Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award

Super Bowl MVP Award
An illustration of a silver football-shaped trophy with the phrases "SUPER BOWL" and "MOST VALUABLE PLAYER" in the middle.
The Pete Rozelle Trophy
Awarded forMost valuable player of the Super Bowl
Presented bySPORT (1967–1989)
National Football League (1990–present)
History
First award1967
Most winsTom Brady
(5 wins)
Most recentPatrick Mahomes
(3 wins)

The Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award, or Super Bowl MVP, is presented annually to the most valuable player of the Super Bowl, the National Football League's (NFL) championship game. The winner is chosen by a panel of 16 football writers and broadcasters, and, since Super Bowl XXXV in 2001, fans voting electronically. The media panel's ballots count for 80 percent of the vote tally, while the viewers' ballots make up the other 20 percent.[1][2] The game's viewing audience can vote on the Internet or by using cellular phones;[1] Media voters are asked to vote with about five minutes remaining in the game, but are allowed to change their mind when the game ends. They can nominate one player from each team, with instructions to count their vote for the player on the winning team.[3] Voters cannot select an entire unit.[4]

The Super Bowl MVP has been awarded annually since the game's inception in 1967. Through 1989, the award was presented by SPORT magazine.[5] Bart Starr was the MVP of the first two Super Bowls. Since 1990, the award has been presented by the NFL.[5] At Super Bowl XXV, the league first awarded the Pete Rozelle Trophy, named after former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, to the Super Bowl MVP.[6] Ottis Anderson was the first to win the trophy.[7] The most recent Super Bowl MVP, from Super Bowl LVIII, is Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Tom Brady is the only player to have won five Super Bowl MVP awards (four with the New England Patriots and one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers); Joe Montana and Mahomes won three times and three other players—Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw and Eli Manning—have won the award twice.[8] Starr, Bradshaw, and Mahomes are the only ones to have won it in back-to-back years. The MVP has come from the winning team every year except 1971, when Dallas Cowboys linebacker Chuck Howley won the award despite the Cowboys' loss in Super Bowl V to the Baltimore Colts.[9] Harvey Martin and Randy White were named co-MVPs of Super Bowl XII, the only time co-MVPs have been chosen.[10][11] Including the Super Bowl XII co-MVPs, seven Cowboys players have won Super Bowl MVP awards, the most of any NFL team. Quarterbacks have earned the honor 33 times in 58 games (and 59 awards).[12]

From Super Bowl I to Super Bowl XLIX the Super Bowl MVP won a new car from General Motors as a part of their MVP award. However, since Hyundai became the official vehicle partner of the NFL from the 2015 NFL season onward no new car has been awarded to the Super Bowl MVP since Super Bowl 50.[13]

  1. ^ a b "Fans to Vote Online, via Wireless Devices for Cadillac Super Bowl MVP". NFL.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  2. ^ Cummings, Tommy (January 24, 2001). "MVP Voting Takes Interaction to a New Level". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on February 10, 2009. Retrieved February 25, 2007.
  3. ^ Smith, Michael David (February 5, 2019). "Super Bowl MVP voting starts before the game ends". NBC Sports. Archived from the original on February 20, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
  4. ^ "Julian Edelman was Super-worthy, but Patriots' D was real MVP". ESPN. February 10, 2019. Archived from the original on February 19, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
  5. ^ a b 2009 ESPN Sports Almanac, p. 246.
  6. ^ "Sports People: Pro Football; The Rozelle Trophy". The New York Times. October 10, 1990. Archived from the original on November 2, 2007. Retrieved February 25, 2007.
  7. ^ Litsky, Frank (January 28, 1991). "Super Bowl XXV: The Game; Giants Win". The New York Times. Retrieved January 7, 2009.
  8. ^ Peterson, Nate (February 4, 2018). "Past Super Bowl MVP winners: Tom Brady could add to record with fifth trophy". CBS Sports. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  9. ^ Lopresti, Mike (January 24, 2007). "Strolling Through Super Bowl history: The Colts' Last Trip Here Was Very Different". USA Today. Archived from the original on February 10, 2009. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference XII was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "History: Super Bowl XII MVP". NFL.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 2009. Retrieved January 11, 2009.
  12. ^ "NFL History – Super Bowl MVPs". ESPN. Archived from the original on October 6, 2018. Retrieved July 4, 2019.
  13. ^ "Why the Super Bowl MVP Doesn't Win a New Car Anymore". Jalopnik. February 12, 2023. Retrieved February 12, 2023.