XLIX Things About American Pro Football

[Mac the Knife]

A few tidbits to win bets while you enjoy Sunday's Super Bowl XLIX. Sorry CFL fans, but this list is "All-American."

1. Let's start with the fact that pro football's existence didn't begin with the Super Bowl. Today's Super Bowl XLIX is, in fact, the 84th championship game in the history of the National Football League.
2. George Halas is viewed by many as the father of the NFL and professional football in general. But professional football had been around in one form or another for decades prior to the 1920 formation of the American Professional Football Association, and Halas, while attending the founding meeting of the league, wasn't among those initiating it. The person most prominent in founding what would become the NFL? The immortal Ralph Hay.
3. The National Football League is a non-profit, tax exempt organization, claiming its exemption under Section 501©(6) of the Internal Revenue Code. While many fans take umbrage at this under the presumption that it's a tax dodge, in fact that's not the case: 31 of the NFL's 32 members (the Green Bay Packers, as a non-profit corporation, being the sole exception) pay taxes on their revenues similar to any other company. The NFL operates as a "pass-through" for that revenue, however, collecting it on behalf of its "member clubs," and distributing it to them after paying expenses.
4. The first NFL championship game was held in 1932. The Chicago Bears defeated the Portsmouth Spartans, 9-0. Among the noteworthy things about this game were that (i) it was played indoors at Chicago Stadium due to bad weather, on an 80-yard field (some refer to it as the original game of Arena Football), and (ii) the Spartans would move for 1933, being rechristened the Detroit Lions.
5. The Bears would go on to become the first to win back-to-back championship games (1932-33), and were 3/4ths on their way to a third straight in 1934, leading the New York Giants 13-3 going into the fourth quarter. But Giants G Ray Flaherty suggested to head coach Steve Owen that due to the frozen grass at the Polo Grounds, the team ditch their cleats and try wearing sneakers instead. The new shoes arrived for the final period, whereupon the Giants laced them up - and laced the Bears, scoring 27 unanswered points and winning "The Sneakers Game."
6. The first shutout in a professional championship game occurred in 1939, when the Green Bay Packers blanked the New York Giants.
7. In 1940, Washington owner George Preston Marshall blasted Chicago after a 7-3 win over the Bears. Meeting three weeks later in the NFL championship, George Halas and his team proceeded to take revenge, racking up 11 touchdowns along with the largest margin of victory in NFL history, 73-0.
8. Broadcast on the Mutual (and later, NBC Blue) radio networks, a frequent announcer for NFL championship games was one Harry Wismer. Wismer would go on to own a team of his own as a member of the AFL's "Foolish Club," the New York Titans.
9. The first score of the 1945 NFL championship occurred when, from within his own end zone, Washington QB Sammy Baugh threw a pass that struck the goal post - a safety under the rules at that time. Their opponents, the Cleveland Rams, went on to win the championship 15-14. The rule was changed in the off-season that ensued.
10. The NFL is a juggernaut in 2015, but as late as the 1950's it wasn't viewed in such high regard. After losing most of their players to military service in World War II, immediately after the war a challenger emerged in the form of the All-America Football Conference. The AAFC almost immediately trumped the NFL in a number of areas, including overall quality of play. But one of its teams proved so dominant that it brought the league down: the Cleveland Browns, who would win all four AAFC championship games (1946-1949), along the way recording professional football's first undefeated, untied season (14-0-0 in 1948).
11. Following the AAFC-NFL merger, commissioner Bert Bell scheduled a regular season opener with the AAFC champion Browns taking on the defending NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles - a smug idea intended to demonstrate the older league's superiority. It backfired. The Browns not only made quick work of the Eagles, 35-10, but would go on to win a fifth straight pro title (and their first in the NFL), defeating the Los Angeles Rams for the championship.
12. Counting their four-year run as the undisputed kingpins of the AAFC, the Cleveland Browns appeared in TEN straight championship games, winning seven of them. They also lost three straight during that stretch though, so it wasn't all glory. In fact, from 1950 to 1955, only three teams would appear in an NFL championship game: the Browns, the Detroit Lions, or the Los Angeles Rams.
13. The longest period of scorelessness in any pro football championship game occurred in the 1948 NFL championship. Steve Van Buren would score the only touchdown in the contest, propelling the Philadelphia Eagles to a 7-0 win over the Chicago Cardinals after 46 minutes, 5 seconds of football had been played.
14. In the "Greatest Game Ever Played," (a/k/a the 1958 NFL Championship), Baltimore Colts WR Raymond Berry caught 12 passes, a record which would stand for all pro football championship contests until Demarius Thomas caught 13 in Super Bowl XLVIII. As time wound down in the game, NBC television announcers Chris Schenkel and Chuck Thompson were unaware of league overtime rules. Nor for that matter were many on the field playing the game, among them Baltimore QB John Unitas.
15. The Philadelphia Eagles won the 1960 NFL championship by defeating the Green Bay Packers, 17-13. It would be the only championship game lost by Vince Lombardi.
16. Meanwhile, the Houston Oilers would lay claim to the first championship of the upstart American Football League in 1960, earning a 24-16 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. The teams would meet for the AFL title again the following year, but the result would be the same (though not the final score, which was 10-3).
17. The first NFL championship game to be played in the city of Green Bay, Wisconsin, was held in 1961. There, the Packers demolished the New York Giants, 37-0.
18. Speaking of the Giants, their 1961-63 teams would join the Cleveland Browns as the only teams to date to lose three consecutive championship games. Their marks would ultimately be trumped by the 1990-93 Buffalo Bills, who would lose four straight.
