Associated Press Dallas's Leon Lett before his infamous fumble in Super Bowl XXVII (which the Cowboys won). 
 
 Associated Press Atlanta's Chris Chandler in XXXIII 
 
 The NFL is four years away from its 50th Super Bowl, which means it is already trying to plan around a peculiar self-inflicted marketing nuisance: How can the world's most powerful sports league get around putting a big, fat "L" on hundreds of thousands of souvenir T-shirts? 
 
 The first thing the winning players will do when Sunday's game ends is drape themselves in celebratory gear emblazoned with the Super Bowl logo. This year, that logo consists of the Lombardi Trophy above the silver Roman numerals XLVI. 
 
 But come 2016, the Roman numeral for Super Bowl L happens to be the lone letter that most connotes losing. 
 
 "Wouldn't that be a nice time to switch over to Arabic numerals?" said Bob Dorfman, the executive creative director for Baker Street Advertising. 
 
 This enormous American sporting event is the only spectacle of its kind that takes its nomenclature from the ancient Romans. Former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle never could have imagined the behemoth that is the modern NFL when he resorted to these numerals in 1971 for Super Bowl V. Back then, they helped distinguish between the different calendar years of the regular season and the Super Bowl while adding an air of grandiosity to the fledgling championship. 
 
 The NFL is four years away from its 50th Super Bowl. How can the NFL get around putting a big, fat "L" on hundreds of thousands of souvenir T-shirts? Ben Cohen joins digits. Photo: Getty Images. 
 
 The NFL has come a long way since the days when the Super Bowl needed an injection of hype. Now the Roman numerals are "part of the mystique of the Super Bowl," said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy. 
 
 Even more unlikely than the Super Bowl's ascent to the top of the annual TV ratings chart is the fact that the league is dealing with a problem that's been made infinitely worse by a show about a high-school glee club. 
 
 Associated Press Buffalo's Scott Norwood in XXV 
 
 In the 2003 book "Field Guide to Gestures," the "loser gesture" was referenced as forming the letter L on your forehead with your index finger and thumb. The book offered a five-step primer that ended: "Say 'loser' with derision, generally elongating the first syllable." 
 
 The sign has perpetuated in movies and TV shows since at least the 1990s. The book traced the lineage to the 1994 movie "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," starring Jim Carrey. A year earlier, the L had a cameo in "The Sandlot," in which the bespectacled baseball player Michael "Squints" Palledorous referred to another character as an "L-7 weenie" as he formed a diamond with two Ls. Kelly Preston's character famously made the sign to Tom Cruise in 1996's "Jerry Maguire." And the poster for the 2000 movie "Loser" depicted Jason Biggs showing off the L on his own forehead while wearing a fur-trapper hat. 
 
 Most recently, the symbol was featured in promotional materials for "Glee" and has become something like a secret handshake for "Gleeks" since the show's 2009 premiere. 
 
 Awkward Numerals Past and future Super Bowls • IV (1970) • XXX (1996) • XXXVIII (2004) • L (2016) • LIX (2025) • C (2066) • DI (2513) • MD (3466) 
 
 The gesture is so universal that some brand experts believe the 50th Super Bowl might emphasize those pleasingly round Arabic numerals more than the traditional Roman ones. 
 
 "Who knows? They may not use the L," said Tony Ponturo, the CEO of Ponturo Management Group, a sports consulting firm. "I don't think they'll walk away from the L, but I have a feeling they'll figure out a way to incorporate the 50th anniversary." 
 
 The NFL hasn't announced the host city for the 50th Super Bowl, but it has begun talks about Super Bowl L and "those types of details," McCarthy said. He added: "I'm doing that signal to my friend right now." 
 
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 The official Super Bowl logo has evolved over the years from a simple text logo to a graphical multicolor concoction. Last year, for the first time, the Lombardi Trophy was incorporated into the insignia. It was included again this time. 
 
 In the next four years, the NFL may unearth new means of interpretation for the L. McCarthy dryly noted it could stand for "learning" or "love." Just as Super Bowl XL in 2006 was tailor-made for apparel, Dorfman suggested the NFL could spin Super Bowl L as the largest Super Bowl ever. 
 
