O.K. Who's #1?

[b bulldog]

Pete Rozelle

[HarveyWallbangers]

Football really started to become popular in the 50s, and he led the team that won like 5 titles in that decade.

[Tarlam!]

Pete Rozelle

Thanks, but what did P.R. do to make him MVP Ever?

[Harlan Huckleby]

I'd take Otto Graham over Unitas for impact on the league.

Did I tell you about the time Otto GRaham recruited me to play football?

Guess I'll save that story for a time when I really need it.

[b bulldog]

He made it the great game it is today.

[Tarlam!]

He made it the great game it is today.

How?

[HarveyWallbangers]

Pete Rozelle
He hooked us on football as show biz and gave Sunday (and Monday) a new kind of religious significance
By MICHAEL LEWIS

When most people think of Pete Rozelle, if they think at all of Pete Rozelle, they probably recall a genial fellow with a balding pate and the ready smile of a car salesman who popped up at the end of the Super Bowl. Rozelle was the commissioner of the National Football League, of course, but what did that really mean? The players played, the coaches coached, the owners owned, the fans stomped and hollered, but what the hell does a commissioner do? Commission? Until his death in 1996, Rozelle was dwarfed in every way by owners, coaches and players, and it was impossible for the viewer innocent of the inner workings of pro sports to view him as much more than a functionary. The hired help. The guy whose job it was to order the stuffed mushrooms for the party after the game.

Those a bit closer to the game had another opinion of Rozelle: as a shrewd promoter of his sport. He invented the Super Bowl, for example, and sold the rights to the first game to two networks (NBC and CBS), which forced them to compete for viewers. He invented (with ABC Sports chief Roone Arledge) Monday Night Football, which is the second longest running prime-time show on American television, after 60 Minutes. He exhibited a taste for kitsch and spectacle unrivaled in professional sports. He loved floats and glitter and marching bands. His idea of beauty was a balloon drop. (He did not, however, like the name Super Bowl. It was coined by the son of Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, whose imagination had been captured by the newly invented Super Ball.) It is now commonplace for a regular-season football game to attract ratings that surpass the playoff games in other sports. And the reason for that is Pete Rozelle.

But there is a third view of Rozelle espoused by those who watched him work: he was an iron-willed tycoon who created the business model for all of professional sports. In addition, he figured out a way to make the NFL far more valuable than other sports, including the national pastime, baseball. Rozelle recognized that a sporting event was more than a game — it was a valuable piece of programming. Such media moguls as Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch have used that strategy to build entire networks. Rozelle, however, did them one better. In the long-winded discussions about the money sloshing around professional sports, the structure of the businesses receives little attention. But the structure, as designed by Rozelle, has been largely responsible for the money. That structure, in a word, was a cartel.

[HarveyWallbangers]

From his Pro Football Hall Of Fame bio:

During his 30 years as commissioner of the National Football League, Pete Rozelle was recognized as the premier commissioner of all professional sports. A charismatic leader, he guided the league through a period of unprecedented growth. Rozelle was the 33-year-old general manager of the Los Angeles Rams when he left for the annual NFL meetings in January, 1960.

The principal business was to name a new commissioner to replace the popular Bert Bell, who had died three months earlier. After 23 ballots had failed to produce a new leader, two owners asked Rozelle to leave the meeting room while they and the other owners had a discussion. After a couple of hours, Pete was invited back to the meeting to hear the news that he was the NFL’s new leader.

Rozelle's accomplishments are legendary, and the NFL’s many challenges during his tenure are well documented. Such things as blockbuster television contracts, the war with the competing American Football League and the resulting merger, the development of the Super Bowl into America’s premier sporting event, difficult player issues including strikes and threatened strikes, plus numerous court and legislative battles, all dominated headlines during his stewardship.

Throughout it all, Rozelle remained a dominating factor. His leadership created the profound image of stability and integrity still associated with the NFL. He continually encouraged the club owners to work together despite numerous challenges, while always demonstrating a calm, reassuring, strong management style. It was Rozelle who convinced NFL owners to share equally their television revenues.

[Tarlam!]

Thanks Harv. So, is he the NFL MVP EVER?

[HarveyWallbangers]

Could be, but I'm a little biased, so I'd vote for Lombardi. He was very instrumental back in the 1960's--when the league really took off. Plus, he was very influential outside of the NFL world. The business world, to this day, uses his management style and philosophy (and idioms) immensely.