David Rosenthal

Davis sits there again, thinks about it and says, F it, sign him anyway.

So they do.

The Oilers go sign the 49ers quarterback.

And that is what makes it all work.

So Davis hangs up with the Oilers, calls Hunt, and he's like, you dumbass.

Why on earth would you stop me from doing this?

I know you're working on a merger.

I am your best weapon that you have.

I am giving you leverage.

Yes.

I may be a thug, but I am your thug in this case.

So within a couple days, it's all over.

On Wednesday, June 8th, 1966, the merger agreement gets announced in a press release.

Unlike with the AAFC, this is a true merger.

All of the AFL teams will join all of the NFL teams.

Together, they promise to add at least four totally new teams and cities.

They announce that because of the separate TV contracts on the AFL and the NFL side, they will not begin a joint season immediately.

They'll let the new AFL TV contract play out, which will go through the 1969 season.

The first fully combined season will be in 1970.

But in the interim, they will start hosting a new pro football world championship game between the winners of the two leagues starting in the 1966 season.