THIS IS ONE case where the story behind the scenes has proved to be at least as compelling as is the history of the NFL itself. All of the far reaching influence and successes that the National Football League is today could not have been possible had the state of pigskin war that existed in the early to mid 1960s USA continued.
RATHER THAN LOOKING toward conventional football wisdom, which says that it's your Offense that puts the fans in the stadium; but your Defense is what wins the games, the powers that be in both leagues looked in other directions. In moving toward the prospects offered through cooperation, they chose to apply the time proved virtues of negotiation in good faith, working for the common good and common bu$ine$$ $en$e.
IN THIS NEW series on the NFL Network, THE TIMELINE, its 5th episode (premier 12/24/15) titled THE MERGER, it is this quiet and behind the scenes negotiations that are explored and put in the spotlight. The principal players in the story are all from the board room and each would deserve an MVP award. The three men are: NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, Dallas Cowboys General Manager Tex Schramm and most of all, Kansas City Chiefs owner, Lamar Hunt.
THIS WAS THE most appropriate emissary from the still 6 years young AFL IT WAS THE idea of an armistice of the gridiron wars that a peace treaty and merger was begun. Rather than having a fancy ceremony in some plush hotel ballroom, the venue was the parked car belonging to Lamar Hunt. It was parked at Dallas' Airport.
THE PLANNED MERGER was announced in June of 1966 called for the ending of all hostilities between the two leagues, the acceptance of all* 8 of the AFL teams, a common draft of college players and the a playing of an AFL-NFL World's Championship game at the end of the 1966season.
THERE WERE OF course many other a clause included in a 100 or so page dissertation of perfect legalese. But what would we have expected? If these documents weren't done in a thorough manner, we'd constantly be fighting and re-fighting old battles.
THIS INSTALLMENT OF the series was most thorough and was as generous to all aspects of the story's time-line; those being: Past, Present and Future (duh!). The film stresses how that the post merger NFL became so much more of a part of the very fabric of what we are as a people.
REMEMBER THAT THE Sunday in January or February in which The Super Bowl has become an unofficial holiday. And it did so without any help from the government, be it Federal, State or Local.
NOTE: * This condition was no doubt a reference to 1950's NFL "merger" with the All America Football Conference in which only 3 of the 8 teams were admitted to NFL membership. Those 3 were: the San Francisco 49ers, the original Cleveland Browns (now the Baltimore Ravens) and the New York Yankees/Dallas Texans (who became the Baltimore then Indianapolis Colts).