2005 Super Bowl XXXIX

About Jacksonville, FL: Excited residents of Jacksonville Florida were eager to show the world their southern hospitality as they hosted their very first super bowl game! The residents spent months in preparation for this huge event and proudly shared their town and their newly refurbished "Alltel Stadium" with football fans everywhere. Jacksonville has a population of 735000 people with most of them die hard NFL football fans and Super Bowl XXXIX would be in the city this year. This game made for an exciting match as Super Bowl 39 would showcase the experienced Patriots with quarterback Tom Brady versus the up and coming Eagles with superstar receiver Terrell Owens.

Ticket Sales / Attendance: There were 78,125 people in attendance at the 39th Superbowl and it is estimated that another 89.6 million armchair quarterbacks watched from their homes and various tailgate parties across the globe.

Team Pre-Season Stats: New England came into training camp as defending champs riding a 15 game winning streak and odd maker's favorites to repeat. Their roster was basically the same as the previous year with the exception being Corey Dillion who replaced Antowain Smith at running back. Philadelphia came into the pre-season under pressure to go further into the playoffs after failing to make it past the NFC championship for three years. The addition of superstar wide receiver Terrell Owens greatly bolstered their offence and chances.

Team Roster / Salaries: New England had 67 players on their roster with a total payroll of $76,999,180 and Ty Law was their highest paid player with an annual salary of $7,505,600. Philadelphia also had 67 players on their roster, but the second highest team payroll in the league with $104,977,331. 4 players made over $9 million, including Donovan McNabb and Jevon Kearse over $10 million per year.

Game Highlights: Philadelphia started the scoring in Super Bowl 39 with 9:55 left in the first half as McNabb hit LJ Smith with a touchdown pass to the end zone. This was the first time that New England had trailed in this post season. However, NE responded as Tom Brady passed to David Givens in the end zone to tie the game with 1:10 left in the half and marking only the 2nd Super bowl to ever go into the half with a tie.

In the second half Mike Vrabel scored a touchdown to give NE the lead, but Brian Westbrook quickly responded for PHI with a touchdown of his own. New England's defense then stepped up and Philadelphia fell apart.

With a total of 3 interceptions for the game, NE controlled most of the 2nd half and won their 3rd Super Bowl in 4 years. Corey Dillon added a rushing touchdown and Adam Vinatieri a field goal to give them all the points they needed. A late touchdown by Greg Lewis was too little too late for Philadelphia as they ran out of time. New England won Super Bowl 39 and proved they can be considered a football dynasty.

Game MVP: Deion Branch was named the MVP of the game as New England rolled to their third championship in four years. Branch caught 11 passes for a total of 133 yards to lead all wide receivers even tying Jerry Rice and Dan Ross for the most receptions in a single Super Bowl. These 11 catches were added to last years 10 against Carolina to set another record with 21 total catches in two games. He was influential with 5 catches on a 9 play drive to give the Patriots their first lead of the game and an ultimate victory.

Half Time Show: Fans young and old alike welcomed entertainment by the legendary Paul McCartney! The NFL was adamant about having a family oriented, wholesome act at half time vowing never to have a repeat performance of the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" at last year's half time show with Janet Jackson. The crowd happily sang along with Sir Paul McCartney as he did a fabulous job putting on a "G" rated show that all ages enjoyed.

Commercials: This year the average cost of a 15 to 30 second commercial advertisement spot for the 39th Super bowl game was 2.4 million dollars, which is an average cost of $80000 per second. One of the most memorable commercials of this year's event was an emotional thank you commercial by Anheiser Busch. It depicted soldiers walking through an airport headed to a foreign country and people applaud them as they walk by. This was also voted one of the best commercials by an online poll on AOL.

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