This article shocked me.
It is from the New York Times and is written by Richard Sandomir and concerns Troy Haupt, a North Carolina man who likely has in his possession the only almost-complete copy of the TV broadcast of Super Bowl I between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs…and how the NFL is playing hardball with him regarding its sale and use:
Out of a rare Super Bowl I recording a clash with the NFL unspools
The upshot of the article is this: For reasons unknown, Mr. Haupt’s father recorded most of the television broadcast of Super Bowl I back in 1967. The copy is far from perfect, according to the article, and the colors fade in and out and there is a choppiness to it resulting from Mr. Haupt’s father cutting out the commercials (the recording equipment of that era, understandably, wasn’t as good as it is now). Further, he did not record the half-time show and, to save tape, much of the 3rd quarter.
Having said all that and noting the lost material, this nonetheless appears to be the ONLY existing copy of the first Super Bowl’s television presentation as all other copies were destroyed.
At the risk of giving away everything in the article (you really should read it!) Mr. Haupt, understandably, wanted to make some money from his father’s foresight and sell the recording to the NFL. After all, it is a historical recording and the NFL itself tried to recreate it with film clips this past year but they don’t have the real thing.
So Mr. Haupt contacted the NFL and told them he was willing to sell the tape for one million dollars. The NFL counter-offered $30,000 and, when he refused, essentially went “nuclear” on him.
They forbid him from selling the tapes to anyone else as they deem the material on the tapes their copyright material. Further, when CBS offered $25,000 to interview Mr. Haupt and show some clips from his tapes the NFL apparently shut that down completely. The NFL claims they didn’t do so, but one can’t help but wonder.
So Mr. Haupt has a piece of history he is forbidden by the NFL from making a dime off of…unless it is the NFL who gets the material in the end and at the price they want to pay for it and a historical record ages ever more.
Bear in mind, the NFL is a multi-BILLION dollar operation. The Commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell has reportedly made some $210 million since 2007. Obviously, they could/should easily afford the one million to pay Mr. Haupt for his historic -and very unique- tape. As incomplete as it is, the recording is obviously legitimate and the price he’s asking for it, at least to me (a big caveat: hey, it isn’t my money we’re talking about!) doesn’t seem too far out of the realm of reason.
The strong-armed tactics the NFL is employing to keep Mr. Haupt from benefiting from his unique recording, on the other hand, does seem petty and bullying. Further, you would think the NFL could turn around and make money from this recording by cleaning it up and releasing it with their “reconstruction” in a video/digital format.
Hopefully the fact that the story has come out and the negative attention it is sure to draw toward the NFL might make the people there change their minds.
We’ll see.