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Super Bowl I
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Super Bowl I
The first AFL–NFL World Championship Game (known retroactively as Super Bowl I and referred to in contemporaneous reports, including the game's radio broadcast, as the Super Bowl) was an American football game played on January 15, 1967, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The National Football League (NFL) champion Green Bay Packers defeated the American Football League (AFL) champion Kansas City Chiefs by the score of 35–10.
Coming into the game, billed by some as the "supergame", considerable animosity existed between the AFL and NFL, thus the teams representing the two rival leagues (the Chiefs and Packers, respectively) felt additional pressure to win. The Chiefs posted an 11–2–1 record during the regular season, and defeated the Buffalo Bills 31–7 in the AFL Championship Game. The Packers finished the regular season at 12–2 and defeated the Dallas Cowboys 34–27 in the NFL Championship Game. Many sportswriters and fans believed any team in the older NFL was vastly superior to any club in the upstart AFL, and so expected the Packers would blow out the Chiefs.
The first half of Super Bowl I was competitive, as the Chiefs outgained the Packers in total yards, 181–164, and kept pace with the Packers by posting a 14–10 score at halftime. Early in the third quarter, Packers safety Willie Wood intercepted a pass and returned it 50 yards to the 5-yard line. The turnover sparked the Packers to score 21 unanswered points in the second half. Packers quarterback Bart Starr, who completed 16 of 23 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception, was named MVP.
As NBC and CBS had held the rights to nationally televise AFL and NFL games, respectively, it was decided that both networks were allowed to televise the game. The game remains the only Super Bowl to have been simulcast in the United States by two of the then-"Big Three" broadcast companies. Several recent Super Bowls have been simultaneously broadcast on network television as well as cable and streaming platforms.
When the NFL began its 41st season in 1960, it had a new and unwanted rival: the American Football League. The NFL had successfully fended off several other rival leagues in the past, and so the older league initially ignored the new upstart and its eight teams, figuring it would be made up of nothing but NFL rejects, and that fans were unlikely to prefer it to the NFL. But unlike the NFL's prior rivals, the AFL survived and prospered, in part by signing "NFL rejects" who turned out to be highly talented players the older league had badly misjudged. Soon the NFL and AFL found themselves locked in a massive bidding war for the top free agents and prospects coming out of college. Originally, there was a tacit agreement between the two not to raid each other by signing players who were already under contract with a team from an opposing league. This policy broke down in early 1966 when the NFL's New York Giants signed Pete Gogolak, a placekicker who was under contract with the AFL's Buffalo Bills. The AFL owners considered this an "act of war" and immediately struck back, signing several contracted NFL players, including eight of their top quarterbacks.[citation needed]
Eventually, the NFL had enough and started negotiations with the AFL in an attempt to resolve the issue. As a result of the negotiations, the leagues signed a merger agreement on June 9, 1966. Among the details, both leagues agreed to share a common draft to end the bidding war for the top college players, as well as merge into a single league after the 1969 season. In addition, an "AFL–NFL World Championship Game" was established, in which the AFL and NFL champions would play against each other in a game at the end of the season to determine which league had the best team.
Los Angeles wasn't awarded the game until December 1, less than seven weeks before the kickoff; likewise, the date of the game was not set until December 13. Since the AFL Championship Game originally was scheduled for Monday, December 26, and the NFL Championship Game for Sunday, January 1, the "new" championship game was suggested to be played Sunday, January 8. An unprecedented TV doubleheader was held on January 1, with the AFL Championship Game telecast from Buffalo on NBC and the NFL Championship Game telecast from Dallas on CBS three hours later.
Coming into this "first" game, considerable animosity still existed between the two rival leagues, with both of them putting pressure on their respective champions to trounce the other and prove each league's dominance in professional football. Still, many sportswriters and fans believed the game was a mismatch, and any team from the long-established NFL was far superior to the best team from the upstart AFL.
