two teams' defenses. The Steelers' "Steel Curtain" had led the AFC in fewest points allowed (189) and the Vikings' "Purple People Eaters" had only given up 195. As the NFC was the designated "home team" for the game, by NFL rules at the time the Vikings were required to wear their purple jerseys. Although the league later relaxed the rule from Super Bowl XIII onwards, the Vikings would've likely worn their purple jerseys anyway, given that they've worn their purple jerseys at home for much of their history aside from a few games in the 1960s, when the NFL was encouraging (but not requiring) teams to wear white at home. This was the only one of the four Super Bowls the Steelers of the 1970s played in that the team wore their white jerseys, and the only Super Bowl the team would wear white at all until Super Bowl XL 31 years later. This was the first post-merger Super Bowl to not feature an East Division team from either conference. The previous season's Vikings were the only non-East Division team to appear in any of the previous four Super Bowls. Game conditions When the NFL awarded Super Bowl IX to New Orleans on April 3, 1973, the game was originally scheduled to be played at the Louisiana Superdome. By July 1974, construction on the dome was not yet finished, and so the league reverted to Tulane Stadium, home field for Tulane University and the New Orleans Saints, and site of Super Bowls IV and VI. Dolphins owner Joe Robbie lobbied the NFL to move Super Bowl IX to the Orange Bowl, already scheduled to host Super Bowl X, and give New Orleans the January 1976 game, but the proposal was rejected. This proved to be quite pivotal, because of the inclement conditions (low temperature and the field was slick from overnight rain). This was the last Super Bowl to be played in inclement weather for over thirty years, until Super Bowl XLI (and that game's weather issues in Miami were based on a driving rain, not the temperature). The game still holds the mark as the second-coldest outdoor temperature for an outdoor game, at a game-time temperature of (only Super Bowl VI, also played at Tulane Stadium, had a colder game-time temperature, ) and expectations that Super Bowl XLVIII would break these records due to its winter location in outdoor