This Week in Chiefs History

Mar 21, 2008, 5:59:31 AM by Brad Kuhbander

MARCH 15 – 21

The upstart American Football League and the established National Football League faced a tenuous time in the mid-’60s. As the two leagues faced a decision that could strengthen both leagues or spell the end to professional football, they ultimately decided to work together. Chiefs Founder Lamar Hunt and Dallas Cowboys General Manager Tex Schramm were instrumental in holding secret meetings that eventually led to the merger of the leagues. Even though NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle announced the merger in June of 1966, the two leagues were not full integrated until March 19, 1970.

Hunt and Schramm held a clandestine meeting at the Texas Ranger Statue in the parking lot of Love Field in Dallas on April 6, 1966 to begin discussions on a possible merger. The two hammered out the final details of the agreement on May 31st of that same year, less than two months later. When Rozelle announced the merger he stated the two leagues would not be fully integrated until after the ‘69 season due to existing contracts, but would begin operating as one league immediately.

The AFL and the NFL would hold their first-ever common draft in ‘67 and play an AFL-NFL World Championship game following ‘67 season. The Chiefs would face the Green Bay Packers in the initial World Championship Game, later called Super Bowl I when Hunt coined the term Super Bowl. While the two leagues would play separate regular season schedules, they could start to meet on the gridiron in the preseason.

At the time the United States had strict antitrust laws and Rozelle had to convince Congress to exempt the league. He argued that the franchises agreed to not move and that two teams would be added in time for the next season. The commissioner also laid out the league’s business plan and the merger agreement. Congress passed legislation to exempt the league from antitrust laws.

The two leagues played under their existing TV contracts until March 19, 1970. After the two leagues joined they would equally share all television revenue. At that point the AFL and the NFL were fully integrated under the NFL umbrella. Two conferences, the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference were created for division play. The old AFL teams along with Baltimore and Cleveland formed the AFC, while the NFL teams would comprise the NFC.

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

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A eight-year veteran of the Chiefs, Kuhbander is Kansas City's Manager of Football Information. As the club's in-house "stats guru," he coordinates statistical research for the club's coaching staff and executives, in addition to performing a variety of other functions for the Public Relations Department. Every week he contributes a "Stat of the Week" and a "This Week in Chiefs History" segment for kcchiefs.com.