19. The Dallas Texans and Houston Oilers meeting for the 1962 AFL championship would be the longest game in professional football history to date, going into double overtime before Tommy Brooker kicked a 25 yard field goal to give the Texans the title after 77 minutes, 54 seconds of football.
20. The Chargers appeared in five of the first six AFL championship games. They then had a drought which went on until their appearance in Super Bowl XXIX.
21. The Green Bay Packers meanwhile appeared in six NFL championship games during the 1960's, winning five, including three straight from 1965-67.
22. A ticket to the 1964 NFL championship matchup between the Baltimore Colts and Cleveland Browns could be bought for $ 10.00.
23. The first Super Bowl was organized rather hastily, with the Los Angeles Coliseum announced as the game's site just six weeks in advance. CBS (which held TV rights to NFL games) and NBC (which held AFL rights) simulcast the game, the first time a sporting event aired simultaneously on multiple networks. The simulcast used the same video feed, with each network providing its own announcing team. The second half kickoff had to be replayed (much to Vince Lombardi's upset) because CBS had missed it due to a commercial break. During a walk through of the stadium on the morning of the game, an arm of the coliseum's main clock dislodged and fell to the ground, missing several NFL staffers by a matter of feet.
24. Members of the Green Bay Packers team which won the 1967 AFL-NFL World Championship Game were paid $15,000. Today, if you know someone connected well enough, you can buy ten tickets to Super Bowl XLIX for that much. $42,000 could buy you :30 of ad time on either CBS or NBC during the game. Today, that would buy you 3/4ths of one second.
25. During the first four years of the Super Bowl's existence, in odd-numbered years the NFL's Referee, Linesman and Field Judge were joined by the AFL's Umpire, Line Judge and Back Judge in working the game; in even-numbered years, it was alternated.
26. Miami's Orange Bowl is the only site to have hosted consecutive championship games, hosting Super Bowls II and III. Tampa Stadium meanwhile holds the distinction of being the only site to host two different league's championship games in the same year (hosting Super Bowl XVIII in January 1984, then the 1984 USFL Championship Game that summer).
27. Miami's Orange Bowl was selected as the site for Super Bowls II and III without other sites being considered. Jacksonville's Gator Bowl would similarly be chosen without opposition as the site for the 1986 USFL Championship Game, but the league folded before the game was staged.
28. For the first four Super Bowls, each of the competing teams used its own football while on offense: the AFL using the Spalding JV-5, the NFL using "The Duke" from Wilson. They were replaced by a new ball style for 1970, but you can still buy either style of the "old" ball today.
29. Prior to the New York Jets victory over the Baltimore Colts in the 1969 AFL-NFL World Championship Game (Super Bowl III), Pete Rozelle and others within the NFL were considering an almost purely geographic post-merger realignment, more resembling the NFL's then-current Eastern/Western Conference structure than the AFC/NFC alignment we know today. The Jets victory to some extent scuttled those ideas. Barring a change to its playoff format or further realignment however, a rematch of Super Bowl III can't occur, as today the Colts (now of Indianapolis) and Jets are both aligned in the American Football Conference.
30. Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle, commissioner of the NFL from 1960-1989 and seen by many as the father of the Super Bowl, hated the "Super Bowl" name, much preferring the moniker "World Championship Game." He ultimately accepted it however, and would order adding roman numerals to its name to distinguish the game from its corresponding football season.
31. As late as 10 days before the date the AFL-NFL merger was to become official (January 1, 1970), the owners of the merging leagues hadn't finalized either their divisional alignments or a playoff format. They contemplated an array of possibilities, some of which could have left the playoffs and Super Bowl a much different event today: aligning into three conferences, a playoff system without "wild card" qualifiers, even abandoning the single-game Super Bowl in favor of a multi-game series. None of these came to pass however, and the final step of the divisional alignment puzzle was taken when Rozelle's secretary, Thelma, picked what would become the original alignment of the NFC out of a hat.
32. The Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers agreed to move into the newly minted "American Football Conference" for 1970 thanks to financial incentives totalling $3 million each. Baltimore and Pittsburgh would ultimately be rewarded with further incentives in the form of Super Bowl appearances representing the AFC.
33. Appearing in a pro football championship game usually results in a good season at home the following year. But on SIX occasions, teams that have appeared in a championship game have proceeded to pack their bags and relocate. The first was after the NFL's first championship game, when the 1932 Portsmouth Spartans would relocate, becoming the 1933 Detroit Lions. George Preston Marshall would move his franchise from Boston to Washington a few years later, following an appearance in the 1936 championship. After the 1945 season the NFL champion Cleveland Rams would try to defend their title from Los Angeles, meanwhile after the 1960 AFL season, the Los Angeles Chargers would take another crack at the title in 1961 from San Diego. The 1962 AFL champion Dallas Texans would celebrate their championship by becoming the 1963 Kansas City Chiefs, and the 1984 Philadelphia Stars of the USFL would move south to Baltimore for their 1985 season.
34. On two occasions during the Super Bowl era, one of the participating teams has enjoyed a virtual, if not de facto, home field advantage: the Los Angeles Rams of 1979, who called the Los Angeles Coliseum home, appeared in Super Bowl XIV at the nearby Rose Bowl in Pasadena (they lost), while the San Francisco 49'ers of 1985, which called Candlestick Park in San Francisco home, would appear in Super Bowl XIX at Stanford Stadium in nearby Palo Alto (they won).
35. The Vince Lombardi Trophy, emblematic of victory in each championship during the Super Bowl era, was designed on a cocktail napkin by Oscar Riedner of Tiffany and Co. The trophy, which stands 22" tall and weighs roughly 7 pounds. Tiffany has made each of the trophies awarded to date.
