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The NFL: 16 ways the game has changed in the Super Bowl era

Forty-seven years after the first Super Bowl was played in Los Angeles before a less-than-capacity crowd, let’s look back at some of the ways the NFL has changed.

14. On-field player celebrations

  • By Ross Atkin Staff writer

For years now, the NFL has worked to determine what is an acceptable level of celebration by players and what is excessive. Decades ago this wasn’t really an issue, but it became one just as the Super Bowl era was about to begin.

When the league barred players from throwing the ball into the stands after scoring touchdowns, Homer Jones of the New York Giants in 1965 came up with an alternative – an emphatic spike of the ball in the end zone. Before long, players began to invent new ways of entertaining the fans and releasing their emotional energy.

Jets lineman Mark Gastineau came up with chest-thumping “Sack Dances.” Offensive players began choreographing group touchdown celebration routines. In 2004, team owners moved to adopt a 15-yard penalty for excessive celebrations. Group dance routines, waving pompoms, and the like were out. But the league has tried to accommodate some limited individual expressions, such as the spike, so long as it isn’t done to taunt an opponent.

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Mark Sappenfield
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