Lost Treasure

In this age of video everything, it is hard to imagine an event as big as the Super Bowl that has no media footprint.  But that is exactly the case from Super Bowl #1 from 1967.  Believe it or not, the game did not even sell out and it was broadcast on two networks simultaneously (NBC and CBS).  Ironically, with both networks broadcasting, neither kept a video record of the broadcast!

So everyone thought that there were some still pictures from the game but that video was lost.  Then Troy Haupt’s best friend remembered that they had seen reel to reel tapes in his attic that said Super Bowl 1.  Haupt’s father had taped the game at work on reel to reel tapes.  With some coaxing, he went into the attic and recovered them.

The tapes had sat in the attic more than 40 years!  They had suffered some heat damage, but there in herky-jerky motion was the Packers and the Chiefs dueling it out for the championship.

Haupt rightly imagined that his discovery could be worth a lot.  How much would someone pay for the video of the first Super Bowl?  Haupt imagined $1 million for the tapes.  As reported in this article by the New York Times, Haupt’s imagined newfound wealth became like lost treasure.

We have all seen the disclosure run during a football game that says that all the rights of the game are owned by the NFL.  The NFL learned about the tapes and offered a low price to purchase them.  When Haupt and the NFL could not meet on a price, the NFL lawyers went to work threatening Haupt not to sell or otherwise distribute the tapes.  This priceless treasure seemingly just became nearly worthless!  Haupt said. “It’s like you’ve won the golden ticket but you can’t get into the chocolate factory.”

The tapes still have some intrinsic value, and the NFL is the right buyer for the tapes.  You can imagine seeing snippets of that tape at the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton.  I’m hoping that the NFL is willing to pony up and buy the discovered treasure.  Would be a cool conclusion to the story.  As it now stands, it seems like the bully is winning with threat and intimidation.  That works on the gridiron, but falls flat in real life.