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Unlike almost every major pro sports executive you can name, Pete Rozelle didn’t come from a law background. He was a public relations guy. And during his three-decade run as commissioner of the NFL beginning in 1960, Rozelle’s P.R. instincts served him beautifully time and again. He remade the league into an absolute powerhouse.
But Rozelle, whose watch included the AFL-NFL merger, the creation of the Super Bowl and the creation of Monday Night Football, missed one mark: He didn’t think anyone could be made to care enough about the NFL Draft to watch it on television.
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