Notes

Superbowl History
SUPER BOWL HISTORY

The year was 1966, and war was raging in professional football. It was a sale war for talent and it ended up taking place since American Football League came to the scene in 1960 to challenge the National Football League, 40 years its senior. At first, the battles were for college players, and the AFL scored an early victory whenever a court ruled for 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 agreed to 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 to some $400,000 contract, the largest amount ever to get a collegian. In 1966, the NFL's Atlanta Falcons gave Texas linebacker Tommy Nobis a $600,000 package and also the Green Bay Packers forked over $711,000 to Texas Tech running back Donny Anderson.

Meanwhile, veteran players were settling for small raises on relatively small salaries. For example, John Brodie, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, received $35,000 in 1965 and was asking for a 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 using the NFL's New York Giants. The "no tampering" code ended up broken. The conflict was at outside, also it was time for doing things.

On April 7, 1966, peacemaker Joe Foss resigned as AFL commissioner and also the next day Al Davis, general manager with the Oakland Raiders, took over. check these guys out would have been a hawk regarding the NFL, and the man stood a plan. Davis organized an AFL war chest and urged proprietors to start speaking with established NFL stars. The NFL had bragged of the company's superiority because with the caliber of the quarterbacks. Davis wanted to sign those quarterbacks for that AFL.

The Raiders quickly signed Los Angeles quarterback Roman Gabriel to your 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 with the NFL's starting quarterbacks were dickering with the AFL. The NFL had no choice. On June 8, 1966, 2 months after Davis became the AFL commissioner, a merger agreement was announced. There would be considered 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 ended up being be paid to the 49ers and Giants over the 20-year period. Most important, in the standpoint of football fans, was the immediate establishment of an championship game between the leagues. This was the AFL-NFL World Championship Game -- that has been popularized since the Super Bowl looking at the inception.

Gabriel never went to the Raiders and Brodie never left the 49ers, but Brodie collected a thousand dollars on the agreement he had stated in his talks with Houston. Davis resigned as AFL commissioner 30 days as soon as the merger. He clearly had won his battle.
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