Be a hero in the craziest sports story you’ve never heard of – The Lost Recording of Super Bowl I.

Turns out one football fan did record Super Bowl I in 1967 and left it to his family after his death. It is the only known copy of the broadcast. In a true David vs. Goliath fight, the NFL has threatened to sue the family if they do anything with the recording so it sits in a vault unseen.

If enough of us fans unite together in this campaign, we can make the Super Bowl I broadcast recording available for everyone to watch for the first time in over 50 years!

Let’s make history together.

Before anyone knew that it would become a national holiday, the first Super Bowl was played in 1967 with the Green Bay Packers beating AFL upstarts the Kansas City Chiefs in the Los Angeles Coliseum. The game aired simultaneously on NBC and CBS, but neither network nor the NFL preserved a copy of the broadcast, choosing instead to save a few dollars by reusing the video tape to record soap operas. It was thought lost forever… until now. 

By chance, Troy Haupt and his childhood friend saw the Sports Illustrated article and recalled seeing a box with “Super Bowl 1” written on it in Troy’s mom’s attic decades before when they were kids in Shamokin, PA. Turns out, Troy’s now deceased father had recorded the game back in 1967 on ancient quadruplex reels. After great efforts to find a working quadruplex machine to play the reels, it was officially discovered that they did indeed contain a recording of Super Bowl I broadcast. To date, it is the only known recording that exists. 

WHY CAN’T YOU SEE THE TAPE?

After storing the tape at the Paley Center vault in New York, Troy and his family offered to sell it to the group they thought would be most interested… the NFL. To their surprise, the NFL initially only offered them $30,000 for the million dollar tape, which they said was the equivalent of what it would cost them to sue Troy and his family to take possession of the recording which the NFL dubiously claims they own due to copyright laws. For now, the tape remains in a legal stalemate, sitting in the vaults of the Paley Center, unseen by football fans, under legal threats by the NFL.  

We want to change that.

For more about the amazing story behind all of this please watch our video above and/or read the New York Times article by Richard Sandomir.

WHY YOU SHOULD SEE THE TAPE?

Fans not being able to see the original broadcast of Super Bowl I is a huge injustice.  It’s a game that’s very meaningful to many people, not just hardcore football fans, and unless you were watching it live back when it aired in 1967, you’ve never seen it.

To watch the game as it aired over 53 years ago is a very unique and special experience.  It’s like a movie time capsule looking back in the past and seeing how much the broadcast of the game has changed and evolved.  It even has some archaic commercials that are hilariously bad like one talking about the health benefits of cigarettes.

“It really documents how games looked at that time,” said Ron Simon, curator of television and radio at the Paley Center. “It’s closer to the beginning of time.”

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO TO SEE THE TAPE?

There is one way you’ll be able to see it, but it has to be a group effort to make it happen.  

The NFL only wants you to see it on their terms.  Remember these are the people that forced churches to cancel their Super Bowl parties.  The NFL’s pockets are very deep and its desire for control ravenous.  But its scare tactics don’t change the fact that they don’t have a copy of the Super Bowl I broadcast.

Let’s tell the story of the tape and find a way for us to share it together!  As a group of fans, we can tell our own story – and the story of The Tape – with a documentary to bring as much attention to it as possible.  If we’re able to do that, we could maybe even make the full actual tape public for the first time since it aired over 50 years ago.

We have talked to the networks and other distributors who love the story of the tape, but  they’re scared to be involved because they fear the NFL.  The only way to finish the documentary and have a chance of the public seeing the actual Super Bowl I recording is if we decide together that it’s going to happen.  This is the kind of project that is only made possible with Kickstarter.

We don’t know how this story will end because we’re still in the middle of it.  As a supporter of this campaign, you can directly affect how it ends.

Our top stretch goal is to buy the actual tape and release it for ANYONE to watch. That’s right. As a group, we’ll buy the physical tape from the owner and release a digital version online so that anyone anywhere can enjoy Super Bowl I and the biggest missing piece of football history without the interference of the NFL. It’s the ultimate fan statement.

HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?

Goal #1 – Make a Great Documentary

Our initial goal is to raise $50,000 and is the minimum amount we need to complete the documentary.  This will allow us to continue filming, make the necessary travel to complete the remaining interviews we’d like to do, edit, and complete the film.

We have been filming off and on for approximately three years by bootstrapping the expenses.  We’ve already filmed interviews with Jerry Kramer (Green Bay Packers offensive lineman), Fred “The Hammer” Williamson (Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman), and Jack Whitaker (CBS Announcer for Super Bowl I who recently passed away at the age of 95) among others including numerous interviews with Troy and his family who own the recording.

