Dec. 26, 1964 - The Bills won the AFL championship less than an hour before, but they gladly would have taken on the entire sales staff of ABC when news of their championship-game shares was announced.
Each winning share, of which there were 43, was worth $2,668. The players expected they would get between $3,500 and $4,000.
The discrepancy came about when ABC, whose contract with the AFL runs out with the All-Star game next month in New Orleans, sold almost 50% less commercial time on the championship telecast than it did last year.
As one television executive put it: “This was a lame duck year for ABC, and they didn’t put much effort into selling the game. They sold just enough to break even.”
“How can those guys do that to us?” asked linebacker Paul Maguire, angrier than he gets when he tries to coax a roughing-the-kicker penalty from an official.
It was explained to the players that the winning shares in AFL title games will more than double starting next year when the championship game telecast is negotiated as a separate contract.
Formerly, ABC’s contract with the league provided that it telecast the title contest as a package, at no extra cost, with regular-season games.
The AFL signed a five-year, $34 million deal with NBC last spring. It does not, however, include rights to the championship or All-Star games.
“I don’t want to hear about next year,” complained tackle Tom Sestak. “This is this year.”
The Bills’ dressing room was not as tumultuous as it had been when the team clinched the Eastern Division championship in Boston last week.
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