36. Prior to the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, the champions of the NFL were awarded custody of the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy. Like the CFL's Grey Cup and professional hockey's Stanley Cup, the Thorp Trophy was a traveling championship symbol, held temporarily by the winning team until the next champion was crowned; winning teams could however commission a replica if desired. The Thorp Trophy, last presented to the Minnesota Vikings following their 1969 NFL championship win over the Cleveland Browns, hasn't been seen since. Ironically, the Thorp Trophy had a predecessor as well, the "Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup," donated by a company that manufactured tires back when the NFL was first formed. Also awarded as a traveling trophy, it too disappeared.
37. In 1984 the hierarchy of the NFL decided that win or lose, Super Bowl participants deserved some hardware, commissioning the first conference championship trophies and naming them for Lamar Hunt (AFC) and George Halas (NFC) respectively. Originally a rather large award with a wooden base and featuring depictions of football from the line of scrimmage, the trophies would be extensively redesigned, made significantly smaller and (allegedly) somewhat resembling the Lombardi Trophy.
38. The Most Valuable Player of each Super Bowl receives the Pete Rozelle Award, named after the NFL's long-time commissioner. The first recipient of the trophy, which like the Lombardi Trophy is made annually by Tiffany & Co., was Super Bowl XXV Most Valuable Player Ottis Anderson.
39. The largest margin of victory in the Super Bowl era is that of the San Francisco 49'ers over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV (45 points). The smallest occurred the following year as the New York Giants defeated the Buffalo Bills by a single point, 20-19.
40. There have been nine safeties in championship games during the Super Bowl era. Three of them have occurred in the last three games; four in the last seven. Also, on three of the nine occasions, the safety has represented the game's first score (2-0).
41. Jacksonville's Gator Bowl has the distinction of being chosen as the site of two professional football championship games which weren't played there. In 1974, owners of the World Football League chose the site for its inaugural championship, awarding the game's hosting duties to the Jacksonville Sharks. The Sharks would proceed to fold, resulting in a scramble that ultimately resulted in the game becoming a home game for the top-seeded Birmingham Americans, who would win the inaugural (and only) "World Bowl" title. Twelve years later, the USFL awarded its Jacksonville Bulls franchise its 1986 championship game, to be played after the league's first fall season (following three years of spring football). The league would die during the long gap between the Spring 1985 and Fall 1986 seasons, however.
42. Following their move to Foxborough, Massachusetts, the Boston Patriots were briefly renamed the "Bay State Patriots." The team would rechristen itself the New England Patriots after TV commentators and others began jokingly referring to the team as the "B.S. Patriots."
43. The Seattle Seahawks are, to date, the only NFL team to have appeared in both an AFC and NFC championship game. The 'Hawks lost to the Los Angeles Raiders in the 1984 AFC championship, prior to the latter's appearance in Super Bowl XVIII.
44. On five occasions, the site intended to host a Super Bowl game would be changed. Super Bowl XXVII (1993) was originally awarded to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, but the NFL withdrew the award in the wake of a voter referendum in which the state's voters rejected adoption of a Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. The 1993 game would be held at Pasadena's Rose Bowl (it's not been held there since), Arizona voters would approve an MLK Day, and the NFL would subsequently award it Super Bowl XXX (1996). While San Francisco will host the 50th anniversary edition of the Super Bowl in 2016, on two prior occasions (XXXIII in 1999, and XXXVII in 2003) the 49'ers were awarded Super Bowl hosting privileges only to have them withdrawn. Candlestick Park was to host Super Bowl XXXIII, but the award was conditional on certain renovations being done in time for the game; the schedule became backlogged, and the NFL moved the game to Miami. The 49ers were given a second chance four years later, but that effort was conditional on building a new stadium; when that effort failed, the game was moved downstate to San Diego. New York City meanwhile was tentatively awarded Super Bowl XLIV, also conditional on the construction of a new stadium which failed to materialize; in this case, New Orleans would fill in for New York, but the Big Apple would host the Big Game four years later.
45. Similarly, Kansas City was initially awarded Super Bowl XLIX, but as with San Francisco's Candlestick bid the award was contingent on stadium renovations which failed to materialize. As a result, the game was moved to the Cardinals' stadium in Arizona.
46. Having not learned its lesson from the previous instances, the NFL has awarded the 2018 game (Super Bowl LII) to Minneapolis, which hopefully will have its new stadium completed in time for the game.
47. In the Super Bowl era, five men have worked the game as an on-field official: Tom Kelleher (IV, VII, XI, XV, XIX), Jack Fette (V, VIII, X, XIII and XXII), Bob Beeks (XIV, XVI, XVIII, XXI, XXIII), Al Jury (XX, XXII, XXIV, XXVIII, XXXIV) and Ron Botchan (XX, XXVII, XXIX, XXXI, XXXIV). Jerry Markbreit is the only man to work four Super Bowl games as its referee. Ed Hochuli? He's only worked two (XXXII and XXXVIII).
48. Rotated between network television broadcast partners on an annual basis since its inception, the Super Bowl game initially excluded ABC from that rotation, alternating games between CBS and NBC. It wouldn't be until Super Bowl XIX that ABC would be given telecasting rights, and the Fox network's first telecast would be Super Bowl XXXI.
49. As the events surrounding its championship game become more and more complex, the number of cities which formally bid on each Super Bowl game has dwindled considerably over the years. While it was commonplace for a half dozen or more cities to vie for a chance to host the NFL's championship contest and in a few years as many as 14 cities involved themselves in the bidding process, aside from next year's game (on which six cities bid) in recent years the league has had four or fewer candidates to choose from.

