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 ended up taking place since the American Football League came onto the scene in 1960 to challenge the National Football League, 40 years its senior. At first, the battles were for college players, and also the AFL scored a young victory whenever a court ruled and only the Houston Oilers over the NFL's Los Angeles Rams after both clubs had signed Billy Cannon, the Heisman Trophy winning halfback at Louisiana State.

Although the leagues consented 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 your $400,000 contract, the largest amount ever for the collegian. In 1966, the NFL's Atlanta Falcons gave Texas linebacker Tommy Nobis a $600,000 package along with the Green Bay Packers forked over $711,000 to Texas Tech running back Donny Anderson.

Meanwhile, veteran players were accepting 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. special info , who had played out his option in 1965, signed while using NFL's New York Giants. The "no tampering" code ended up broken. The conflict is at outside, plus it was time doing his thing.

On April 7, 1966, peacemaker Joe Foss resigned as AFL commissioner along with the next day Al Davis, general manager in the Oakland Raiders, took over. Davis was a hawk in regards to the NFL, and the man a plan. Davis organized an AFL war chest and urged proprietors to start speaking with established NFL stars. The NFL had bragged of its superiority because with the caliber of the company's quarterbacks. Davis wanted to sign those quarterbacks for the AFL.

The Raiders quickly signed Los Angeles quarterback Roman Gabriel to a 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, 8 weeks after Davis took over as 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 would have been to be paid for the 49ers and Giants on the 20-year period. Most important, through the standpoint of football fans, was the immediate establishment of the championship game between the leagues. This was the AFL-NFL World Championship Game -- that has been popularized since the Super Bowl from its inception.

Gabriel never went to the Raiders and Brodie never left the 49ers, but Brodie collected a million dollars for the agreement he previously made in his talks with Houston. Davis resigned as AFL commissioner monthly following the merger. He clearly had won his battle.
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