There's a plan to allow people to watch the only tape of Super Bowl I for free
There's only one known copy of the footage of the first Super Bowl ever played in 1967 in existence. But, after all these years, people might soon have a chance to watch it, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Troy Haupt, a 50-year-old nurse anesthetist who lives in North Carolina, found the tape in his mother's attic in Pennsylvania, but he's held onto it because the NFL offered much less than the price he and independent appraisers considered fair. Haupt doesn't relish in keeping it for himself, though — on the contrary, he appears to very much want the public to see it.
That's where Jeremy Coon, a producer and editor for Napoleon Dynamite, and his collaborator, Tom Skousen, come in. The pair launched a fundraising campaign with the goal of raising $1.5 million. If they reach that goal, they'll complete a documentary about Haupt's saga with the NFL, buy the tape from Haupt (who has agreed to sell to them), and then stream the game online before Super Bowl LV in February 2021.
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They know the NFL won't be pleased, but are apparently willing to take the league on anyway. "It's too easy for the NFL to put pressure on the little guy," Skousen said. "But thousands of little guys who are their biggest fans is a lot harder."
The league said it wasn't aware of the latest developments, but will continue to "reassert our rights to enforce and protect our intellectual property."
This is all about a chance to view history — the game itself wasn't much of a contest, with the Green Bay Packers easily dispatching the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.
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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
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