Enjoy the game!

[jc...]

#23, NBC missed the 2nd half kickoff, not CBS.

Thanks for this. It's a neat read.

[Brass]

50. Get that cough looked at by a doctor.

[Mac the Knife]

#23, NBC missed the 2nd half kickoff, not CBS.

Thanks for this. It's a neat read.

I'd always heard it was CBS.

[Magnus]

"Following their move to Foxborough, Massachusetts, the Boston Patriots were briefly renamed the "Bay State Patriots." The team would rechristen itself the New England Patriots after TV commentators and others began jokingly referring to the team as the "B.S. Patriots."

But that name would be so fitting!

[NJTank]

The 1932 was not officially considered a championship game, more like a tiebreaker and the next year the NFL divided into two divisions and had a permanent title game.

[NJTank]

A few tidbits to win bets while you enjoy Sunday's Super Bowl XLIX. Sorry CFL fans, but this list is "All-American."

1. Let's start with the fact that pro football's existence didn't begin with the Super Bowl. Today's Super Bowl XLIX is, in fact, the 84th championship game in the history of the National Football League.
2. George Halas is viewed by many as the father of the NFL and professional football in general. But professional football had been around in one form or another for decades prior to the 1920 formation of the American Professional Football Association, and Halas, while attending the founding meeting of the league, wasn't among those initiating it. The person most prominent in founding what would become the NFL? The immortal Ralph Hay.
3. The National Football League is a non-profit, tax exempt organization, claiming its exemption under Section 501©(6) of the Internal Revenue Code. While many fans take umbrage at this under the presumption that it's a tax dodge, in fact that's not the case: 31 of the NFL's 32 members (the Green Bay Packers, as a non-profit corporation, being the sole exception) pay taxes on their revenues similar to any other company. The NFL operates as a "pass-through" for that revenue, however, collecting it on behalf of its "member clubs," and distributing it to them after paying expenses.
4. The first NFL championship game was held in 1932. The Chicago Bears defeated the Portsmouth Spartans, 9-0. Among the noteworthy things about this game were that (i) it was played indoors at Chicago Stadium due to bad weather, on an 80-yard field (some refer to it as the original game of Arena Football), and (ii) the Spartans would move for 1933, being rechristened the Detroit Lions.
5. The Bears would go on to become the first to win back-to-back championship games (1932-33), and were 3/4ths on their way to a third straight in 1934, leading the New York Giants 13-3 going into the fourth quarter. But Giants G Ray Flaherty suggested to head coach Steve Owen that due to the frozen grass at the Polo Grounds, the team ditch their cleats and try wearing sneakers instead. The new shoes arrived for the final period, whereupon the Giants laced them up - and laced the Bears, scoring 27 unanswered points and winning "The Sneakers Game."
6. The first shutout in a professional championship game occurred in 1939, when the Green Bay Packers blanked the New York Giants.
7. In 1940, Washington owner George Preston Marshall blasted Chicago after a 7-3 win over the Bears. Meeting three weeks later in the NFL championship, George Halas and his team proceeded to take revenge, racking up 11 touchdowns along with the largest margin of victory in NFL history, 73-0.
8. Broadcast on the Mutual (and later, NBC Blue) radio networks, a frequent announcer for NFL championship games was one Harry Wismer. Wismer would go on to own a team of his own as a member of the AFL's "Foolish Club," the New York Titans.
9. The first score of the 1945 NFL championship occurred when, from within his own end zone, Washington QB Sammy Baugh threw a pass that struck the goal post - a safety under the rules at that time. Their opponents, the Cleveland Rams, went on to win the championship 15-14. The rule was changed in the off-season that ensued.
10. The NFL is a juggernaut in 2015, but as late as the 1950's it wasn't viewed in such high regard. After losing most of their players to military service in World War II, immediately after the war a challenger emerged in the form of the All-America Football Conference. The AAFC almost immediately trumped the NFL in a number of areas, including overall quality of play. But one of its teams proved so dominant that it brought the league down: the Cleveland Browns, who would win all four AAFC championship games (1946-1949), along the way recording professional football's first undefeated, untied season (14-0-0 in 1948).
11. Following the AAFC-NFL merger, commissioner Bert Bell scheduled a regular season opener with the AAFC champion Browns taking on the defending NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles - a smug idea intended to demonstrate the older league's superiority. It backfired. The Browns not only made quick work of the Eagles, 35-10, but would go on to win a fifth straight pro title (and their first in the NFL), defeating the Los Angeles Rams for the championship.
12. Counting their four-year run as the undisputed kingpins of the AAFC, the Cleveland Browns appeared in TEN straight championship games, winning seven of them. They also lost three straight during that stretch though, so it wasn't all glory. In fact, from 1950 to 1955, only three teams would appear in an NFL championship game: the Browns, the Detroit Lions, or the Los Angeles Rams.
13. The longest period of scorelessness in any pro football championship game occurred in the 1948 NFL championship. Steve Van Buren would score the only touchdown in the contest, propelling the Philadelphia Eagles to a 7-0 win over the Chicago Cardinals after 46 minutes, 5 seconds of football had been played.
14. In the "Greatest Game Ever Played," (a/k/a the 1958 NFL Championship), Baltimore Colts WR Raymond Berry caught 12 passes, a record which would stand for all pro football championship contests until Demarius Thomas caught 13 in Super Bowl XLVIII. As time wound down in the game, NBC television announcers Chris Schenkel and Chuck Thompson were unaware of league overtime rules. Nor for that matter were many on the field playing the game, among them Baltimore QB John Unitas.
15. The Philadelphia Eagles won the 1960 NFL championship by defeating the Green Bay Packers, 17-13. It would be the only championship game lost by Vince Lombardi.
16. Meanwhile, the Houston Oilers would lay claim to the first championship of the upstart American Football League in 1960, earning a 24-16 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. The teams would meet for the AFL title again the following year, but the result would be the same (though not the final score, which was 10-3).
