Pro FootballDJIA

Ten former American Football League teams played in 29 of 36 Super Bowls prior to the 2003 game. And the Wall Street Super Bowl tale goes like this: If the AFL club wins the game, the Dow Jones drops that year. If the AFL club loses, the Dow rises that year.

That outcome has held true for 25 of those 29 years, making the game a predictor of the Dow’s performance 86 percent of the time.

Here are the years the games were played, the Super Bowl result, where the Dow stood at the beginning and end of that year, and whether the predicted outcome was right or not.

            Super Bowl                  Dow on            Dow on            Predicted
Year    Result                         Jan. 1                Dec. 31             Outcome
2002    New England 20,
            St. Louis 17                  10646                10021                   Right
2000    St. Louis 23,
            Tennessee 16                11357                10786                  Wrong
1999    Denver 34,
            Atlanta 19                     9184                  11497                  Wrong
1998    Denver 31,
            Green Bay 24                7965                  9181                    Wrong
1997    Green Bay 35,
            New England 21           6442                  7908                     Right
1995    San Francisco 49,
            San Diego 26                 3838                  5117                     Right
1994   Dallas 30,
            Buffalo 13                      3756                  3834                     Right
1993    Dallas 52,
            Buffalo 17                      3309                  3754                     Right
1992   Washington 37,
            Buffalo 24                     3172                  3301                     Right
1991   N.Y. Giants 20,
           Buffalo 19                       2610                  3168                     Right
1990   San Francisco 55,
           Denver 10                       2810                  2663                    Wrong
1989  San Francisco 20,
          Cincinnati 16                   2144                   2753                     Right
1988   Washington 42,
           Denver 10                      2015                  2168                     Right
1987   N.Y. Giants 39,
           Denver 20                       1927                  1938                     Right
1986   Chicago 46,
           New England 10             1537                  1895                     Right
1985   San Francisco 38,
           Miami 16                         1198                  1546                     Right
1983   L.A. Raiders 38,
           Washington 9                  1252                  1211                      Right
1983   Washington 27,
           Miami 17                         1027                  1258                      Right
1982   San Francisco 26,
           Cincinnati 21                   882                    1046                      Right
1981   Oakland 27,
           Philadelphia 10                950                     882                       Right
1978   Dallas 27,
           Denver 10                        800                     807                       Right
1977  Oakland 32,
          Minnesota 14                   1000                    800                       Right
1974  Miami 24,
          Minnesota 7                      800                     650                       Right
1973  Miami 14,
          Washington 7                   1050                    800                       Right
1972  Dallas 24,
          Miami 3                             900                    1049                      Right
1970  Kansas City 23,
          Minnesota 7                      800                     811                      Wrong
1969   N.Y. Jets 16,
           Baltimore 7                     1025                    800                        Right
1968   Green Bay 33,
           Oakland 14                      910                    1025                       Right
1967   Green Bay 35,
           Kansas City 10                 800                     910                       Right

Tampa Bay beat Oakland, an old AFL team, this year, and the Dow started the year at 10073.

Boston/New England, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Dallas/Kansas City, Denver, Houston/Tennessee, Los Angeles/San Diego, Miami, NY Jets and Oakland/LA/Oakland make up the 10 AFL clubs.

Note: A former AFL team did not play in the 2001, 1996, 1980, 1979, 1976, 1975, and 1971 Super Bowls. The Dow Jones averages were rounded for space concerns.

Sources: SuperBowl.com and djindexes.com.