In short
On January 15, 1967, the Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35–10 in a game that didn't yet have a permanent name. It was billed as the AFL–NFL World Championship Game, a one-off merger showdown between football's two rival leagues that would reshape American sports.
How it unfolded.
The five-minute version
What actually happened.
The first AFL–NFL World Championship Game was an American football game played on January 15, 1967, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The National Football League (NFL) champion Green Bay Packers defeated the American Football League (AFL) champion Kansas City Chiefs by the score of 35–10.
Day by day.
Across 10 years, 5 pivotal moments.
Timeline
How it actually unfolded.
AFL launches
The American Football League begins play as a rival to the NFL, starting with eight teams and heavy investment from new owners seeking national sports prominence.
AFL–NFL merger announced
After six years of competition and escalating bidding wars for players, the two leagues agree to merge. The first championship game between their champions is scheduled for January 1967.
First championship game played
The Green Bay Packers, defending NFL champions under coach Vince Lombardi, defeat the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs 35–10 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before 61,946 fans.
Game retroactively named
The game is formally designated as the 'Super Bowl,' a name inspired by the Super Ball toy and popularized by Kansas City owner Lamar Hunt.
AFL–NFL merger completed
The two leagues officially consolidate into a single organization, with the annual championship game—now called the Super Bowl—becoming the league's flagship event.
The chain begins -
The chain of consequence.
Impact
What followed.
The game crystallized the end of professional football's turf war and proved the merger between the upstart AFL and the established NFL was economically viable. It established a cultural institution that would become the de facto American secular holiday.
Captured in time.
Captured before it changed
The web as it looked, the day it happened.
Wayback Machine snapshots of the pages people actually loaded that day. Click any card to open the archive at full size.
Sources & citations.
Sources
Where this came from.
Every claim on this page traces to a public, license-clean source. We don't asterisk well.
Wikipedia
1 source- 1.First Super Bowl
en.wikipedia.org