In 1966 , two football leagues were vying for gridiron dominance : the venerableNFLand the variation ’s entrant , the AFL . OnJune 8 , 1966 , the two leagues harbinger their plans to coalesce , rather than contend over players and a disunited fan base . This meant a new title game had to be conceived that would influence which was the rife league every twelvemonth . Today we know it as theSuper Bowl — one of the most dressed , overweening events of the full class . But on January 15 , 1967 , when the first AFL - NFL World Championship Game took place , it was something bordering on a disaster , with television mishaps , a difference of opinion over the name , and one thousand of empty rear end marring the very first Super Bowl Sunday . To see how the big game nearly descend asunder , here are eight fact about the firstSuper Bowl .
1. At first, the game was only casually known as the Super Bowl.
In 1966 , coming together were going on about the first - ever championship secret plan between the NFL and the upstart American Federation of Labor mark to be played in January of that next year . In addition to speak about locating and logistics , the big query on everyone ’s mind was what to call it . Though Pete Rozelle , the NFL ’s commissioner at the time , propose name like The Big One and The Pro Bowl ( which was the same name as the NFL ’s own all - star plot ) , it was eventually adjudicate that the secret plan would becalled … the AFL - NFL World Championship Game .
A name like that just does n’t createmuch buzz , though , and the newly merged league needed something punchier . Then , according to History , Lamar Hunt , owner of the Kansas City Chiefs , recalled a toy dog his children play with , aSuper Ball , which led to his musical theme : the Super Bowl .
The name picked up support from fans and the media , but Rozelle hate it , see the parole “ Super ” as too informal . By the time the game begin , the tickets interpret “ AFL - NFL World Championship Game , ” but people were stilloffhandedly referring to itas the Super Bowl . By the fourth year , the conference undermine and finally printed Super Bowl on the plot ’s ticket . For Super Bowl V , the Roman numerals made their debut and persist there every twelvemonth exceptSuper Bowl 50 in 2016 . ( The first three title game have also been officially renamed Super Bowls retroactively . )
2. The first Super Bowl aired on two networks.
Since the first Super Bowl involved two whole unlike organisation , there was a bit ofan issuetelevising the game . NBC had the rights to breeze AFL games , while CBS was the longtime rights holder for the NFL ware . Neither place was going to leave out out on its several league ’s backing biz , so the first Super Bowl was the only one to be simulcast on two different electronic internet . Rival networks also mean rival announcing team : CBS used their familiar roster of play - by - play world Ray Scott in the first half , Jack Whitaker in the second half , and Frank Gifford doing colour commentary for the entire game . Curt Gowdy and Paul Christman direct the voices for NBC .
It sour out the competition between the two networks for ratings superiority was just as intense as the helmet - rattling secret plan playact on the theatre of operations . Tensions were so gamey pass up to gameday that a fence had to be built in between the CBS and NBC production trucks to keep everyone separate . The more familiar NFL program team over on CBS gain ground the valuation state of war that day , beatingNBC ’s feed by just a bit over 2 million viewers .
3. Super Bowl I didn’t even come close to selling out.
The cheapest toll for aSuper Bowl LVIticket — which will take property on February 13 , 2022 — is currentlyhoveringaround $ 6400 after fees , but honestly , you could probably charge multitude double up that and the secret plan would still be a guaranteed sellout . The first Super Bowl , however , did n’t quite have that same lettre de cachet behind it . With tickets averaging around $ 12 , the AFL - NFL World Championship Game could n’t manage tosell outthe Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1967 . It ’s still the only Super Bowl not to fill up its venue .
Despite blacking the biz out on TV station within 75 knot of the amphitheatre to get fans to the sports stadium rather than watching at home , about a third of the stadium ’s seating room were empty . Some fans balked at the exorbitant $ 12ticket prices , while others were so indignant at the memory loss that they detain aside out of protest . Whatever the reason , the pile of tens of grand of empty place for what was supposed to be the most important game in both leagues ’ chronicle was not what Rozelle had in brain when the Super Bowl was conceived .
4. Different balls and different rules were used.
The overall product between the AFL and NFL was n’t that different , but there were a few hiccup when make the rules fair for both team . The AFL ’s two - full point spiritual rebirth rule , which it used for the totality of its existence , was block off from the game , allowing only the traditional peak - after field goal alternatively . When the AFL and NFL by and by mix , the two - point conversion was ban altogetheruntil 1994 , when it was reinstated league - wide .
The other big variety for the game wasthe ballitself . The AFL used a egg made by Spalding , which was slenderly long , narrow , and had a tawdry surface than the NFL ’s ballock , which was produce by Wilson . To make each squad find at home , their own conference ’s globe would be used whenever they were on offense .
5. Super Bowl I’s second-half kickoff had to be redone because the camera missed it.
When the 2nd half of Super Bowl I began , everyone was quick for the kickoff : players , refs , and the yield crew . Well , oneproduction crew was quick , anyway . It reverse out NBC lose the opening kickoff of the 2d half because the meshwork was too busyairingan audience with Bob Hope . The outset had to be redo for the interest of virtually half the TV interview ; even bad , some poor soulfulness believably had to break the news to Packers coach Vince Lombardi .
6. The First-ever halftime show featured two dudes in jetpacks.
block your Maroon 5 , Travis Scott , and Big Boi execution ; Super Bowl I ’s halftime show was an affront to gravity itself as two gentleman’s gentleman in what can only be draw asjetpacks(though technically they were called “ rocket belts ” ) flew around the field to give people a glimpse at what the futurity of slightly above - ground travel would look like . Very little video exists of the spectacle today , but this carrying into action was later revisit at thehalftime showfor Super Bowl XIX , when jetpacks made their long - wait homecoming to gridiron absurdity .
In accession to its airbornetheatrics , the maiden show also included some marching band and the release of C of pigeons into the air — one of whichdroppeda present right on the typewriter of a young Brent Musburger .
7. The original Super Bowl I broadcast footage was lost for decades.
Unlike today , where game are DVR’ed , saved , edited into YouTube clips , and preserved for all eternity , there is no complete copy of the broadcast variant of Super Bowl I. Both CBS and NBCerased the footagedecades ago , likely as a cost - saving amount . Then , in 2005 , a man diagnose Troy Haupt come up a written matter of the CBS broadcast in his dome , which had been recorded by his father on two - inch quadruplex magnetic tape . ( However , the halftime show and part of the third quarter are missing . ) The footage has been digitally touch on and is presently in a burial vault at The Paley Center for Media in Manhattan . The tapes had been inlegal limbofor age , as Haupt and the NFL could n’t come in to an agreement on ownership and payments for the footage . Butin 2019 , the NFL and the Paley Centerscreened the footageto mark the centesimal time of year of the league , with the centre noting that Haupt had donated the mag tape to them .
8. The NFL tried—and failed—to show the game in some form in 2016.
Perhaps as a way to show Haupt that they did n’t involve his tapes , the NFL web released a version of the game cobblestone together not from CBS or NBC footage , but from video edited together from its then - nascent NFL Films class . With the game ’s radiocommunication call played over it , every play from the game was aired in 2016 , albeit not how it was originally get wind in 1967 . Unfortunately , the game also featured some questionablerunning commentaryfrom the NFL connection ’s current analyst during the entire program . The re - broadcast was such a disaster that the NFL web had tore - re - broadcastit without the intrusive commentary from its own analyst .
A version of this article was originally published in 2017 ; it has been update for 2022 .
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