Years later, the memories were still vivid to Lamar Hunt. It had been 20 years, and he was helping Jim Perry, who was assigned to write an article for the Super Bowl XXV game program on negotiations that led to the merger of the AFL and NFL.
"I still think of it as the AFL and the NFL," Hunt said at the time in a five-page document that he sent to Perry. "So many memories are still vivid in my mind." Following the merger, the AFL would carry the name "American Football Conference" (AFC).
By 1966, it was clear that the war between the two leagues had done damage to both, driving up the cost for players coming out of college and wanting to be professionals. There were 107 common draft choices taken by the two. The NFL had signed 79, and the AFL 28, which gave the younger league close parity given the 15-9 team ratio between the two, and the AFL had more than held its own in the quality of those players.
The success in signing major college talent, the development of new AFL stadiums, a solid ownership group, growing crowds – especially in New York City – and the AFL's new contract with NBC-TV – a five-year agreement in 1965 – were, to Hunt, the major factors in convincing the NFL that formal talks between the sides might lead to an agreement.
One of the major points of contention in the merger talks has been given short shrift down through the years: what to do about the competing franchises in the New York and San Francisco metro areas?
What to do about the New York Jets and the New York Giants? What to do about the Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers? It was sure to be a major sticking point.
Hunt was adamant that any talks must proceed with the understanding that all his AFL teams would come in or a merger was off. The first note Hunt compiled as he sat down with the NFL's Tex Schramm, who had originally approached the AFL founder to talk about a possible merger, was headlined, "NY and Oakland stay."
The NFL was no less hard line on its position, especially the Giants' Wellington Mara and Lou Spaidia, the 49ers' owner. They had to be satisfied or there would be no merger. Each held veto power over any merger that would bring another team into its metropolitan area.
The Jets were suddenly New York's darlings with Joe Namath playing in brand new Shea Stadium while the Giants, playing in an aging Yankee Stadium, were struggling. Meanwhile, in the Bay area, the Raiders had an exciting team, also playing in a new stadium, while the 49ers were among the NFL's downtrodden.
Next time: How the NY and San Francisco franchises would co-exist.
SOURCES: "AFL-NFL Merger Negotiations, Cabinet 16, Drawer D. "AFL-NFL Merger, 1966," Cabinet 16, Drawer E. "Joint Statement, National and American Football League, June 8, 1966. Lamar Hunt to Hamilton Carothers, June 14, 1966. Lamar Hunt to Clark Breeding, August 9, 1966. "The Men Behind the Merger," Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas Morning News, June 11, 1986. Lamar Hunt to Jim Perry, November 15, 1990. "Peacemakers," Jim Perry, Super Bowl XXV Program, January 1991.
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