Super Bowl curse

The home-field advantage curse

The home-field curse suggests that a team whose stadium hosts the Super Bowl may struggle to reach or win the game. As of 2025, only two teams have played the Super Bowl in their own stadiums: the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium (Super Bowl LV) and the 2021 Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium (Super Bowl LVI); both won. The Buccaneers are the only team to do so as the designated home team. Super Bowl LVI marked the first Los Angeles hosting since 1993, when the Rose Bowl in Pasadena hosted.

SoFi Stadium opened in 2020 and is home to both the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams. Only Miami and New Orleans have hosted more Super Bowls (eleven each). Before the Buccaneers and Rams, two other teams reached the Super Bowl in their home region: the 1984 San Francisco 49ers won Super Bowl XIX at Stanford Stadium (not their home Candlestick Park), and the 1979 Los Angeles Rams played Super Bowl XIV at the Rose Bowl (not the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum).

The only Super Bowl venue not an NFL team's home stadium at the time was Rice Stadium for Super Bowl VIII; the Houston Oilers had previously played there but moved to the Astrodome. The Miami Orange Bowl, the only AFL stadium to host a Super Bowl, also hosted consecutive Super Bowls (II and III).

The Non-Repeat Curse

Since 1993, few Super Bowl winners have returned to the title game or even advanced to a conference championship the following season; the 1994 Dallas Cowboys reached their conference title game but not the Super Bowl. Only seven franchises have won back-to-back Super Bowls, and only one of those has made more than two consecutive Super Bowl appearances. The Buffalo Bills are the only franchise to reach three straight title games, losing four from 1990 to 1993.

The NFL's hard salary cap, draft, free agency, schedule, large rosters, and high injury rate make repeat championships more difficult than in Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, or the National Hockey League. Between the 2004 and 2022 seasons, no defending champion successfully defended its title until the 2023 Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LVII and LVIII. From 2006 to 2013, every defending champion either lost its opening playoff game or missed the playoffs entirely.

The "Super Bowl Runner-Up Jinx"

The Super Bowl Runner-Up Jinx holds that the team losing the Super Bowl often has a less successful following season, though it is not a rule. Only three teams have followed a Super Bowl defeat with a win the next season: the 1971 Dallas Cowboys, 1972 Miami Dolphins, and 2018 New England Patriots. Among the last 27 runners-up, only three advanced as far as the conference championship game the following year (the Patriots twice), and 12 did not make the playoffs at all, including four that finished last in their division. Possible causes include a shorter offseason, contract difficulties, increased pressure, and greater visibility leading to nervous play.