David Rosenthal

One of his superpowers, the way he's able to achieve all of this is he really is good at pleasing everybody, finding solutions that work for everyone.

And so he says, okay, I'll move forward.

So he drafts the Cowboys GM in Dallas, a guy named Tex Schramm.

to secretly open negotiations with Lamar Hunt.

Lamar, at this point, has moved the Texans to Kansas City, where they've become the Chiefs.

I know, so great.

He was the GM.

I don't think he was the principal owner, but I think he had an ownership stake.

So Tex approaches Lamar in early 1966, says, hey, I'm the emissary of the NFL.

You know, Roselle sent me...

I'm here to talk merger, but we got to keep this under wraps because before it gets out, then like all hell's going to break loose.

So they start working, discussing.

There are no notes.

There's no written notes.

It's just like them chatting with each other for a couple months.

As they start, the other owners don't know about it.

Yes.

Very delicate situation.

And especially as the war and the TV money start escalating between the leagues, the AFL owners, they decide we need somebody who's going to kick some ass for us.

They draft fellow owner, head coach, GM of the Oakland Raiders, Al Davis, to become the new commissioner of the AFL.