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THE SUPER BOWL -- HOW IT ALL GOT STARTED
By CHARLES JAY, Editor/Publisher, TotalAction.com
(Originally published in January 2001)
On the telecast of Super Bowl XXXIV in January 2000, thirty-second commercial spots were
sold for over $2 million each by ABC, which produced a total of eight full hours of
coverage for the event. There were 47 cameras throughout the Georgia Dome to give
television viewers every conceivable angle, and, I gather, some that were NOT so
conceivable. Fans paid well over $300 for the highest-priced tickets. And the game was
beamed into over 150 countries around the world. The NFL has their Super Bowl locales set
for the next several years, and these host cities plan for the event years in advance.
It wasn't always that way.
Compared to the spectacle it is now, the Super Bowl had quite humble beginnings; a little
less organized, a little more tentative, and in some ways even curiously haphazard. To say
the NFL had the idea it would become as huge in scope as it is now may be stretching it a
little. However, there was never any real question of its significance as a national
sports event, at least among those associated with pro football.
But how did it all happen?
THE AFL THROWS OUT THE CHALLENGE
The first real mention of an AFL-NFL title game came on January 14, 1961, when AFL
commissioner Joe Foss, by telegram to his NFL counterpart, Pete Rozelle, invited the NFL
to participate in a game which would match up the champions of the two leagues, the
product of a resolution unanimously approved by the AFL owners. This invitation would have
been issued the year before, as the AFL was getting off the ground, but according to Foss,
"It was felt time was needed to assay the relative strength of our league."
The NFL wasn't impressed, and wasn't interested.
The next proposal, and the first one with some real money attached to it, came from NBC in
May of 1964. The network, which was slated to begin a large TV deal with the AFL in 1965
and was understandably looking to elevate its own package, offered to donate $500,000 to
the Kennedy Memorial Library Fund from a proposed "World Series" which would pit
all-star squads between the AFL and NFL against each other.
Of course, Pete Rozelle opposed such a move; he simply did not want to lend any stature to
the AFL. Indeed, there was a bidding war going on between the rival leagues, and the AFL
had already entered into anti-trust litigation against the NFL. The leagues were bitter
enemies. And it did not advantage him, in his position as commissioner, to recommend that
his client engage the enemy. He said the league would make its Kennedy Library donation
through the proceeds of exhibition games.
But one thing Rozelle could not prevent was the way NBC would alter the course of
professional football, and indeed, sports history, by virtue of its programming
investment. Because the AFL had fewer clubs than the NFL, each team in the AFL was paid
$900,000 per year as part of the NBC deal - very competitive with the $1 million each NFL
team received. In short, AFL teams had drawn much closer to gaining an even footing
financially with their NFL counterparts.
That enabled the AFL to continue its bidding war against the NFL for top college players,
and at the same time strengthened its own market share with the public vis-a-vis the more
established NFL. And eventually that was enough to affect a merger between the two - an
action that brought us the game we now know as the "Super Bowl".
UNITY - AND A CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
The merger between the two leagues was announced on June 8, 1966. The entirety of the
merger was to be fully implemented when the leagues' respective TV contracts expired, so
that the newly-consolidated NFL could negotiate with networks as one entity. Those
implementations also included the realignment of the leagues into two 13-team conferences,
and the establishment of Pete Rozelle as commissioner of the consolidated league.
Taking effect immediately, however, was a common draft, which would end all the bidding
wars over players, and the biggest potential attraction - an interleague
"super-championship" game.
One second-year AFL star was cornered by a reporter that day and asked what he thought of
the merger. "I'll tell you one thing. I'll really look forward to that title game
between the two leagues." For Joe Willie Namath, it wouldn't be very far off.
But in point of fact, the first Super Bowl almost never happened, at least not that
season.