 Then there is the option of awarding Super Bowl L to a city that might integrate the Roman numeral into a logo. Colts owner Jim Irsay said this week that London remained a possibility for Super Bowl L. The site of the first Super Bowl, Los Angeles, currently lacks an NFL franchise but is considered a contender for the 2016 game. "We're well aware of where the first Super Bowl was held," McCarthy said. 
 
 NFL Playoff Dossiers View Interactive An interactive graphic charting how the Giants and Patriots stack up. 
 
 This won't be the first time the NFL has tackled issues pertaining to Roman numerals. In 2003, the Supreme Court upheld the Children's Internet Protection Act, a law that required schools and libraries to censor parts of the Web, even as librarians pointed to filters that blocked searches for Super Bowl XXX. There is nothing sexy-sounding about Super Bowl XLVI, but the longest sequence of Roman numerals in the game's history, XXXVIII in 2004, produced a game between the Panthers and Patriots that was arguably one of the best ever. 
 
 One outfit that won't have to worry about the L is Reebok. The Adidas subsidiary will be replaced after this Super Bowl by Nike, which declined to comment about its future partnership with the NFL, as the official manufacturer of league apparel. 
 
 "L standing for loser with a Nike swoosh right above it—I love that," said Blake Lundberg, general manager of Adidas' sports licensed division. ||||| The Roman Empire has fallen. 
 
 The NFL will announce on Wednesday that Super Bowl 50 will be graphically represented using numbers instead of Roman numerals, which the league has been using since Super Bowl V in 1971. 
 
 It's a one-year break, said Jaime Weston, the league's vice president of brand and creative, done simply because the "L" isn't as pleasing to the eye. 
 
 "When we developed the Super Bowl XL logo, that was the first time we looked at the letter 'L,'" Weston said. "Up until that point, we had only worked with X's, V's and I's. And, at that moment, that's when we started to wonder what will happen when we get to 50?" 
 
 Weston said her team has been working on the Super Bowl 50 logo since April 2013, having gone through 73 versions. At some point along the way, it was concluded that having the "L" stand alone didn't work. 
 
 The league has made two logos for the game, which will take place on Feb. 7, 2016 at Levi's Stadium, the new home of the San Francisco 49ers. Both the national and regional logo feature the "50" in gold, serving to call attention to the game's golden anniversary as well as the game's location in the "Golden State." 
 
 The logos also feature the Lombardi Trophy, which has been part of the Super Bowl logo since 2010, when the league went to a more generic, standardized look. The regional logo includes Levi's Stadium as well as notable San Francisco landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower and the Transamerica Pyramid. 
 
 "We think what we have makes a very powerful statement for the NFL brand," Weston said. 
 
 As part of the final testing of the logos, including how the gold would play, the league looked at them on Wilson game footballs and even painted a logo on the playing surface at Candlestick Park last week. 
 
 Following the conclusion of Super Bowl XLIX, which will be played at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona on Feb. 1, 2015, the league will embark on a campaign to play up the 50th anniversary. The NFL will go back to using roman numerals for Super Bowl LI in Houston in 2017. 
 
 The league started using the word "Super Bowl" for the third game in 1969. The league filed to trademark the term two months later.
– XLVI—the number of Sunday's Super Bowl—may be clunky, but at least it doesn't come with baggage. The NFL is preparing for the 50th Super Bowl in 2016, which will be Super Bowl L. Insiders are wary of T-shirts emblazoned with giant Ls: It could look like fans are just big losers, the Wall Street Journal notes. The "L" hand gesture is more recognizable than ever after TV's Glee adopted it in its logo. Maybe 2016 would "be a nice time to switch over to Arabic numerals," says an ad exec. The league, though, also has a few possible marketing options. The game could be held in an L city, like London or Los Angeles, where the first Super Bowl took place. The host city hasn't been announced, but a league spokesman said talks have begun on "those types of details," referring to the L. It's a challenge for the league, but Adidas—whose Reebok brand will soon be replaced by Nike as the NFL's official gear manufacturer—is excited. "L standing for loser with a Nike swoosh right above it—I love that," says a rep. (In more imminent Super Bowl news, click to watch the best Super Bowl ad you won't see in America.)