17. The first NFL championship game to be played in the city of Green Bay, Wisconsin, was held in 1961. There, the Packers demolished the New York Giants, 37-0.
18. Speaking of the Giants, their 1961-63 teams would join the Cleveland Browns as the only teams to date to lose three consecutive championship games. Their marks would ultimately be trumped by the 1990-93 Buffalo Bills, who would lose four straight.
19. The Dallas Texans and Houston Oilers meeting for the 1962 AFL championship would be the longest game in professional football history to date, going into double overtime before Tommy Brooker kicked a 25 yard field goal to give the Texans the title after 77 minutes, 54 seconds of football.
20. The Chargers appeared in five of the first six AFL championship games. They then had a drought which went on until their appearance in Super Bowl XXIX.
21. The Green Bay Packers meanwhile appeared in six NFL championship games during the 1960's, winning five, including three straight from 1965-67.
22. A ticket to the 1964 NFL championship matchup between the Baltimore Colts and Cleveland Browns could be bought for $ 10.00.
23. The first Super Bowl was organized rather hastily, with the Los Angeles Coliseum announced as the game's site just six weeks in advance. CBS (which held TV rights to NFL games) and NBC (which held AFL rights) simulcast the game, the first time a sporting event aired simultaneously on multiple networks. The simulcast used the same video feed, with each network providing its own announcing team. The second half kickoff had to be replayed (much to Vince Lombardi's upset) because CBS had missed it due to a commercial break. During a walk through of the stadium on the morning of the game, an arm of the coliseum's main clock dislodged and fell to the ground, missing several NFL staffers by a matter of feet.
24. Members of the Green Bay Packers team which won the 1967 AFL-NFL World Championship Game were paid $15,000. Today, if you know someone connected well enough, you can buy ten tickets to Super Bowl XLIX for that much. $42,000 could buy you :30 of ad time on either CBS or NBC during the game. Today, that would buy you 3/4ths of one second.
25. During the first four years of the Super Bowl's existence, in odd-numbered years the NFL's Referee, Linesman and Field Judge were joined by the AFL's Umpire, Line Judge and Back Judge in working the game; in even-numbered years, it was alternated.
26. Miami's Orange Bowl is the only site to have hosted consecutive championship games, hosting Super Bowls II and III. Tampa Stadium meanwhile holds the distinction of being the only site to host two different league's championship games in the same year (hosting Super Bowl XVIII in January 1984, then the 1984 USFL Championship Game that summer).
27. Miami's Orange Bowl was selected as the site for Super Bowls II and III without other sites being considered. Jacksonville's Gator Bowl would similarly be chosen without opposition as the site for the 1986 USFL Championship Game, but the league folded before the game was staged.
28. For the first four Super Bowls, each of the competing teams used its own football while on offense: the AFL using the Spalding JV-5, the NFL using "The Duke" from Wilson. They were replaced by a new ball style for 1970, but you can still buy either style of the "old" ball today.
29. Prior to the New York Jets victory over the Baltimore Colts in the 1969 AFL-NFL World Championship Game (Super Bowl III), Pete Rozelle and others within the NFL were considering an almost purely geographic post-merger realignment, more resembling the NFL's then-current Eastern/Western Conference structure than the AFC/NFC alignment we know today. The Jets victory to some extent scuttled those ideas. Barring a change to its playoff format or further realignment however, a rematch of Super Bowl III can't occur, as today the Colts (now of Indianapolis) and Jets are both aligned in the American Football Conference.
30. Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle, commissioner of the NFL from 1960-1989 and seen by many as the father of the Super Bowl, hated the "Super Bowl" name, much preferring the moniker "World Championship Game." He ultimately accepted it however, and would order adding roman numerals to its name to distinguish the game from its corresponding football season.
31. As late as 10 days before the date the AFL-NFL merger was to become official (January 1, 1970), the owners of the merging leagues hadn't finalized either their divisional alignments or a playoff format. They contemplated an array of possibilities, some of which could have left the playoffs and Super Bowl a much different event today: aligning into three conferences, a playoff system without "wild card" qualifiers, even abandoning the single-game Super Bowl in favor of a multi-game series. None of these came to pass however, and the final step of the divisional alignment puzzle was taken when Rozelle's secretary, Thelma, picked what would become the original alignment of the NFC out of a hat.
32. The Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers agreed to move into the newly minted "American Football Conference" for 1970 thanks to financial incentives totalling $3 million each. Baltimore and Pittsburgh would ultimately be rewarded with further incentives in the form of Super Bowl appearances representing the AFC.
33. Appearing in a pro football championship game usually results in a good season at home the following year. But on SIX occasions, teams that have appeared in a championship game have proceeded to pack their bags and relocate. The first was after the NFL's first championship game, when the 1932 Portsmouth Spartans would relocate, becoming the 1933 Detroit Lions. George Preston Marshall would move his franchise from Boston to Washington a few years later, following an appearance in the 1936 championship. After the 1945 season the NFL champion Cleveland Rams would try to defend their title from Los Angeles, meanwhile after the 1960 AFL season, the Los Angeles Chargers would take another crack at the title in 1961 from San Diego. The 1962 AFL champion Dallas Texans would celebrate their championship by becoming the 1963 Kansas City Chiefs, and the 1984 Philadelphia Stars of the USFL would move south to Baltimore for their 1985 season.
34. On two occasions during the Super Bowl era, one of the participating teams has enjoyed a virtual, if not de facto, home field advantage: the Los Angeles Rams of 1979, who called the Los Angeles Coliseum home, appeared in Super Bowl XIV at the nearby Rose Bowl in Pasadena (they lost), while the San Francisco 49'ers of 1985, which called Candlestick Park in San Francisco home, would appear in Super Bowl XIX at Stanford Stadium in nearby Palo Alto (they won).