SOME ANXIOUS MOMENTS BEFORE GETTING THE SHOW ON THE ROAD
Something that caused concern for Rozelle from the beginning was the potential restraint
of trade problem brought about by the merger. Toward that end, he sought limited
anti-trust immunity from Congress, but was turned down by Congressman Emanuel Celler of
New York, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who did not want to enact special
legislation granting pro football an anti-trust exemption. At the same time, though,
Celler assured Rozelle that Congress would not take anti-trust action to block the merger.
However, a "handshake deal" wasn't good enough for Rozelle. Because of what he
termed the "numerous complex commitments that must be made on a long-term basis"
to make the merger real, he felt concrete legislation was a necessity. In fact, he felt
the legality of the entire merger plan had to be affirmed before ANY aspect of it could
take effect. And that included the so-called "super-championship game".
Frustrated in his efforts, and perhaps trying to prompt some action in Congress, Rozelle
announced that the merger was "in jeopardy". And the first Super Bowl, expected
to take place four months from then, was officially in limbo.
Rozelle's actions did indeed get the politicos moving; Celler's opposition was
circumvented by Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois, who spearheaded a move to have a bill
granting the merger its anti-trust immunity included as a rider on an anti-inflation bill.
But it was now at the tail end of October, and even though the Super Bowl was presumably
just 11 or 12 weeks away, there was still no official date for the game, and no site
either.
WHERE TO GO?
The game was eventually scheduled for January 15, 1967, two weeks after the respective
league championship games were played. And many potential locations were considered, among
them Miami's Orange Bowl, the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, the Los Angeles Coliseum, both
Rice Stadium and the Astrodome in Houston, and the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. One important
criterion for selection was that the facility have sufficient lighting power so that the
game could be televised at night, and in color. And in 1966, some of the stadiums simply
didn't qualify. However, this point was rendered moot, as the game eventually wound up
being scheduled for the afternoon.
The selection of the Los Angeles Coliseum, which didn't even submit a bid until the first
week of November, was, in Rozelle's words, "swayed by the invitation from John
Ferraro (a former All-American at USC) and the Los Angeles City Council."
The Coliseum, it turned out, was an awful venue for the game, as only 27,000 of its 93,000
seats were situated between the goal lines. And with the field pushed all the way to the
west end, it meant thousands of seats - as many as 10,000, in fact - were at least an
entire football field away from the gridiron itself in the cavernous facility.
THE TV BATTLE
As heated as the rivalry between the NFL and AFL was, the competition between their
respective network rights holders - CBS and NBC - was just as ferocious. And naturally,
the question arose as to who would televise the first AFL-NFL World Championship game.
CBS wanted the game exclusively - after all, it had carried NFL games since 1961, and had
already guaranteed the league $2 million for the rights to televise the NFL championship
game. The network felt that through past association, it had earned that right. But NBC
insisted on being involved, claiming that if the two merged leagues were to be considered
equal partners, it had an equal right to the telecast.
Rather than grant the rights to one of the two networks, or to an outsider (ABC was
sniffing around too), Rozelle, to his everlasting credit, announced that BOTH networks
would have rights to the game. And each would pay $1 million for the privilege. Starting
the next season, the two networks would alternate carrying the Super Bowl game until their
respective contracts with the two leagues ran out, at which time an entirely different
deal would be negotiated with the newly-consolidated NFL as a whole (one of the purposes
of the merger).
Rozelle's decision on dual network rights for the first Super Bowl rankled CBS, which
wanted a rebate on its $2 million rights fee for the NFL title game, on the grounds that
it was now a less attractive event than the AFL-NFL Championship and might compromise its
position with advertisers, who paid in advance for the airtime. Rozelle, who knew how to
play the leverage game, refused the rebate demand. He had a keen awareness of the value in
his product.
So one of the more bizarre episodes in sports television history was about to begin - the
first time a major live sporting event was to be televised on TWO networks simultaneously.
SOME RULES QUESTIONS
As the game approached, other problems had to be ironed out - namely, which ball to use.
