in the Miami area (as of 2022). It was also the second consecutive Super Bowl to be awarded to Miami (II and III), the only time that the Super Bowl as been scheduled for the same stadium in back-to-back seasons. Two cities were considered for the game, New Orleans (Tulane Stadium) being the other. Going into the meeting, several observers believed that New Orleans was the favorite. It had been reported that New Orleans was being promised the game by commissioner Pete Rozelle as a payback to Louisiana congressman Hale Boggs and senator Russell B. Long for being instrumental in passing crucial antitrust exemption legislation, which allowed for the AFL–NFL merger. In selecting Miami, owners rejected any potential quid pro quo. Miami's hosting of sold-out Super Bowl II just four months earlier was seen by all accounts as a huge success, and owners elected to stick with a known commodity. The expansion Saints had lost money in their first season, and were publicly going through front office shakeups. Furthermore, during the presentation, a mix-up in the Tulane Stadium rental fee helped dissuade the league. Rozelle made it clear, however, that Miami was not positioned to become the permanent home for the Super Bowl. Professional football The National Football League (NFL) had dominated professional football from its origins after World War I. Rival leagues had crumbled or merged with it, and when the American Football League (AFL) began to play in 1960, it was the fourth to hold that similar name to challenge the older NFL. Unlike its earlier namesakes, however, this AFL was able to command sufficient financial resources to survive; one factor in this was becoming the first league to sign a television contract—previously, individual franchises had signed agreements with networks to televise games. The junior league proved successful enough, in fact, to make attractive offers to players. After the 1964 season, there had been a well-publicized bidding war which culminated with the signing, by the AFL's New York Jets (formerly New York Titans), of Alabama quarterback Joe Namath for an unprecedented contract. Fearing that bidding wars over players would become the norm, greatly increasing labor costs, NFL owners, ostensibly led by league Commissioner Pete Rozelle, obtained a merger agreement with the AFL in June 1966, which provided for a common draft, interleague play in the pre-season, a world championship game to follow each season, and the integration of