It has been dubbed as the Golden Super Bowl because it was located in the Golden State (California); held in the home stadium of the 49ers, a team named after the miners of the California Gold Rush; and because the 50th anniversary is traditionally the "golden anniversary." CBS telecast the game in the United States.

Background

Host selection process

In early 2012, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated that the league planned to make the 50th Super Bowl "spectacular" and that it would be "an important game for us as a league."

Even though the Los Angeles area lacked an NFL franchise at the time, Goodell said in 2009 that the game could be held there to mark the fiftieth Super Bowl and to commemorate Super Bowl I, which was held at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. At the time of Goodell's comment, there were proposals to build two stadiums that could have hosted the game: Farmers Field in Downtown Los Angeles (L.A. Live) and Los Angeles Stadium in City of Industry, California. However, neither was scheduled for construction by the time the league announced the finalists for host city. The Rose Bowl in Pasadena and the aforementioned L.A. Coliseum were also discussed as possible host stadiums in the area. The Rose Bowl, despite never having hosted an NFL team, hosted the Super Bowl five times between 1977 and 1993. The NFL has not had a franchise in the city since the 1994 season and has not had a Super Bowl played in the metropolitan area since 1993.

Other than the Los Angeles area, sites included in early discussions or that submitted bids included:

• AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
• Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.
• Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, the new home for the San Francisco 49ers, which opened in 2014.
• Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
• CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Washington.

The league eventually narrowed the bids to three sites: New Orleans' Mercedes-Benz Superdome, Florida's Sun Life Stadium, and the San Francisco Bay Area's Levi's Stadium.

Levi's Stadium at the soft opening on August 2, 2014

The league announced on October 16, 2012, that the two finalists were Sun Life Stadium and Levi's Stadium. The South Florida/Miami area has previously hosted the event 10 times (tied for most with New Orleans), with the most recent one being Super Bowl XLIV in 2010. The San Francisco Bay Area last hosted in 1985 (Super Bowl XIX), held at Stanford Stadium in Stanford, California, won by the home team 49ers. The Miami bid depended on whether the stadium underwent renovations. However, on May 3, 2013, the Florida legislature refused to approve the funding plan to pay for the renovations, dealing a significant blow to Miami's chances.

On May 21, 2013, NFL owners at their spring meetings in Boston voted and awarded the game to Levi's Stadium. Sun Life Stadium then became a finalist for Super Bowl LI upon losing the bid to the Bay Area, competing with NRG Stadium (then known as Reliant Stadium) in Houston. However, Houston won the site less than an hour later.

Use of the Arabic numeral

The NFL announced on June 4, 2014, that the game would be marketed with the Arabic numeral "50" instead of the Roman numeral "L." The use of Roman numerals will resume with Super Bowl LI. According to Jaime Weston, the league's vice president of brand and creative, one primary reason for the change was difficulty designing a suitable logo for the game. Despite the league standardizing the Super Bowl logos beginning with Super Bowl XLV so that all would follow the same template, the graphic designers determined that using the template with only the letter "L" would not have been aesthetically pleasing enough. The logo will also differ in that the Arabic numeral "50" will be in large gold numerals behind the logo, with 5 and 0 each on opposite sides of the Vince Lombardi Trophy, instead of underneath and in silver as in the standard logo.

Game Summary

Scoring

First quarter

• DEN - 34-yard field goal by Brandon McManus
• DEN - Malik Jackson fumble recovery in end zone, McManus kick good

Second quarter

• CAR - Jonathan Stewart 1-yard touchdown run, Graham Gano kick good
• DEN - 33-yard field goal by McManus

Third quarter

• DEN - 30-yard field goal by McManus

Fourth quarter

• CAR - 39-yard field goal by Gano
• DEN - C. J. Anderson 2-yard touchdown run, 2-point pass good (Peyton Manning to Bennie Fowler)

Final statistics

Statistical comparison

Statistic	Carolina Panthers	Denver Broncos
First downs	21	11
First downs rushing	8	4
First downs passing	10	5
First downs penalty	3	2
Third down efficiency	3/15	1/14
Fourth down efficiency	0/0	0/0
Total net yards	315	194
Net yards rushing	118	90
Rushing attempts	27	28
Yards per rush	4.4	3.2
Net yards passing	197	104
Passing – completions/attempts	18/41	13/23
Times sacked-total yards	7–68	5–37
Interceptions thrown	1	1
Punt returns-total yards	3–2	1–61
Kickoff returns-total yards	2–42	2–42
Interceptions-total return yards	1–19	1–(−3)
Punts-average yardage	7–45.0	8–45.9
Fumbles-lost	4–3	3–1
Penalties-yards	12–102	6–51
Time of possession	32:47	27:13
Turnovers	4	2

Records set
Oldest quarterback to start game	39 years, 320 days	Peyton Manning (Denver)
Oldest quarterback to win game	39 years, 320 days
Longest punt return	61 yards	Jordan Norwood (Denver)
Most times sacked, both teams	12	Carolina 7, Denver 5
Fewest total yards, winning team	194	Denver
Records tied
Most sacks, player, game	3	Kony Ealy (Carolina)
Most fumble recoveries, player, game	2	Danny Trevathan (Denver)
Most touchdowns, fumble recoveries, player, game	1	Malik Jackson (Denver)
Most 2-point conversions, player	1	Bennie Fowler (Denver)
Most games played, team	8	Denver
Fewest (1-pt.) points after touchdown, both teams	2	Carolina 1, Denver 1

