Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

If the NFL/AFL merger was modeled after the MLB structure, then it's strange that from 1966-1969 the leagues still kept their own respective all-star games. It would have made more sense if the AFL all-stars played the NFL all-stars in a Super Pro Bowl; like how the AL and NL play each other in the MLB All-Star game. It would have been interesting to see...

1) Do you think the AFL and NFL players would have gone all out in an effort to win? Or would they have treated it as an exhibition?

2) Which league do you think would have been victorious in the all-star games?

A good idea, especially before the merger where players could compete against the best for possible free agent movement but the owners would have tried to squash that as well ... Some players would have went all out but not all of them after a long season. Gino Marchetti sure went all out against Frank Ryan after the Browns beat the Colts in the Championship game. Marchetti thought Ryan tried to run up the score towards the end. He injured Ryan's shoulder which affected the Browns early start to the 1966 season.

Oh, I think they would've gone all out, no question. The AFL guys because they had something to prove, the NFL guys because they didn't want to let them prove it.

Bob Gill wrote:Oh, I think they would've gone all out, no question. The AFL guys because they had something to prove, the NFL guys because they didn't want to let them prove it.

Absolutely agree. And I still wish the leagues hadn't merged.

I agree Richard but I dont believe the NFL would have been able to continue to sign players without the merger. The AFL owners had deeper pockets and would have signed more players, especially with Davis as commissioner ...