Birth of the New NFL: How the 1966 Nfl/Afl Merger Transformed Pro Football

By Larry Felser

Book Overview

The year 1966 marked the birth of the National Football League as we know it, when owners in the NFL and the upstart American Football League agreed to an unprecedented merger, to take place at the start of the 1970 season. They also agreed to play, beginning at the end of the '66 season, a game between each league's champion--a game that came to be called The Super Bowl.

The Birth of the New NFLtells the story of that historic season, leading to the game between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. It also tells the off-the-field story, the one between warring owners and cities--a story often more brutal than the one on the field. Larry Felser has interviewed the leading men of the day, from Al Davis and Jack Kemp, to Wellington Mara, Art Modell, Lamar Hunt, Gene Upshaw, Dan Rooney, and many others. He presents the struggles of top teams for the chance to represent their respective leagues in the biggest game ever, while also offering a behind-closed-doors view of the wheeling and dealing it took to reach the agreement.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1599211513
• ISBN13: 9781599211510
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Lyons Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

The Birth of the New NFL

This book was both very informative and very entertaing concerning the merger of the AFL and NFL. It gave a history of both leagues and centered in on there differences and how they were cleared up. The book also discussed the owners of the AFL and the major NFL owners who called the shots. If you are interested in the history of the AFL and what it brought to the table in the merger, then this book is worth purchasing.

On the Mark

This was purchased as a gift -- and it was a huge hit with the recipient. Lots of good football history, for the true fan!

great for football fans and football history buffs

I was reading Felser in The Sporting News in the 1970's....very good history of the AFL. He was there, from start to finish.

Inside stuff

"The Birth of the New NFL" by Larry Felser displays the power of access. When the American Football League started up in 1960, everyone was essentially in it together -- owners, administrators, players and media. There were no foundational barriers in place. That meant that everyone was much closer personally, enabling reporters to know what was really going on. Every AFL city had one or two football reporters who fit that description. Larry Felser was Buffalo's top reporter, and he goes through the history of the AFL -- concentrating on the merger activity -- in this book. It's short, to the point, and chatty. There are many good stories to go with some information I've never seen before and the perspective that time allows. About the only drawback are a few mistakes that pop up in the text -- I'd bet Larry would like to have back the lines about watching football for 50 decades, and about Arthur Miller (and not Marvin) being the head of the baseball players association. It doesn't spoil the book though. Longtime football fans will race through this.