There are more interviews we’d like to get and we’re now hitting some hard costs like flights, lodging, and editing that we need more money to do. The other issue we have is time.  The first Super Bowl was played over 50 years ago so those who were there are at least in their 70s and most even older.  We want to make sure we get everyone we want to interview, but the longer it takes us, the greater the chance of missing someone due to their health or worse.  Your support will enable us to move quickly to film these interviews.

Our stretch goal is $200,000 to complete the documentary the way we’d like, which will include all the interiews we want to film, more editing time, better visuals, music, and graphics.  Rest assured, we can complete a version of the film for $50,000, but a larger budget would enable us to make an all around better film.  It’s kind of like the difference between buying a Honda and Ferrari.  They’re both very solid cars that will work great as transportation, but one is much nicer with better features and more expensive.  We want to give you a Ferrari of a documentary if we have the budget.

Goal #2 – Raise enough to be able to release the Super Bowl I recording to the world!

Our top stretch goal is where things get really exciting.  If we’re successful in exceeding our goals in support of the documentary, the tape owners have agreed to sell us the tape at the discounted price of $750,000. We would be using all of the profits from the documentary to pay for it. This is the first time the tape has formally been made available for purchase to anyone other than the NFL.  If all of us football fans unite to buy it, we will stream the game in full for free for everyone to watch. We want to stream the full recording the Sunday before Super Bowl 55 in February 2021. You can be a key part of history making it happen.

The full broadcast has never been viewed publicly since it originally aired in 1967 and the recording has never been available for sale due to the threat of the NFL.  The only way this stalemate is going to be broken is if the masses can show they want to see the real Super Bowl I broadcast and not let the NFL continue to bully the little guy.  We feel public sentiment is on our side, but need to prove it to make this happen.

• $50,000 – Initial Goal – Film Key Interviews & Complete Edit of Film
• $200,000 – Stretch Goal #1 – Film All Interviews We Want w/ Better Music & Graphics 
• $1,500,000 – Stretch Goal #2 – Release Full Super Bowl I Broadcast Recording 

If all goes as planned, we expect to stream the Super Bowl I recording the weekend before Super Bowl 55 in February 2021 and release the completed documentary film later that same year.

WHY ARE YOU GUYS USING KICKSTARTER FOR THIS?

Short of a wealthy benefactor with the resources and resolve to take on the NFL and release the tape, the power of the masses is the only way to resolve this and have Super Bowl I available for you to watch.

Troy and his family (who own the Super Bowl I tape) are just normal people.  They don’t have the money and resources for a legal fight with the NFL and frankly are scared of any risk of that happening to them.  The Haupts aren’t greedy, but they would like to be fairly compensated for a one-of-a-kind item that has a lot of historical value.  Any of us in that situation would want the same.

When we as filmmakers first got involved in this story, we fully expected that the NFL would eventually do the right thing after a few years and make the Haupts a respectable offer.  Maybe not necessarily $1 million, but certainly not zero and the threat that if they try to sell or do anything with the tape that the NFL’s legal team would crush them.  It would be a scary prospect for any of us.

So that brings us to how are we going to solve this predicament with a Kickstarter campaign.  Our company will buy the tape from the Haupts giving them what we believe to be a fair market price of $750,000 using nearly all of the profit from the documentary to pay for it.  Given that the tape has never been made available for sell or auction, its value is debatable like any piece of art or memorabilia.  By buying the tape, we are relieving the Haupts of any legal risk from the release of the Super Bowl I broadcast while also giving them compensation for holding it for over 50 years.  

We ultimately don’t believe the NFL has any claim to this recording because in order to have a valid copyright, the NFL would have needed to have a tangible copy of the broadcast in their possession when the Copyright Act of 1976 was implemented.  If the NFL did have a copy, we are certain this situation never would have happened and the Super Bowl I broadcast would be available to watch.

The NFL also would not have spent so much time and effort on their widely panned 2016 special “Super Bowl I: The Lost Game” which consisted of very limited footage from a few 16mm cameras and still photos cobbled over a radio broadcast.  Fans and sport writers were angry that it did not resemble watching the actual game as advertised.  Many were further frustrated that the NFL knew the Haupt recording of Super Bowl I existed and didn’t make any effort to work out a deal to use it.

The strength of our legal argument can’t stop the NFL from using its well publicized bulling tactics. Should the NFL’s lawyers try to intervene in our efforts, we’ve assembled our own legal team that is ready to fight the NFL and if we hit our top goal of $1.5MM, $100,000 of that would go to reserve to fund that legal fight, if needed.

