Notes

Superbowl History
SUPER BOWL HISTORY

The year was 1966, and war was raging in professional football. It was antique dealer war for talent plus it ended up happening since American Football League came on top of the scene in 1960 to challenge the National Football League, 4 decades its senior. At first, the battles were for college players, and the AFL scored an earlier victory when a court ruled in favor of the Houston Oilers on 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 biggest amount ever for a collegian. In replica super bowl trophies , the NFL's Atlanta Falcons gave Texas linebacker Tommy Nobis a $600,000 package and the Green Bay Packers forked over $711,000 to Texas Tech running back Donny Anderson.

Meanwhile, veteran players were compromising 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 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 while using NFL's New York Giants. The "no tampering" code had been broken. The conflict is at the open, also it was time for doing things.

On April 7, 1966, peacemaker Joe Foss resigned as AFL commissioner along with the next day Al Davis, general manager with the Oakland Raiders, took over. Davis would have been a hawk in regard to the NFL, anf the husband a plan. Davis organized an AFL war chest and urged owners to start speaking with established NFL stars. The NFL had bragged of its superiority because from the caliber of the company's quarterbacks. Davis wished 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 10 years, to sign a five-year deal with the Oilers. Reportedly, eight in the NFL's starting quarterbacks were dickering with all the AFL. The NFL had no choice. On June 8, 1966, two months 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 ended up being be paid on the 49ers and Giants over a 20-year period. Most important, from the standpoint of football fans, was the immediate establishment of your championship game relating to the leagues. This was the AFL-NFL World Championship Game -- which was popularized because 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 per month as soon as the merger. He clearly had won his battle.
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