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NFL, 1966 location-map with final standings…
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AFL, 1966 location-map with final standings…
Helmet illustrations seen above and on 1st, 2nd and 3rd map pages from MGhelmets.com/nfl.
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In 1970, the 16-team National Football League merged with the 10-team American Football League [AFL (IV, 1960-69)]. The agreement to merge had been in place since June, 1966. The first aspect of the merger was the institution of a deciding-game between the two leagues. This game was initially called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, and matched up the champion teams of each league, beginning in January 1967 [with the teams playing for the AFL/NFL championship title of 1966]. The first of these games was played on January 15, 1967 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and was, strangely, broadcast simultaneously by NBC and CBS, and was not a sell-out. In that game, the Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 to win AFL-NFL World Championship Game I.
This gridiron football championship game, which was signified by the rather pompous use of Roman numerals to differentiate each subsequent game, would eventually become known as the Super Bowl. [The NFL's 2011 season will be decided on February 5, 2012, in Super Bowl XLVI (Super Bowl 46), at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.]
Almost from the start, circa 1966-68, many media outlets were referring to the game as ‘the Super Bowl’, but the first game officially known as the Super Bowl was the third one [Super Bowl III, January 1969 (Jets vs. Colts).]
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Here is a cool advertisement from 1966 which shows the NFL teams’ helmets back then (note: the illustrator of this Norelco ad made an error with the Cowboys helmet-logo, making the points on the Cowboys helmet-star too wide, but otherwise this is a great illustration that even correctly shows the Bears’ and the Lions’ and the Cardinals’ unusual facemasks of that era) {thanks to this blog, packerville.blogspot.com for that}.
Below is a really nice set of illustrations of 1967 NFL home uniforms. I have no idea who drew the artwork or even which publication the images originally came from, but it was sent to Uni Watch Blog in early January 2016 by Todd Radom {here/about halfway down the post, there}. As far as accuracy with respect to 1967 uniforms, the illustration below is about 99% accurate, with the then-expansion-team the New Orleans Saints’ helmet the only major inaccuracy (in the illustration below, the Saints’ helmet color is a shade too light and not “old-gold” (or brownish) enough, plus there is no black-white-black center-helmet-stripe).
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Between 1966 and 1969 (4 seasons), the NFL and the AFL played separate regular seasons, as well as separate playoff formats. At that time, the NFL had 15 teams in 1966, then 16 teams from 1967-69, with the addition of the New Orleans Saints in ’67. At that time, the AFL had 9 teams in 1966, then 10 teams from 1968-69, with the addition of the Cincinnati Bengals in ’68. In this time period (the 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969 seasons of both the NFL and the AFL), the Green Bay Packers won AFL-NFL World Championship Games I and II, while the New York Jets won Super Bowl III, and the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl IV. It is worth noting that circa 1959 to 1964 or so, many, many people associated with the NFL (the owners especially) considered the AFL to be a joke league that was way weaker than the NFL. But the AFL got the last laugh…the NFL lost the last two match-ups between an NFL-championship-game-winner and an AFL-championship-game-winner, with Broadway Joe Namath and the Jets under Weeb Ewbank stunning the Baltimore Colts in the 1968 season finale (in Super Bowl III, in January 1969); and the Kansas City Chiefs under Hank Stram similarly up-ending the favored Minnesota Vikings in the 1969 season finale (in Super Bowl IV in January, 1970).
When the 1970 NFL season rolled around, 3 teams had moved over from the pre-1970- NFL to the AFC, in order to even out the size of the 2 new conferences (at 13 teams each). Those three teams that moved over from the ‘old’ NFL to the new AFC were the Pittsburgh Steelers (1933-present), the Cleveland Browns (1950-1995; 1999-present), and the Baltimore Colts (1953-1983/moved to Indianapolis, IN as the Indianapolis Colts, 1984-present).
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NFL, 1970 – Location-map
NFL, 1970
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Thanks to MG’s Helmets, http://www.mghelmets.com/, for the helmets on the NFL, 1966 map; the AFL, 1966 map; and the NFL, 1970 map.
Thanks to Adsense admin.
Thanks to thefind.com/merchandise; thanks to ebay.com.
Thanks to Chris Creamer’s Sports Logos.net.
Thanks to LogoShak.