The biggest day in American Sports is drawing near. Super Bowl XLVII, featuring the Baltimore Ravens vs. the San Francisco  49ers, begins at 6:30 p.m. EST and will be televised on CBS.

The San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens face off in the 2013 Super Bowl on Sunday, and over 100 million people will be watching in the United States alone. The Ravens will be trying to become the the third straight team to win the championship after entering the playoffs in the Wild Card round, while the 49ers are going for their sixth Super Bowl win is as many tries.

Not many outside of Baltimore would have expected the Ravens to get this far after they stumbled down the stretch. They lost four of their last five regular-season games and were barely able to hang on for the AFC North title and earn a home game in the first round of the playoffs. That helped them grab an easy 24-9 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.

Next up for the Ravens was a trip to Denver to face Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. The season seemed to be coming to an end as Baltimore trailed by a touchdown with less than a minute to play. Somehow, Jacoby Jones was able to get behind the defense and Joe Flacco found him wide open for the game-tying touchdown. Baltimore would go on to win in double overtime, and their season was kept afloat.

* Teams: Baltimore Ravens vs. San Francisco 49ers
* Date: Sunday, February 3, 2013
* Kickoff time: 6:30 EST / 5:30 CST
* Location: Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana
* Channel: CBS
* Announcers: Jim Nantz and Phil Simms
* Current odds: 49ers favored by 3.5 (All odds are updated here)
* Halftime show performance: Beyonce
* National anthem: Alicia Keys
* Tickets: TiqIQ.com

The next week saw a matchup with another of the all-time greats, as the Ravens visited Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Baltimore’s defense was able to stifle the Patriots’ high-powered offense, and the Ravens cruised into the Super Bowl with a 28-13 win.

San Francisco is a much less surprising Super Bowl participant. The 49ers emerged out of a tough NFC West division with the No. 2 seed in the NFC and a bye in the first round of the playoffs. With the help of first-year starting quarterback Colin Kaepernick, they ran all over the Green Bay Packers defense in the Divisional round on the way to a 45-31 victory.

It looked like the season was going to end in Atlanta, as the 49ers found themselves down, 17-0, to the Falcons early in the NFC Championship. They didn’t panic and were able to come back and take the lead midway through the fourth quarter. The defense held in the redzone in the final minutes to preserve a San Francisco win and a sixth Super Bowl trip for the franchise.

The 49ers are favored in the matchup, but more money has come in on the Ravens’ side as they appear to be the hot team. It should be a good game, as defenses on both sides have the ability to hold the opposing team down.