SUPER BOWL HISTORY

The year was 1966, and war was raging in professional football. It was a sale war for talent and yes it ended up occurring considering that 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, and also the AFL scored an earlier victory each time a court ruled for 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 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 your $400,000 contract, the greatest amount ever for the 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 to get 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 with all the NFL's New York Giants. The "no tampering" code have been broken. The conflict was in the open, also 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 would be a hawk regarding the NFL, anf the husband stood a plan. Davis organized an AFL war chest and urged keepers to start speaking with established NFL stars. The NFL had bragged of the company's superiority because with the caliber of the company's quarterbacks. Davis wanted to sign those quarterbacks to the AFL.

you could check here signed Los Angeles quarterback Roman Gabriel with a commitment starting in '67. Houston offered the 49ers' Brodie $75,000, spread over 10 years, to sign a five-year deal with all the Oilers. Reportedly, eight of the NFL's starting quarterbacks were dickering with the AFL. The NFL had no choice. On June 8, 1966, two months after Davis had become the AFL commissioner, a merger agreement was announced. There would certainly be 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 to be paid towards the 49ers and Giants on the 20-year period. Most important, from your standpoint of football fans, was the immediate establishment of a championship game involving the leagues. This was the AFL-NFL World Championship Game -- which was popularized as the Super Bowl from its inception.

Gabriel never went for the Raiders and Brodie never left the 49ers, but Brodie collected one million dollars for the agreement he'd produced in his talks with Houston. Davis resigned as AFL commissioner monthly after the merger. He clearly had won his battle.