Pete Rozelle

1926–1996 · 70 years

The publicist who taught American sport to share the money

Portrait of Pete Rozelle — Unknown author — 1975 — Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Nobody elected Pete Rozelle for what he knew about football. He knew publicity. He came up in Lynwood during the Depression, spent 18 months on a Navy oil tanker in the Pacific, and enrolled at Compton College as the student athletic news director, writing press notes for the Los Angeles Rams on the side. A scholarship carried the same job to the University of San Francisco. He handled Rams publicity from 1952, left to sell the Melbourne Olympics for a public relations firm, and returned in 1957 as general manager. In January 1960 the owners deadlocked 23 ballots over Bert Bell's successor, then sent the 33-year-old out of the room and elected him as the compromise. Sportswriters called him the boy czar.

The decision was about money. Each club had sold its own television rights, so New York sold high, Green Bay sold low, and the gap widened yearly. Rozelle persuaded the owners to pool the rights, sell them as one package, and split the money in equal shares. A federal judge ruled that illegal in 1961, so he went to Congress and got the Sports Broadcasting Act, signed that September 30. CBS paid 4.65 million dollars a season. Green Bay could now bid for players against New York, the games stayed close, and close games sold.

The 1966 merger with the American Football League, which he defended before Congress, produced a common draft and a championship game between the two leagues, first played January 15, 1967 and named the Super Bowl by Lamar Hunt. In 1970 he sold Roone Arledge on Monday Night Football and moved the sport into prime time. The harder parts are dated as precisely. In April 1963 he suspended Paul Hornung and Alex Karras indefinitely for betting on games. Two days after Kennedy was shot he played that Sunday's schedule while the AFL did not, and later called it his most regrettable decision. When Al Davis sued to move the Raiders to Los Angeles, Rozelle testified against him and lost. A jury found for Davis in May 1982, and the league's power to say where a team plays went with it.

He left the office on November 5, 1989, after 29 years. The 12 clubs he inherited played 12-game seasons to frequently half-empty stadiums, and only a few of them had television contracts at all. The 28 he handed to Paul Tagliabue sold one national television package, and the networks bid against each other for it. He died of brain cancer on December 6, 1996, at 70, at Rancho Santa Fe, California, and was buried at El Camino Memorial Park in San Diego. The Hall of Fame had taken him in 1985 while he still held the job. The Super Bowl's most valuable player now collects a trophy with his name on it.

Lifespan

15401700180019002030

Pete Rozelle's life against the full span of the corpus.

Notable works

Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 law
The antitrust exemption he lobbied for, which made pooled league television rights legal 1961
The pooled CBS television contract other
Every regular-season game for 4.65 million dollars a year, split in equal shares 1962
The Rozelle Rule other
Free-agent compensation set by the commissioner alone. Held an antitrust violation in 1975 1963
The Super Bowl other
A term of the merger deal. First played January 15, 1967 and carried by CBS and NBC at once 1967
The AFL-NFL merger other
Agreed in 1966, cleared by Congress that October, completed in 1970 at 26 clubs 1970
Monday Night Football other
His idea, sold to Roone Arledge at ABC, where it ran for 36 seasons 1970

Life in brief

with age at each point

1944 aged ~18 Leaves Compton High School for the Navy Eighteen months in the Pacific on an oil tanker.
1957 aged ~31 Returns to the Los Angeles Rams as general manager The club was unprofitable and lost in its own market. He fixed the business, not the record.
January 26, 1960 aged 33 Elected NFL commissioner on the 23rd ballot A compromise after days of deadlock over Bert Bell's successor. He was 33.
September 30, 1961 aged 35 Kennedy signs the Sports Broadcasting Act It let leagues pool their broadcast rights and sell them as one package.
April 1963 aged 37 Suspends Paul Hornung and Alex Karras indefinitely For betting on NFL games and associating with gamblers. Both were reinstated in March 1964.
November 24, 1963 aged 37 Plays the schedule two days after Kennedy is killed He had consulted Pierre Salinger, a classmate at USF. The AFL and most colleges did not play.
January 15, 1967 aged 40 The first AFL-NFL Championship Game is played in Los Angeles Green Bay beat Kansas City 35-10. Two networks carried the same feed.
September 21, 1970 aged 44 Monday Night Football premieres on ABC Cleveland beat the New York Jets 31-21, with Cosell, Meredith and Jackson in the booth.
November 5, 1989 aged 63 Retires after 29 years, leaving a 28-team league He died of brain cancer seven years later, on December 6, 1996.