But, for football-history buffs who’d grown up looking forward to the Super Bowl highlights marathon every January (first on ESPN, now on NFL Network), and who had seen a lot of the NFL Films footage of the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs before, the real prize of the Jan. 22 telecast was two pieces of videotape from the original broadcast: Ray Scott announcing the starting lineups -- complete with the individual players running toward an on-field camera, in the style of the time -- and Pat Summerall’s postgame interview with NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle.
Those two segments were the longest pieces of the original broadcast seen on television since 1967. As was addressed on the telecast, no network master tape of the game exists. A fan’s home recording of much of the game exists, but it sits in legal limbo as the league will neither buy the home recording from the tape’s owner, Troy Haupt, nor allow it to be shown to the general public.
There’s a tape of Super Bowl II out there, too. The NFL isn’t letting you see that, either. Although it came close to letting you buy it on DVD in 2008.
On April 2, 2008, with Packers fans pondering life without Brett Favre at quarterback in the wake of his (initial) retirement announcement the previous month, the Packers issued a news release inviting fans to cast votes from a list of 20 games to determine the original broadcasts to be included on the “10 Greatest Games: Packers” DVD set. The ballot was heavy with Favre Era games, with only three of the 20 on offer having been played before Favre’s arrival in Green Bay in 1992.
But one of those three was Super Bowl II.
I was thrilled at the prospect of not only seeing footage from Vince Lombardi’s last game as Packers coach but also having my own copy on DVD. I try to not think about how much I would have been willing to pay for that.
I didn’t have to think too long about it back in 2008, though. On May 2 of that year, another news release on Packers.com announced the list of 10 games. It included the following passage:
Note: Super Bowl II was in the running as a top 10 selection, but after voting began, Warner Bros. was informed that the complete broadcast of that game is not available, and therefore can't be included in the DVD. For the same reason, other significant games, such as Super Bowl I and the Ice Bowl, were not included in the voting.
So a tape with some portion of Super Bowl II exists, presumably in the possession of the NFL or CBS, which broadcast the game. But it’s being kept locked away, for the enjoyment of no one.
I suppose there’s a possibility that some piece of the Super Bowl II broadcast -- which, to my knowledge, has not been seen since Jan. 14, 1968 -- could turn up on CBS’ pregame show on Sunday in some kind of history-of-the-game montage. I’m not holding my breath.
With the League having largely gotten out of the business of home video -- the only new releases since early in the 2013 season have been the Super Bowl champion highlight discs for the 2013 Seahawks and 2014 Patriots -- the main avenue for the history buff to see the historical footage is down to one lane. NFL Network's use of NFL Films content for historical purposes, outside of the "A Football Life" series, has become noticeably lighter in recent years.
The NFL has a presence on YouTube. But after decades of being miles ahead of Major League Baseball with regard to promotion -- thanks to the groundbreaking work of NFL Films founder Ed Sabol and his son Steve -- MLB is beating the NFL on that social media front.
Having correctly deduced that YouTube users love 1-minute clips, MLB has populated its YouTube channel with hundreds, if not thousands, of such clips from original broadcasts. Want to see Hank Aaron break Babe Ruth's record with home run No. 715? MLB has it ready to go for you right here. Want to see Dave McNally become the first pitcher to hit a grand slam in a World Series game? Here you go.
There’s nothing stopping the NFL from turning its YouTube channel into that kind of fan-friendly destination. Maybe someday, we’ll go there and be able to watch and listen as Ray Scott describes Boyd Dowler’s 62-yard touchdown reception in Super Bowl II.
Hey, maybe by then they’ll have cut a deal with Troy Haupt and we can see a bit more of Super Bowl I.
Tom Farley is a journalist in Racine, Wis.