35. The Vince Lombardi Trophy, emblematic of victory in each championship during the Super Bowl era, was designed on a cocktail napkin by Oscar Riedner of Tiffany and Co. The trophy, which stands 22" tall and weighs roughly 7 pounds. Tiffany has made each of the trophies awarded to date.
36. Prior to the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, the champions of the NFL were awarded custody of the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy. Like the CFL's Grey Cup and professional hockey's Stanley Cup, the Thorp Trophy was a traveling championship symbol, held temporarily by the winning team until the next champion was crowned; winning teams could however commission a replica if desired. The Thorp Trophy, last presented to the Minnesota Vikings following their 1969 NFL championship win over the Cleveland Browns, hasn't been seen since. Ironically, the Thorp Trophy had a predecessor as well, the "Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup," donated by a company that manufactured tires back when the NFL was first formed. Also awarded as a traveling trophy, it too disappeared.
37. In 1984 the hierarchy of the NFL decided that win or lose, Super Bowl participants deserved some hardware, commissioning the first conference championship trophies and naming them for Lamar Hunt (AFC) and George Halas (NFC) respectively. Originally a rather large award with a wooden base and featuring depictions of football from the line of scrimmage, the trophies would be extensively redesigned, made significantly smaller and (allegedly) somewhat resembling the Lombardi Trophy.
38. The Most Valuable Player of each Super Bowl receives the Pete Rozelle Award, named after the NFL's long-time commissioner. The first recipient of the trophy, which like the Lombardi Trophy is made annually by Tiffany & Co., was Super Bowl XXV Most Valuable Player Ottis Anderson.
39. The largest margin of victory in the Super Bowl era is that of the San Francisco 49'ers over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV (45 points). The smallest occurred the following year as the New York Giants defeated the Buffalo Bills by a single point, 20-19.
40. There have been nine safeties in championship games during the Super Bowl era. Three of them have occurred in the last three games; four in the last seven. Also, on three of the nine occasions, the safety has represented the game's first score (2-0).
41. Jacksonville's Gator Bowl has the distinction of being chosen as the site of two professional football championship games which weren't played there. In 1974, owners of the World Football League chose the site for its inaugural championship, awarding the game's hosting duties to the Jacksonville Sharks. The Sharks would proceed to fold, resulting in a scramble that ultimately resulted in the game becoming a home game for the top-seeded Birmingham Americans, who would win the inaugural (and only) "World Bowl" title. Twelve years later, the USFL awarded its Jacksonville Bulls franchise its 1986 championship game, to be played after the league's first fall season (following three years of spring football). The league would die during the long gap between the Spring 1985 and Fall 1986 seasons, however.
42. Following their move to Foxborough, Massachusetts, the Boston Patriots were briefly renamed the "Bay State Patriots." The team would rechristen itself the New England Patriots after TV commentators and others began jokingly referring to the team as the "B.S. Patriots."
43. The Seattle Seahawks are, to date, the only NFL team to have appeared in both an AFC and NFC championship game. The 'Hawks lost to the Los Angeles Raiders in the 1984 AFC championship, prior to the latter's appearance in Super Bowl XVIII.
44. On five occasions, the site intended to host a Super Bowl game would be changed. Super Bowl XXVII (1993) was originally awarded to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, but the NFL withdrew the award in the wake of a voter referendum in which the state's voters rejected adoption of a Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. The 1993 game would be held at Pasadena's Rose Bowl (it's not been held there since), Arizona voters would approve an MLK Day, and the NFL would subsequently award it Super Bowl XXX (1996). While San Francisco will host the 50th anniversary edition of the Super Bowl in 2016, on two prior occasions (XXXIII in 1999, and XXXVII in 2003) the 49'ers were awarded Super Bowl hosting privileges only to have them withdrawn. Candlestick Park was to host Super Bowl XXXIII, but the award was conditional on certain renovations being done in time for the game; the schedule became backlogged, and the NFL moved the game to Miami. The 49ers were given a second chance four years later, but that effort was conditional on building a new stadium; when that effort failed, the game was moved downstate to San Diego. New York City meanwhile was tentatively awarded Super Bowl XLIV, also conditional on the construction of a new stadium which failed to materialize; in this case, New Orleans would fill in for New York, but the Big Apple would host the Big Game four years later.
45. Similarly, Kansas City was initially awarded Super Bowl XLIX, but as with San Francisco's Candlestick bid the award was contingent on stadium renovations which failed to materialize. As a result, the game was moved to the Cardinals' stadium in Arizona.
46. Having not learned its lesson from the previous instances, the NFL has awarded the 2018 game (Super Bowl LII) to Minneapolis, which hopefully will have its new stadium completed in time for the game.
47. In the Super Bowl era, five men have worked the game as an on-field official: Tom Kelleher (IV, VII, XI, XV, XIX), Jack Fette (V, VIII, X, XIII and XXII), Bob Beeks (XIV, XVI, XVIII, XXI, XXIII), Al Jury (XX, XXII, XXIV, XXVIII, XXXIV) and Ron Botchan (XX, XXVII, XXIX, XXXI, XXXIV). Jerry Markbreit is the only man to work four Super Bowl games as its referee. Ed Hochuli? He's only worked two (XXXII and XXXVIII).
48. Rotated between network television broadcast partners on an annual basis since its inception, the Super Bowl game initially excluded ABC from that rotation, alternating games between CBS and NBC. It wouldn't be until Super Bowl XIX that ABC would be given telecasting rights, and the Fox network's first telecast would be Super Bowl XXXI.
49. As the events surrounding its championship game become more and more complex, the number of cities which formally bid on each Super Bowl game has dwindled considerably over the years. While it was commonplace for a half dozen or more cities to vie for a chance to host the NFL's championship contest and in a few years as many as 14 cities involved themselves in the bidding process, aside from next year's game (on which six cities bid) in recent years the league has had four or fewer candidates to choose from.