Individual statistics

Sources:

Panthers passing
	C/ATT1	Yds	TD	INT	Rating
Cam Newton	18/41	265	0	1	55.4
Panthers rushing
	Car2	Yds	TD	LG3	Yds/Car
Cam Newton	6	45	0	14	7.4
Jonathan Stewart	12	29	1	12	2.4
Fozzy Whittaker	4	26	0	15	6.5
Mike Tolbert	5	18	0	11	3.6
Panthers receiving
	Rec4	Yds	TD	LG3	Target5
Corey Brown	4	80	0	42	7
Ted Ginn Jr.	4	74	0	45	10
Greg Olsen	4	41	0	19	9
Devin Funchess	2	40	0	24	5
Jerricho Cotchery	2	17	0	11	5
Fozzy Whittaker	1	14	0	14	1
Jonathan Stewart	1	−1	0	−1	2
Mike Tolbert	0	0	0	0	1

Broncos passing
	C/ATT1	Yds	TD	INT	Rating
Peyton Manning	13/23	141	0	1	56.6
Broncos rushing
	Car2	Yds	TD	LG3	Yds/Car
C. J. Anderson	23	90	1	34	3.9
Ronnie Hillman	5	0	0	3	0.0
Broncos receiving
	Rec4	Yds	TD	LG3	Target5
Emmanuel Sanders	6	83	0	25	8
C. J. Anderson	4	10	0	7	4
Andre Caldwell	1	22	0	22	1
Owen Daniels	1	18	0	18	2
Demaryius Thomas	1	8	0	8	6
Ronnie Hillman	0	0	0	0	1
Jordan Norwood	0	0	0	0	1

¹Completions/attempts ²Carries ³Longest gain ⁴Receptions ⁵Times targeted

Starting lineups

Hall of Fame‡

Source:

Carolina	Position	Position	Denver
Offense
Ted Ginn Jr.	WR		Demaryius Thomas
Michael Oher	LT		Ryan Harris
Andrew Norwell	LG		Evan Mathis
Ryan Kalil	C		Matt Paradis
Trai Turner	RG		Louis Vasquez
Mike Remmers	RT		Michael Schofield
Greg Olsen	TE		Owen Daniels
Corey Brown	WR		Emmanuel Sanders
Cam Newton	QB		Peyton Manning‡
Jonathan Stewart	RB		C. J. Anderson
Ed Dickson	TE		Vernon Davis
Defense
Charles Johnson	LDE	DE	Derek Wolfe
Star Lotulelei	LDT	NT	Sylvester Williams
Kawann Short	RDT	DE	Malik Jackson
Jared Allen	RDE	SLB	Von Miller
Shaq Thompson	SLB	WLB	DeMarcus Ware‡
Luke Kuechly	MLB	ILB	Brandon Marshall
Thomas Davis	WLB	ILB	Danny Trevathan
Robert McClain	LCB		Aqib Talib
Josh Norman	RCB		Chris Harris Jr.
Roman Harper	SS		T. J. Ward
Kurt Coleman	FS		Darian Stewart

Officials

Super Bowl 50 had nine officials. The numbers in parentheses below indicate their uniform numbers.

• Referee: Clete Blakeman (34)
• Umpire: Jeff Rice (44)
• Head linesman: Wayne Mackie (106)
• Line judge: Rusty Baynes (59)
• Field judge: Boris Cheek (41)
• Side judge: Scott Edwards (3)
• Back judge: Keith Ferguson (61)
• Replay official: Charles Stewart
• Replay assistant: Jimmy Oldham

Aftermath

Upon receiving the Lombardi Trophy, Broncos general manager and former quarterback John Elway raised it and exclaimed "This one's for Pat!" in reference to owner Pat Bowlen, who had been diagnosed the year before with Alzheimer's disease. Bowlen had saluted Elway in the same fashion after the Broncos won their first championship in Super Bowl XXXII 18 years earlier.

This was Denver's first sports championship since the Colorado Rapids won the MLS Cup in 2010. The 2016 NFL season began with the Broncos hosting the Panthers at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. It was the first meeting of both Super Bowl participants during Week 1 of the following season since the 1970 season when the Minnesota Vikings and Kansas City Chiefs held a rematch of Super Bowl IV to kick off the post-merger era of the NFL. The Broncos won 21–20 as Carolina's Graham Gano missed a field goal attempt to win the game.

Both teams would ultimately struggle during the season and failed to qualify for the playoffs. The Panthers fell to 6–10 and finished in last place in the NFC South. The Broncos fell to 9–7 and came in third place in the AFC West. This was the first time the defending AFC and NFC champions would both miss the playoffs since the 2003 season, after Super Bowl XXXVII, when neither the Oakland Raiders nor the Tampa Bay Buccaneers qualified for the postseason, and the fifth time overall.

As of 2024, Super Bowl 50 remains the most recent playoff game played by the Broncos, as they have yet to qualify for the postseason since.