Super Bowl XXXVII Raiders entered the game favored to win in their first Super Bowl in 19 years. They were also the first franchise to appear in the Super Bowl in four decades (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 2000s; the 1990s was the only decade that they did not appear in the Super Bowl). However, much of the media hype surrounded the Gruden trade prior to the season. This forced league commissioner Paul Tagliabue to issue a statement that he might ban all future trades for coaches involving draft choices because it might compromise the draft. A distraction for the Raiders was that starting center
Super Bowl XLII time that did not include the Patriots was Super Bowl XXXIII. New England's Super Bowl XXXVIII victory four years earlier was carried on CBS. The telecast was the most watched Super Bowl in history with an average of 97.5 million viewers in the United States. These numbers were later surpassed by Super Bowl XLIII, Super Bowl XLIV and Super Bowl XLV, which now holds the record with an average of 111 million viewers, and 148.3 million total viewers watching some part of the game. The Super Bowl XLII broadcast achieved the highest Nielsen ratings (43.3) for the game since Super