With Number 50 – almost upon us, it seems like looking back on the mythic, epic, historic first one is in order. My latest labor of love When It Was Just a Game has been getting lots of exposure. Here for your reading enjoyment is just a piece of the action:
One of Commissioner Pete Rozelle’s suggestions for the name of the new game was “The Big One.” That name never caught on. “Pro Bowl” was another Rozelle idea. Had the name been adopted there would have been confusion, for that was the name used for the NFL’s All-Star Game. Another name floated was “World Series of Football,” which died quickly after being deemed too imitative of baseball’s Fall Classic.
There was no Super Bowl Committee, which some said was part of the problem. There was also a game that had no location and no name. That, too, was part of the problem.
It was Rozelle’s idea to call the contest the AFL–NFL World Championship Game. While the name was made official, it never took off . It was too cumbersome, a mouthful, no good for newspaper headlines.
BOYD DOWLER: We thought it was kind of funny they called it the Super Bowl; that was a feature of the media more than anybody else. But the AFL–NFL Championship Bowl Game, yeah, that’s a lot more words than necessary. Super Bowl is a lot more practical.
