Professional football could find itself in troubled waters if it goes through with plans
to move the New York Giants across the Hudson River to the swamps of New Jersey, because
of what Commissioner Pete Rozelle told a Congressional committee in 1966.
Rozelle, the top authority in pro
football, testified that all teams would remain in their "present locations"
and, furthermore, as an added assurance, would operate in the same stadiums.
This original promise made by
Rozelle is back to haunt him and the National Football League only five years later. The
Giants have made plans to leave Yankee Stadium, the city and the state of New York for a
better deal across the river, beginning in 1975.
Other teams, the Buffalo Bills,
Baltimore Colts and New England Patriots, made statements that they might also consider
greener pastures but didn't make a move. The Giants, though, are the first to announce
they're taking their football and going someplace else to play for the love of more money.
What happened to Rozelle's
well-defined and recorded outline of what the involved teams would do if Congress
allowed the merger to go through of the American Football League and National Football
League?
His words are being flagrantly
violated by the Giants, a member team in his league that has been located in New York for
46 years.
There was so much of a financial
desire on the, part of football's owners to merge the leagues and save money in the
bidding for players that all kinds of sweet, romantic words were cunningly cooed to the
press and public.
But shouldn't pro football be made
to uphold its stated position and the way it presented itself before Congress?
Rozelle's Testimony Being Violated
The first point
Rozelle made, quoting from the official text of the pro football merger, as put before the
Anti-Trust Subcommittee of the 89th Congress, second session, dealt specifically with
where the teams would play.
On page 37 of document S. 3817,
serial No. 22, dated Oct. 6, 11 and 13, 1966, Rozelle submitted this testimony ...
"The
plan for the expanded league is embodied in an agreement between member clubs of the two
leagues which was entered into during the first week of June of this year. That agreement
has been filed with counsel for this committee. I will outline for you its principal
features: |
"1.
Every franchise of both leagues will remain in its present location.
"2. Two new franchises will be added by the 1968 season,
making a total of 26 teams. (Editor’s Note: Cincinnati and New Orleans joined.)
"3. Studies will then be made of the feasibility of adding two more franchises.
"4. A world championship game between the champions of the two present leagues will
be established beginning in January, 1967.
"5. Following this championship game, a player selection system will be instituted by
the combined leagues with priority of selection determined by the won-loss record of each
during the 1966 season.
"6. Pre-season games will be played between the teams of the two present leagues
beginning with the 1967 season.
"7. By 1970 there will be full integration of the combined league schedule with
regular season games being played by the clubs of the two present leagues.
"8. During the period prior to 1970, each league will continue to operate under
existing TV contracts. Beginning in 1970, there will be an equal division of TV income
among all clubs of the combined league."
Before Celler Committee
Later, in his
lengthy Congressional statements, Rozelle further spelled out what the NFL would do if
allowed to merge with the AFL. He said this:
"Professional
football operations will be preserved in the 23 cities and 25 stadiums where such
operations are presently being conducted. This alone is a matter of considerable public
interest--to local economies, stadium authorities and consumers. Without the plan,
franchise moves and/or franchise failures will occur as a matter of course within the next
few years."
But exactly the
opposite of what Rozelle outlined has happened with the disclosure that the Giants are
moving their franchise to a site in Northern New Jersey.
Point No. 1, as stipulated by Rozelle in
his Congressional appearance, has been violated if the Giants are allowed to pull out of
New York. Pete's plea for a green legal light on the controversial merger was predicated
on the basis that if permission wasn't granted, pro football would deteriorate and fall
apart. |
His statements were made before the chairman of the subcommittee, Emanuel D. Celler, D-N.
Y. And now it is Celler who is being asked by Mayor John Lindsay to conduct a Federal
investigation.
All Celler need do is get out Rozelle's
testimony before his anti-trust hearings of the House of Representatives. Point No. 1 is
being ignored. What will Congress think now?
Mayor Lindsay, in his fight to keep the
Giants from going south with the money, said . . . "I have asked Chairman Emanuel
Celler of the House Judiciary Committee to conduct an inquiry into this matter . . .
(it) related directly to Congressman Celler's concern when he fought against Congressional
action giving professional football certain exemptions from Federal anti-trust laws."
The revelation of Rozelle's remarks
before Congress were made by Angelo Coniglio, a 34-year-old hydraulic engineer who lives
in Amherst, N. Y., and the same freedom-fighter who also is bringing a lawsuit against
those National Football League clubs that make the buying of exhibition games a mandatory
obligation for regular season ticket holders.
"I don't see how Rozelle could make
a statement before a Congressional committee that is pertinent to a merger and then, five
years later, this vital and important promise be ignored," said Coniglio. "But,
then again, I don't see how any fair-minded man, in or out of the court of law, would
allow the practice of forcing exhibition games on the public. No other business in our
country can do this."
Coniglio said he has been alarmed to find
some members of the news media, obviously those trying to court favor, who will not dare
report adverse things about the NFL or Rozelle. He said one sports writer tore him apart
in print and said how could Coniglio, just a plain citizen, possibly defy a genius like
Rozelle.
However, Coniglio says the Congressional.
testimony of five years ago only accommodated the owners and did not allow "a single
fan, a single player or a single sports writer to give his views regarding the good and
bad things of the merger."
He said he even tried to get a complete
copy of the merger statement Rozelle made before Congress' anti-trust committee but was
told, by the Government Printing Office, that the supply had been depleted
"I've found in my numerous
investigations that the National Football League has a way of covering up evidence,"
said Coniglio. "I hope the NFL office doesn't have all the copies."
He said that he was going to be in touch
with Lindsay to remind him of Rozelle's commitment to Congress. |
Webmaster's note: Since the "stabilizing" merger, the
following teams have moved, from a few miles, to hundreds of miles and across several
states: Giants, Jets, Bills, Colts, Raiders (twice), Cardinals, Rams, Browns, Oilers
(twice) and Patriots. Those teams moved to new stadiums built to attract them,
paid for by billions of dollars in public funds, except for the Patriots' new
stadium. In addition, citizens of the following areas have had to ante up more
billions to build new stadiums to keep or regain franchises: Kansas City, St. Louis,
Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Minnesota, Houston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and
Washington. |