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Super Bowl I
The first AFL–NFL World Championship Game (known retroactively as Super Bowl I and referred to in contemporaneous reports, including the game's radio broadcast, as the Super Bowl) was an American football game played on January 15, 1967, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The National Football League (NFL) champion Green Bay Packers defeated the American Football League (AFL) champion Kansas City Chiefs by the score of 35–10.
Coming into the game, billed by some as the "supergame", considerable animosity existed between the AFL and NFL, thus the teams representing the two rival leagues (the Chiefs and Packers, respectively) felt additional pressure to win. The Chiefs posted an 11–2–1 record during the regular season, and defeated the Buffalo Bills 31–7 in the AFL Championship Game. The Packers finished the regular season at 12–2 and defeated the Dallas Cowboys 34–27 in the NFL Championship Game. Many sportswriters and fans believed any team in the older NFL was vastly superior to any club in the upstart AFL, and so expected the Packers would blow out the Chiefs.
The first half of Super Bowl I was competitive, as the Chiefs outgained the Packers in total yards, 181–164, and kept pace with the Packers by posting a 14–10 score at halftime. Early in the third quarter, Packers safety Willie Wood intercepted a pass and returned it 50 yards to the 5-yard line. The turnover sparked the Packers to score 21 unanswered points in the second half. Packers quarterback Bart Starr, who completed 16 of 23 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception, was named MVP.
As NBC and CBS had held the rights to nationally televise AFL and NFL games, respectively, it was decided that both networks were allowed to televise the game. The game remains the only Super Bowl to have been simulcast in the United States by two of the then-"Big Three" broadcast companies. Several recent Super Bowls have been simultaneously broadcast on network television as well as cable and streaming platforms.
When the NFL began its 41st season in 1960, it had a new and unwanted rival: the American Football League. The NFL had successfully fended off several other rival leagues in the past, and so the older league initially ignored the new upstart and its eight teams, figuring it would be made up of nothing but NFL rejects, and that fans were unlikely to prefer it to the NFL. But unlike the NFL's prior rivals, the AFL survived and prospered, in part by signing "NFL rejects" who turned out to be highly talented players the older league had badly misjudged. Soon the NFL and AFL found themselves locked in a massive bidding war for the top free agents and prospects coming out of college. Originally, there was a tacit agreement between the two not to raid each other by signing players who were already under contract with a team from an opposing league. This policy broke down in early 1966 when the NFL's New York Giants signed Pete Gogolak, a placekicker who was under contract with the AFL's Buffalo Bills. The AFL owners considered this an "act of war" and immediately struck back, signing several contracted NFL players, including eight of their top quarterbacks.[citation needed]
Eventually, the NFL had enough and started negotiations with the AFL in an attempt to resolve the issue. As a result of the negotiations, the leagues signed a merger agreement on June 9, 1966. Among the details, both leagues agreed to share a common draft to end the bidding war for the top college players, as well as merge into a single league after the 1969 season. In addition, an "AFL–NFL World Championship Game" was established, in which the AFL and NFL champions would play against each other in a game at the end of the season to determine which league had the best team.
Los Angeles wasn't awarded the game until December 1, less than seven weeks before the kickoff; likewise, the date of the game was not set until December 13. Since the AFL Championship Game originally was scheduled for Monday, December 26, and the NFL Championship Game for Sunday, January 1, the "new" championship game was suggested to be played Sunday, January 8. An unprecedented TV doubleheader was held on January 1, with the AFL Championship Game telecast from Buffalo on NBC and the NFL Championship Game telecast from Dallas on CBS three hours later.
Coming into this "first" game, considerable animosity still existed between the two rival leagues, with both of them putting pressure on their respective champions to trounce the other and prove each league's dominance in professional football. Still, many sportswriters and fans believed the game was a mismatch, and any team from the long-established NFL was far superior to the best team from the upstart AFL.
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