There were indeed slight differences between the two. The AFL ball was manufactured by
Spalding, and was 1/4-inch longer than the NFL ball, with longer laces and more
sharply-pointed at the end. The NFL ball, made by Wilson and nicknamed "The
Duke", was more rounded and thought to be easier to kick.
A compromise was struck - when the AFL team, the Kansas City Chiefs, was on offense, the
AFL ball would be used, and when the NFL team, the Green Bay Packers, came out on offense,
the NFL ball would be put into play.
But there was no compromise about the two-point conversion, which was part of the AFL
rulebook. It would be scrapped for the first Super Bowl game.
GET THAT "SUPER BOWL" NAME OFF THERE!
To hear Lamar Hunt tell the story, he was watching one of his children playing with a
rubber "superball" one day, and out of that, came up with the idea of calling
the AFL-NFL game the "Super Bowl". He started to use the name during league
meetings, and subsequently the owners and the media all picked up on it. The game had in
fact been commonly referred to as the "Super Bowl" from the early stages of the
process.
However, it was not OFFICIALLY called the Super Bowl, but rather, the "AFL-NFL World
Championship Game". In fact, it wasn't until Super Bowl IV in New Orleans that the
NFL actually put the name "Super Bowl" on its tickets.
When the world championship trophy was unveiled, Rozelle ordered that Oscar Riedener of
Tiffany & Co., who had designed it, remove the words "Super Bowl" from the
trophy, saying it "cheapened" the award.
FANS JUST WEREN'T BUYING
Tickets for the first Super Bowl went for $12, $10, and $6 - "Broadway prices",
as Bill Becker of The New York Times put it. And Rozelle was intent on making local fans
pay those prices, blacking out the game in the Los Angeles area, an action that was upheld
by a federal judge when challenged, but which left a bad taste in the mouths of a lot of
fans.
Nonetheless, NFL officials expected a sellout - due in part to the presence of ex-USC
Heisman Trophy winner Mike Garrett, a local favorite, in the Kansas City lineup.
But sales were not swift, and as the days wound down, it became readily apparent that the
game would not sell out. Rozelle was finally moved to admit, "If we had to do it all
over again, we probably would scale the tickets lower." The stadium's awkward layout
was also partially to blame. "I just feel sorry for the people in the $6 seats,"
said Chiefs' owner Lamar Hunt. "Those seats are so far away that they might even be
outside the blackout area."
L.A. fans scrambled, not for tickets, but for ways to beat the blackout. Some made hotel
reservations closer to San Diego, which was out of blackout range, and had Super Bowl
parties. Some sought out special antennas, so they could pick up the San Diego TV
stations. One radio station actually gave away instructions for building a homemade
antenna designed to pick up the signal, and got 22,000 requests. A man in Texas offered
similar instructions, and sold thousands of them at $2 apiece out of his Dallas post
office box.
NO ACTION IN VEGAS?
Betting action was also slow. According to a January 14 wire story, "Reports from
legal bookmaking establishments in Las Vegas have revealed that the Super Bowl contest
here (L.A.) tomorrow has not been an especially attractive betting proposition.
Professional gamblers who bet heavily with the Las Vegas books apparently have too little
information on the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. The contest is described
as an attractive one for head-to-head bets between friends for small sums. This does not
interest bookmakers."
GEARING UP FOR THE GAME
Packer coach Vince Lombardi was being as polite as possible in addressing the AFL's brand
of football: "I don't think there is too much difference between the top teams in the
two leagues. If there is any difference, I think it's with the lower teams."
The bulletin board material for this game was provided by Kansas City cornerback Fred
"The Hammer" Williamson, who took a few shots at some of the Green Bay players,
namely Jim Taylor: "I don't think Taylor is so hot. Jim Nance of Boston runs
harder." He also compared Boyd Dowler and Carroll Dale of the Packers to
middle-of-the-road AFL receivers Art Graham and Glenn Bass.
