Notes

Superbowl History
SUPER BOWL HISTORY

The year was 1966, and war was raging in professional football. It was a bidding war for talent and yes it have been taking place because the American Football League came on top of the scene in 1960 to challenge the National Football League, forty years its senior. At first, the battles were for college players, along with the AFL scored an earlier victory each time a court ruled in support of the Houston Oilers within the NFL's Los Angeles Rams after both clubs had signed Billy Cannon, the Heisman Trophy winning halfback at Louisiana State.

Although the leagues opted for a "no tampering" rule on existing player contracts, the stakes became high for college talent. Bonuses went sky-high. The AFL's New York Jets signed Alabama quarterback Joe Namath in 1965 with a $400,000 contract, the most important amount ever to get a collegian. In 1966, the NFL's Atlanta Falcons gave Texas linebacker Tommy Nobis a $600,000 package as well as the Green Bay Packers forked over $711,000 to Texas Tech running back Donny Anderson.

Meanwhile, veteran players were staying in small raises on relatively small salaries. For example, John Brodie, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, received $35,000 in 1965 and was asking for the raise to $65,000 after leading the NFL in completions, completion percentage, yardage and touchdown passes. Then came a back-breaker. Buffalo placekicker Pete Gogolak, who had played out his option in 1965, signed with all the NFL's New York Giants. The "no tampering" code ended up broken. The conflict is at outside, also it was time to use it.

On April 7, 1966, peacemaker Joe Foss resigned as AFL commissioner and also the next day Al Davis, general manager in the Oakland Raiders, took over. Davis would have been a hawk in regards to the NFL, and he had a plan. Davis organized an AFL war chest and urged proprietors to start actually talking to established NFL stars. The NFL had bragged of the superiority because from the caliber of its quarterbacks. Davis planned to sign those quarterbacks for the AFL.

The Raiders quickly signed Los Angeles quarterback Roman Gabriel to some commitment starting in '67. Houston offered the 49ers' Brodie $75,000, spread over decade, to sign a five-year deal while using Oilers. Reportedly, eight from the NFL's starting quarterbacks were dickering with the AFL. why not look here had no choice. On June 8, 1966, 60 days after Davis took over as the AFL commissioner, a merger agreement was announced. There would be described as a common draft starting in 1967, interleague preseason games starting in '67 and regular-season play combining the leagues in 1970. Territorial indemnification of $18 million would have been to be paid on the 49ers and Giants over the 20-year period. Most important, from your standpoint of football fans, was the immediate establishment of your championship game involving the leagues. This was the AFL-NFL World Championship Game -- that was popularized as the Super Bowl from its inception.

Gabriel never went to the Raiders and Brodie never left the 49ers, but Brodie collected millions of dollars about the agreement he'd made in his talks with Houston. Davis resigned as AFL commissioner per month following the merger. He clearly had won his battle.
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