Enjoy the game!

Working on the forgotten NFL has helped give me great insight into this

I dont understand why Ralph Hay is not in the Hall of Fame.

The Portsmouth Spartans stayed for one more year and moved to Detroit in 1934.

Super Bowl XLIV was in Miami with the Saints winning it.

[infrared41]

1. The Thorp Trophy, last presented to the Minnesota Vikings following their 1969 NFL championship win over the Cleveland Browns, hasn't been seen since.

Ah yes, the "forgotten" Super Bowl near miss in the tortured history of the Browns. Not that anyone cares, but that game was the first time the Browns crushed me as a fan. It would not be the last.

1. Let's start with the fact that pro football's existence didn't begin with the Super Bowl. Today's Super Bowl XLIX is, in fact, the 84th championship game in the history of the National Football League.

Blasphemy!

[Mac the Knife]

I dont understand why Ralph Hay is not in the Hall of Fame.

The Portsmouth Spartans stayed for one more year and moved to Detroit in 1934.

Super Bowl XLIV was in Miami with the Saints winning it.

Working on the forgotten NFL has helped give me great insight into this

Hay isn't in the hall because compared to others, he wasn't a really long-term player. He got things going, identified people who he thought would be able to keep them going, then gradually stepped away from developing the league as a project. He also spotted Joe Carr fairly early on, and probably ascertained that Carr would be a good fit to lead the league. I'm surprised the HOF hasn't done something though, like recreate his Hupmobile dealership showroom, complete with vintage cars and so forth. That'd be a fun exhibit.

It's not likely to happen because they're so ingrained, but I think the next logical step in the evolution of the NFL's playoffs and championship structure would be to eliminate distinctions between AFC and NFC, realigning on their old East/West basis into 8 divisions, then expanding the playoffs to 16 teams: the 8 division winners, plus 8 wild cards that could qualify from any division in the league. For example for the 2014 season you'd have something like this...

ATLANTIC DIV......EASTERN DIV.......CENTRAL DIV.......SOUTHERN DIV......SOUTHWEST DIV.....MIDWEST DIV.......WESTERN DIV.......PACIFIC DIV*New England......*Pittsburgh.......*Indianapolis.....*Miami............*Dallas...........*Green Bay........*Denver...........*Seattle*Philadelphia.....*Baltimore........*Cincinnati.......Atlanta...........*Houston..........*Detroit..........*Arizona..........San Francisco*Buffalo..........NY Giants.........Carolina..........Jacksonville......New Orleans.......Minnesota.........*Kansas City......Los AngelesNY Jets...........Washington........Cleveland.........Tampa.............Tennessee.........Chicago...........San Diego.........OaklandWild Card Round:(1) New England (12-4-0) hosting (16) San Diego (9-7-0)(2) Seattle (12-4-0) hosting (15) Buffalo (9-7-0)(3) Green Bay (12-4-0) hosting (14) Houston (9-7-0)(4) Dallas (12-4-0) hosting (13) Philadelphia (10-6-0)(5) Denver (12-4-0) hosting (12) Baltimore (10-6-0)(6) Pittsburgh (11-5-0) hosting (11) Cincinnati (10-5-1)(7) Indianapolis (11-5-0) hosting (10) Detroit (11-5-0)(8) Miami (8-8-0) hosting (9) Arizona (11-5-0)Divisional Round:   re-seed surviving clubs #1 through #8 inclusive.Championship Round: re-seed surviving clubs #1 through #4 inclusive.Super Bowl:  Top two teams enter, one leaves with the Lombardi.The only caveat with something like above would be that you'd need to revive the opposite of a rule the NFL had back in the 70's which preventedteams from the same division from meeting in the playoffs until the last possible round.  With this format, you'd want to promote that in the earlyrounds so as to ensure you didn't wind up with a New England/Buffalo, Dallas/Houston, or other less than ideal geographical matchup in the Super Bowl.