Meanwhile, both CBS and NBC took out full-page ads in newspapers. Both made prominent
mention that the telecast was "in color" and both were going to carry the same
half-hour pre-game show. CBS' Saturday ad contained the headline "Tomorrow is Super
Sunday on CBS", certainly one of the first instances that particular term was used.
It promoted a Harlem Globetrotter special as a lead-in to its Super Bowl coverage, which
was to feature announcers Ray Scott, Jack Whitaker, Frank Gifford, and Pat Summerall. NBC
countered by promoting its announcing team of Curt Gowdy and Paul Christman, extolling
their virtues as "a team whose ability to analyze and interpret such action is
unrivaled in football broadcasting". The ad also included plugs from various writers,
including the famed Shirley Povich of the Washington Post, who was quoted as saying,
"Solid favorite to win this one (Super Bowl) is NBC's Paul Christman-Curt Gowdy
duo".
"Solid favorite to win this one."
To say the least, it was a COMPETITIVE atmosphere. One CBS executive sounded like a
football coach: "The money is great, but we're concerned with pride, not money. We
don't take them (NBC) lightly. But remember this - we didn't come here to lose."
THEY PLAY THE GAME
What happened during the game is well-known - Green Bay, which closed as a 14-point
favorite, held just a 14-10 halftime lead, then exploded for 21 unanswered second-half
points to win 35-10. Max McGee proved an unlikely hero by pulling in two touchdown passes.
Bart Starr completed 15 of 23 passes and won the game's MVP. Fred Williamson was knocked
cold by the knee of Green Bay running back Donny Anderson on an end sweep and had to leave
the game, much to the glee of the Packer players.
After the game, Lombardi couldn't hold himself back any longer. "Kansas City is a
good football team. But their team doesn't compare with the top NFL teams. Dallas is a
better football team." That quote must have been music to the ears of Cowboy fans who
had lost their AFL franchise to Kansas City just a few years earlier.
THE EPILOGUE
When all was said and done, the first Super Bowl game drew an attendance of 63,036 fans,
meaning there were about 30,000 empty seats at the L.A. Coliseum. The gate was in the
range of $775,000. A total of 1049 press credentials were issued, a record for a football
game - with 780 of those passes going to actual working media.
The Packers took home the impressive winner's share of $15,000 per player, while the
Chiefs received a runner-up share of $7500 per man. These figures were considerable by
1967 standards, and had been promoted heavily in the pre-game buildup.
In the end, CBS won the war between the networks, though it did carry a larger core
audience into the game due to its association with the NFL. CBS drew a 24.8 rating, and
sold its 18 minutes of advertising at a rate of $85,000 a minute, representing an increase
of 21% over its rate for regular season games. NBC drew a 17.4 rating, and sold its 18
minutes for $70,000 per minute, which was double their regular season rate. With expenses
taken into account, the game was a loss leader for the two networks, but well worth it,
considering what was to come in the future.
Several venues bid for the second Super Bowl game, including Los Angeles, Houston, and New
Orleans, but on May 25 the NFL designated the game for Miami's Orange Bowl. CBS, by virtue
of the pre-arranged agreement, had exclusive rights to the telecast, for which they
coughed up $2.5 million.
A harbinger of criticisms to come - one New York columnist, on the day after the game,
commented that "the afternoon did carry one immense blessing. With the game finally
over, there will be no more of those Super Bowl commercials. The campaign of ballyhoo and
promotional material was woefully overdone."
Indeed.
CHARLES JAY is the editor/publisher of TotalAction.com, an online sports &
gambling magazine. He is also the author of THE ULTIMATE SUPER BOWL TRIVIA BOOK. For
information on purchasing the book, please go to the following page:
http://www.totalaction.com/books/sbtrivia.htm
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Copyright 2003 Total Action Inc.
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