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 XL being ABC's final NFL broadcast as a regular NFL broadcaster, with "Monday Night Football" moving to corporate sibling ESPN the following season under the new deal, which also saw ESPN/ABC removed from the Super Bowl rotation. However, ABC would show all future ESPN-produced playoff games, with the exception of January 2015, although ESPN/ABC has yet to be reinstated to the Super Bowl rotation. Although the Super Bowl had largely been presented in high definition since Super Bowl XXXIV, Super Bowl XL was the first Super Bowl where all aspects of the game itself were aired in HD. The telecast featured