[BBTV]

How do you split up the TV packages though? Or do you make up a whole new model?

[NJTank]

Actually Mac they do have a hupmobile in the hall its on my canton bulldogs picture page.

[2001mark]

1. The Thorp Trophy, last presented to the Minnesota Vikings following their 1969 NFL championship win over the Cleveland Browns, hasn't been seen since.

Ah yes, the "forgotten" Super Bowl near miss in the tortured history of the Browns. Not that anyone cares, but that game was the first time the Browns crushed me as a fan. It would not be the last.

It is silly, & a shame, that the Browns' NFL titles are treated like ancient Roman Empire era achievements. Hell, I barely hear Jim Brown's name pop up enough with the RB debates... when in fact one could arguably have Jim Brown as the #1 all time football player ever.

That's how these things seem to go... like how the world itself began in 1945, it's ridiculous.

[Mac the Knife]

How do you split up the TV packages though? Or do you make up a whole new model?

Whole new model. You essentially have five packages: two Sunday slots with alternating 1pm and 1/4pm weeks, a Sunday night slot, a Monday night slot, and a Thursday night slot, in order of perceived value and revenue. So you bid each out, telling your broadcast partners that each week during the season, the network that bids highest for one of the two Sunday slots gets first choice among all games each week, the network that gets the other Sunday slot selects second, the Sunday night game picks third, and so forth. Initial choices are made just prior to the schedule's release.

One caveat with this though - you'd have to give at least the Sunday TV partners an ability to change out games, in case their pre-season choice of a Seattle-Green Bay matchup works out to be a meeting between 4-9 teams going into Week 14. The Sunday night game would get first priority with this I suspect, with the daytime games getting second and third opportunity to make a change.

[Gothamite]

• The Thorp Trophy, last presented to the Minnesota Vikings following their 1969 NFL championship win over the Cleveland Browns, hasn't been seen since.

Ah yes, the "forgotten" Super Bowl near miss in the tortured history of the Browns. Not that anyone cares, but that game was the first time the Browns crushed me as a fan. It would not be the last.

It is silly, & a shame, that the Browns' NFL titles are treated like ancient Roman Empire era achievements. Hell, I barely hear Jim Brown's name pop up enough with the RB debates... when in fact one could arguably have Jim Brown as the #1 all time football player ever.

That's how these things seem to go... like how the world itself began in 1945, it's ridiculous.

1967, actually. Nothing existed before the first Super Bowl.

Jim Brown has a claim on greatest player ever, although I'd counter with Don Hutson, who practically invented the modern passing game. There were seasons he scored more touchdowns than entire teams. That's a Babe Ruth-level of dominance, but most football fans don't know who he was.

[NJTank]

Jim Brown was dominant and retired young. He was the best running back ever and is likely a top player all time.

[infrared41]

Jim Brown was dominant and retired young. He was the best running back ever and is likely a top player all time.

He is in my book. And I never saw him play. Then again, I like to read about things I wasn't around for. Maybe if the NFL a.) claimed it's pre-Super Bowl history b.) put out an historical app, the young folks could learn these things.

[illwauk]

In the "Greatest Game Ever Played," (a/k/a the 1958 NFL Championship), Baltimore Colts WR Raymond Berry caught 12 passes, a record which would stand for all pro football championship contests until Demarius Thomas caught 13 in Super Bowl XLVIII. As time wound down in the game, NBC television announcers Chris Schenkel and Chuck Thompson were unaware of league overtime rules. Nor for that matter were many on the field playing the game, among them Baltimore QB John Unitas.

Prior to the New York Jets victory over the Baltimore Colts in the 1969 AFL-NFL World Championship Game (Super Bowl III), Pete Rozelle and others within the NFL were considering an almost purely geographic post-merger realignment, more resembling the NFL's then-current Eastern/Western Conference structure than the AFC/NFC alignment we know today. The Jets victory to some extent scuttled those ideas. Barring a change to its playoff format or further realignment however, a rematch of Super Bowl III can't occur, as today the Colts (now of Indianapolis) and Jets are both aligned in the American Football Conference.

An addendum for this... there have been three different combinations of a team from New York and a team from Baltimore competing for a "World" Championship. The Giants and Colts in the 1958 and 1959 NFL Championship Games, the Jets and Colts in Super Bowl III, and the Giants and Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV.

[leopard88]

Jim Brown was dominant and retired young. He was the best running back ever and is likely a top player all time.

He is in my book. And I never saw him play. Then again, I like to read about things I wasn't around for. Maybe if the NFL a.) claimed it's pre-Super Bowl history b.) put out an historical app, the young folks could learn these things.

That's just crazy talk. Since I, like the Super Bowl, was born in 1967, I see no reason to acknowledge anything that occurred before that year . . . excluding any championships won by the Colts and Orioles.

[NJTank]

I am doing a project for my site on the forgotten NFL teams that came and went in the early years and I must say the NFL in the 1920s was a joke. That move Leatherheads was not far off it was chaos.

[Mac the Knife]

I am doing a project for my site on the forgotten NFL teams that came and went in the early years and I must say the NFL in the 1920s was a joke. That move Leatherheads was not far off it was chaos.

And yet today, when any other league undergoes anything resembling similar turmoil, they're immediately dismissed as being unworthy of attention and incapable of developing into a full-fledged professional sports product.