You’re probably doing the math and thinking if we raise $1.5MM, pay $750,000 for the recording and $200,000 to make the documentary, you guys as filmmakers are walking away with $550,000.  Please be aware that is far from the case as nearly all the profit from the documentary would go to buying and releasing the Super Bowl I recording.  

Below is an expected breakdown of where our top goal of $1.5MM would go if raised:

At $1.5MM, after paying the required crowdfunding fees, campaign fulfillment costs (mainly creating and mailing dvd, blurays, etc), and paying to make the documentary, we don’t expect there to be anything left. So don’t think of us as swimming in a giant pool of gold Scrooge McDuck style if we’re successful, because that’s not happening.

We’re just huge football fans that happen to also be filmmakers who saw an interesting story for a film and a possible way to bring this story to a happy conclusion.  We also don’t like to see nice people get bullied.  Those elements are what attracted us to become involved.  The NFL could still do the right thing and offer a fair price to the Haupts which we all would welcome at any time before we are successful in raising our top stretch goal. Not holding our breath, but this campaign will put the NFL on notice.

Please join us in support of this cause by showing the NFL that the fans have a voice and the collective power to make this happen on our terms.

DISCLAIMER: THIS CAMPAIGN IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE NFL IN ANY WAY AND THE NFL HAS NOT AUTHORIZED THE MAKING OF THIS DOCUMENTARY FILM.

DID YOU WATCH SUPER BOWL I OR WERE YOU THERE? DO YOU HAVE A STORY, ITEM, OR ANYTHING INTERESTING RELATED TO SUPER BOWL I THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE DOCUMENTARY?  IF SO, WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. PLEASE CONTACT US VIA EMAIL @ SeeTheTape1967@gmail.com.

WHO ARE YOU GUYS?

Jeremy Coon (Director/Producer)

In 2004, native Texan Jeremy Coon produced and edited a film that would win fans of all generations: NAPOLEON DYNAMITE. NAPOLEON premiered in Dramatic Competition at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, where it was acquired by Fox Searchlight Pictures and released the following summer; it became one of the most profitable and culturally impactful indie films in history.  

Jeremy has produced three other award-winning narrative films (THE SASQUATCH GANG, AMERICAN FORK, and THUNDER BROKE THE HEAVENS).  With frequent collaborator Tim Skousen, Jeremy co-directed and produced the feature-length documentary entitled RAIDERS! about three kids who spent nearly a decade of their childhood in the 1980s doing a shot-for-shot remake of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.  RAIDERS! premiered at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival and was released theatrically by Drafthouse Films to rave reviews in June 2016 and is currently streaming on Netflix.

Jeremy partnered with award-winning editor Barry Poltermann to form September Club with a focus on documentary storytelling for both film and television. One of the company’s first projects JIM & ANDY: THE GREAT BEYOND, director Chris Smith’s documentary about Jim Carrey’s portrayal of comedian Andy Kaufman, premiered at the 2017 Venice and Toronto Film Festivals and was acquired by Netflix. Most recently, September Club’s documentary editorial work includes I AM NOT ALONE (2019 TIFF Premiere, 2019 AFI Fest Audience Award Winner), BOYS STATE (2020 Sundance Premiere), and WHIRLYBIRD (2020 Sundance Premiere).

Tim Skousen (Director/Producer)

Tim Skousen was an Economics major until he decided to take a film class on a whim.  As part of the class, the teacher handed him a Super 8 camera and told him to make a movie. That was the last semester he took any Economics classes!

Since devoting his life to movies, he’s made films in several genres including the Slamdance Audience Award winning comedy THE SASQUATCH GANG, the inspiring HBO documentary The UNIVERSITY OF SING SING (originally known as ZERO PERCENT), the fan favorite film RAIDERS: THE STORY OF THE GREATEST FAN FILM EVER MADE as well as the upcoming southern set drama THUNDER BROKE THE HEAVENS. His films have won many awards around the world and ZERO PERCENT was selected as part of the State Department’s American Film Showcase to be shown as a diplomatic tool in countries like Algeria and Bangladesh.

He’s worked on multiple films with his friend and creative co-conspirator, Jeremy Coon, and this is their second collaboration in the director’s chair. When he’s not making narrative and documentary features, Tim directs commercials at Moxie Pictures where his work has garnered multiple awards while working with various clients including Coke, Microsoft, Nike, Snapple and others.  

Most recently, Tim co-produced and edited the feature documentary THE LAST BLOCKBUSTER about the final operating Blockbuster video store.