Super Bowl XLII

Super Bowl XLII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2007 season. The game was played on February 3, 2008, at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. This Super Bowl was a rematch of the final game of the regular season, in which New England won, 38–35. The Giants defeated the heavily favored Patriots by a score of 17–14, widely considered one of the biggest upsets in the history of professional North American sports. Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who completed 19 of 34 passes for 255 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, was named Super Bowl MVP.

The Patriots entered the game as 12-point favorites after becoming the first team to complete a perfect regular season since the 1972 Miami Dolphins, and the only one since the league expanded to a 16-game regular season schedule in 1978. The Giants, who finished the regular season with a 10–6 record, were seeking to become the first NFC wild card team to win a Super Bowl, and were also looking for their third Super Bowl victory and first since they won Super Bowl XXV seventeen years earlier.

The game was tight throughout, with both teams' defense dominating the competition until near the end of the game. The fourth quarter saw a Super Bowl-record three lead changes. After Tyree's 3-yard touchdown reception at the beginning of the quarter, New England wide receiver Randy Moss made a 6-yard touchdown reception, making the score 14-10 with 2:42 left in the game. The Giants started their subsequent drive on their own 17-yard line with 2:39 left. On the drive's most memorable play, David Tyree made the "Helmet Catch" on 3rd down, a leaping one-handed catch pinning the football with his right hand to the crown of his helmet for a 32-yard first down conversion. After a second first-down conversion by Steve Smith on 3rd and 11, wide receiver Plaxico Burress scored the game-winning touchdown on a 13-yard reception. The Patriots then proceeded to turnover on downs on their final drive as the Giants ran out the clock. The game became one of the lowest scoring super bowls since Super Bowl IX 31 years earlier; it would be followed by Super Bowl LIII in 2019, a game that also involved the Patriots. This game was also the first, and as of the 2024 season only, Super Bowl with three fourth-quarter lead changes.

Super Bowl XLII is often considered the greatest super bowl of all time in retrospect by several media outlets. The Giants victory is remembered as one of the greatest "Cinderella" stories in professional sports history, and their game-winning drive was regarded as the greatest of all time. Several outlets and sports publishers have also considered the game to be a moment that defined sports in the 2000s. Super Bowl XLII was ranked fifth on the NFL's 100 Greatest Games list, the highest ranked Super Bowl game, while Tyree's catch was ranked third on the NFL's 100 Greatest Plays. The game's broadcast on Fox broke the then-record for the most watched Super Bowl in history with an average of 97.5 million viewers in the United States.

The Giants and Patriots would once again meet in Super Bowl XLVI four years later, where the Giants would win again 21-17.

As always, the league considered several potential host cities before choosing the Phoenix area. In this case, the process drew special interest because the league considered holding Super Bowl XLII in New York City or Washington, D.C. as a symbol of the recovery from the September 11 attacks. New York City's bid did not go far. Aside from the obvious climatic concerns, it was also difficult to find a suitable stadium. Proposed renovations to the 1970s-vintage Giants Stadium were still being disputed amongst the various parties. Giants Stadium also lacked a roof, as did both of New York City's baseball stadiums, and the NFL had never played an outdoor Super Bowl in a cold weather climate. The city of New York and the New York Jets failed to secure a deal to build a new West Side Stadium (which, according to the initial plans, would have been built with a roof). During the years since the Super Bowl XLII bid fell through, Giants Stadium has been demolished. Its replacement, MetLife Stadium, was awarded Super Bowl XLVIII.

Washington, D.C.'s bid proved to be more viable as the D.C. area had a relatively new (albeit roofless) stadium in FedExField. DC's winter weather, although still potentially problematic, is milder than New York's climate.

In the end, the process boiled down to three finalists: Washington, D.C., Phoenix and Tampa. NFL owners finally chose University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona as the site for Super Bowl XLII during their October 30, 2003, meeting in Chicago. In subsequent years, Raymond James Stadium in Tampa was chosen as the site for Super Bowl XLIII and the proposed (but never built) West Side Stadium was briefly designated as the venue for Super Bowl XLIV. However, this game was later moved to Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, when it became clear that the new stadium in New York City would not be built in time for the February 2010 game.