2009 Super Bowl XLIII

About Tampa, Florida: Tampa has now hosted 4 Super Bowls. Two were played at the old Tampa Stadium and the 2001 and now the 2009 Super Bowl games were played at Raymond James Stadium.

The Raymond James Stadium looks out over the blue water of Tampa Bay shown in the Super Bowl XLIII logo featuring an abstract representation of a football stadium, with blue and green colors representing the regional waterways and landscapes of Tampa Bay.

It was dedicated in 1998 and is the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, University of South Florida Bulls football and the New Year's Day Outback Bowl.

Raymond James Financial, Inc., of St. Petersburg with offices across the world paid approximately $35 million over 13 years for the naming rights to the new stadium. In 2006 this was extended until 2015.

Ticket Sales / Attendance: There were 70,774 people in attendance and 98.7 million viewers.

Team Pre-Season Stats: This was a competition between a team that had not won an NFL title since 1947 and had never advanced to the SuperBowl in their franchise history with one of the strongest teams over the past decade.

The Pittsburgh Steelers finished the 2008 season with the second best record in the AFC at 12-4. Their defense excelled leading the NFL in fewest points (13.9) and yards (237.2) per game allowed, while also ranking second in sacks with 51. Aaron Smith anchored the defense and recorded 60 tackles and six sacks. Their quarterback for the fifth year, Ben Roethlisberger finished the season with 3,301 passing yards and 17 touchdowns, with 15 interceptions. And of course Hines Ward was Ben's target, who recorded his fifth 1,000 yard season with 81 receptions for 1,043 yards and seven touchdowns.

This was the first trip to the SuperBowl for the Arizona Cardinals in the history of the franchise. Thirty-seven year old Kurt Warner was a big reason for this success. Kurt signed on with the Cardinals in 2005, and was placed in the starting lineup in 2007 to replace an injured Leinart. Up until this time he had mediocre performances and many injuries. However, he posted one of his best seasons in 2008, throwing for 4,583 yards and 30 touchdowns, with only 14 interceptions. His top targets were receivers Larry Fitzgerald (96 receptions, 1,431 yards, 12 touchdowns), Anquan Boldin (89 receptions, 1,038 yards, 11 touchdowns), and Steve Breaston (77 receptions, 1,006 yards, three touchdowns, 900 special teams return yards), who made the Cardinals the fifth team ever to feature three players with over 1,000 receiving yards.

Game Highlights: In their seventh appearance, the Pittsburgh Steelers took the ball to the 1-yard line by the 3rd play and made what was thought to be a touchdown. However, it was challenged and overruled determining that Roethlisberger was down before the ball crossed the goal line. An 18-yard field goal was kicked by Jeff Reed to take the 3-0 lead. Gary Russell made the first touchdown with a 1-yard run to make the score 10-0 at the beginning of the second quarter. The Arizona Cardinals' Kurt Warner makes a 1-yard pass to tight end Ben Patrick, score is now 10-7. With 2:46 left in the half, Roethlisberger threw a pass that was tipped at the line of scrimmage and intercepted by linebacker Karlos Dansby at the Steelers 34-yard. With that, the Cardinals drove to a first down on the Pittsburgh 1-yard line. But with 18 seconds left, Warner's pass was intercepted in the end zone by linebacker James Harrison, who then took off down the sideline for the longest play in Super Bowl history, a 100-yard return for a touchdown, increasing the Steelers' lead to 17-7 at halftime.

The 3rd quarter was spent with the Pittsburgh Steelers' Jeff Reed to making another field goal giving them a 13 point lead, 20-7.

Kurt Warner throws to Larry Fitzgerald with 7:33 left in the game, who made a leaping catch through tight coverage by Ike Taylor for a touchdown, making the score 20-14.

Roethlisberger threw a 20-yard pass to Holmes, but center Justin Hartwig was called for holding in the end zone, which not only nullified the catch, but gave the Cardinals a safety, raising the score to 20-16. In the two plays that follow the kick, the Cardinals score with Warner throwing a 64-yard pass to Fitzgerald giving Arizona their first lead of the game, 23-20.

Pittsburgh's record sixth Super Bowl title came with 35 seconds left on the clock with a touch down pass to Holmes and ensuing extra poing making the score 27-23.

Game MVP: Santonio Holmes, Wide receiver caught nine passes for 131 yards and the game-winning touchdown. He became the sixth wide receiver to win the award, and the third Pittsburgh receiver. Holmes NFL career started in 2006 where he was the first and only reciever taken in the first round of the draft by the Steelers.

Half Time Show: Bridgestone sponsored the halftime show for the second year in a row, which featured Bruce Springsteen with the E Street Band, The Miami Horns and a gospel choir. Bruce Springsteen had many invitations to play at the Super Bowl in the past but had turned them down.

Commercials: Everyone waits to see the superbowl commercials. This year the 30 seconds commercial spot went for $3 million. As tradition has it, Budweiser, Pepsi and the Big Three auto makers. Up coming films Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Star Trek ran previews. Hyundai introduced its new Genesis Coupe. All advertising slots were sold out one day before the game, resulting in sales of $206 million. USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter voted Doritos ads for 1st and 5th place, Budweiser coming in 2nd and 3rd place and Bridgestone take the 4th spot.

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