A Brief History of Super Bowl I
How the Big Game Came To Be and What Happened
Like most great things, the Super Bowl grew from humble beginnings. How humble? Super Bowl I wasn't even a sell-out.
With pre-game analysis beginning about 2 weeks ahead of kick-off, the general public can be forgiven for thinking the Super Bowl is, and has always been, the most important annual event ever staged in the history of mankind.
Of course that’s just hype. The fact is, compared to today’s over-the-top media frenzy, the original Super Bowl was barely a blip on the sporting map. Even then, however, there were tell-tale signs that it would eventually be big. How big, though, nobody could have foreseen.
AFL-NFL Championship A Step Towards Merger
By the time the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs met for the first World Championship game played between the champs from the NFL and AFL, the seeds had already been sewn for the 2 rival leagues to merge.
The upstart AFL had gained credibility with fans by producing hard-nosed, exciting games, featuring intense rivalries. They regularly signed star players to big money contracts and had garnered a national fan base through their broadcast contract with NBC. In other words, it was evident that the AFL wasn’t going away.
Armed with that knowledge, Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt had initiated merger talks, meeting secretly with Cowboys owner Tex Schramm, in a lounge at the Dallas airport. From there talks picked up steam until a deal was announced to unite the leagues in June 1966. Before the league’s joined officially, though, it was decided that a title game between the respective champions was needed, if only to goose interest.
Lamar Hunt and the Super Ball
Hunt was the driving force behind the merger. He was, first and foremost, an entrepreneur, and as such, was always on the lookout for the next big promotional idea. At the time, his focus was on how to give this brand new championship game some identity.
As the story goes, Hunt’s daughter had this amazing new toy she loved to play with called a Super Ball. Its incredible bouncing properties apparently gave Hunt the inspiration to call the AFL-NFL Championship game the Super Bowl. Instantly, the hype was in the air, although it would be a couple more years before it really began to take off.
Cheap Tickets and Empty Seats
Scheduled for the enormous Los Angeles Coliseum on January 15th, 1967, the public didn’t exactly go bananas for tickets. Despite being priced in the $6-12 range, the Coliseum was only about two-thirds full, with attendance announced at 61,946.
That may have been because the match-up didn’t look particularly even. The mighty Packers were coming in off consecutive NFL Championships. Coached by the legendary Vince Lombardi and quarterbacked by future Hall-of-Famer Bart Starr, they were heavily favored.
Like many Super Bowls to follow, the first was anything but a classic. The Chiefs kept it close in the first half and went to the break trailing by only 14-10. But in the 2nd half, Starr picked the Chiefs apart, leading 2 drives that culminated in touchdown runs by Elijah Pitts and another in Starr’s second touchdown pass of the day to Max McGee.
When the dust settled, the Pack had hammered the Chiefs 35-10. On the strength of a 16 for 23, 250 yard, 2 TD afternoon, Starr was named the first Super Bowl MVP.
Speaking afterward, Lombardi tried to be diplomatic, but couldn’t hold his tongue. “They’re quick,” he said of the Chiefs, “But NFL football is tougher. Their team doesn’t compare with the top NFL teams.”
Ratings Ruled
On that day, at least, Lombardi was right. The on-field spectacle wasn’t exactly super. But off the field, everyone knew it was going to be a winner.
Both CBS (who owned the NFL broadcast rights) and NBC (the AFL’s carrier) broadcast the game nationally. CBS won the ratings battle that day, posting a share of 24.8 to NBC’s 17.4. When both networks’ numbers were combined, however, everyone knew the Super Bowl was here to stay. The rest, as they say, is history.
