David Rosenthal

And so he intentionally cultivates a tight relationship with Time Inc.

and specifically Sports Illustrated.

Over the course of the 60s, Sports Illustrated really becomes the major advocate for the new modern game of the NFL.

So much so that in 1963, just three short years later, Sports Illustrated names Pete Rozelle its Sportsman of the Year, the first ever non-athlete that it had ever named Sportsman of the Year.

Think about that, the commissioner of the league being named Sportsman of the Year.

That is just a huge mindset shift.

famously he did this starting back when he was with the rams even when he was a pr intern there he would just write the stories for the reporters which one ensured that they would actually get in the papers but two he could control and craft the narrative man you can totally still see this to this day

in the NFL this ethos.

It was so important and strategically advantaged for them.

The NFL keeps such a tight grip on the narrative.

And all this starts with Rozelle.

One other thing that he does immediately after taking over and moving headquarters to New York that would end up paying huge, huge, huge dividends is he also starts cultivating political relationships and influence.

So it's obvious to Rozelle, once the AFL signs their big deal with ABC, that that's the path forward.

The league-wide, revenue-sharing, national deal with the national network deal.

Now, this is not how the NFL operates at this point.

Roselle corrals all the NFL owners and gets them to realize that the NFL has to do the same thing.

They have to give up their individual TV rights.

They have to pull together and fight the AFL.

So Rozelle goes and negotiates with CBS, which was the dominant network, both in the country and had the majority of the individual team NFL deals.

He negotiates a two-year deal with CBS at $4.65 million in rights per year to be shared equally among the teams.