Quartz:

The championship game of the National Football League is the biggest entertainment event in the United States each year. It is watched by more Americans on television than anything else, by a large margin. The whole thing is a monstrous, quasi-religious spectacle. And it’s been like that for decades.

Last year’s game was seen live by almost 100 million Americans. Every year since the game started, without exception, well over half of Americans households with a TV tuned in. In many cases, more than three-quarters tuned in.

But how, exactly, did the Super Bowl get this way? How did it become such an unavoidable phenomenon?

It’s a fascinating and uniquely American super event.