Alvin "Pete" Rozelle (March 1 1926–December 6 1996) was the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) from January 1960 to November 1989, when he retired from office. Rozelle is credited with making the NFL what was arguably the most successful sports league in the world.

Rozelle began his career at the University of San Francisco, working as a student publicist for the school's football team. He joined the Los Angeles Rams as its public relations specialist, later becoming the general manager.

After Bert Bell's death in 1959, Rozelle was the surprise choice for his replacement as NFL commissioner. When he took office there were twelve teams in the NFL; by the time he resigned, that number had grown to twenty-eight. Following the lead of the rival American Football League, he negotiated large television contracts to broadcast every NFL game played each season. He got NFL team owners to agree to share revenues between teams, as the American Football League had done since its inception.

In November 1963 the NFL played its full schedule of games (untelevised due to uninterrupted coverage of the assassination), only two days after JFK's assassination, while the rival American Football League (AFL) postponed its games out of respect for the fallen president. Rozelle rued his decision to have the NFL play, and frequently stated publicly that it had been his worst mistake. However, Rozelle and then-White House Press Secretary Pierre Salinger had been classmates at the University of San Francisco years before, and Rozelle consulted with him. They agreed to go on with the games, citing two things: football was Kennedy's sport and that it was a "tradition in sports for all to perform in times of great personal tragedy." (Rozelle's successor, Paul Tagliabue, following the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001, ordered all games cancelled the weekend afterward.) Rozelles's "aptitude for conciliation" with the league's owners, however, led to his receiving Sports Illustrated magazine's 1963 "Sportsman of the Year" award.

With American Football League Commissioner Al Davis and other AFL and NFL executives, he negotiated the merger between the American Football League and the NFL. In October, 1966, he testified to Congress to convince them to allow the merger, promising that if they permitted it, "Professional football operations will be preserved in the 23 cities and 25 stadiums where such operations are presently being conducted."; and "Every franchise of both leagues will remain in its present location." The merger was allowed, but regardless of the promises, numerous NFL teams have since moved, or used the threat of moving to have cities build or improve stadiums. Following the urging of American Football League commissioner Al Davis, Rozelle also agreed to the creation of the Super Bowl and later supported the concept of Monday Night Football.

Under Rozelle the NFL thrived, despite two players' strikes and two different upstart leagues. He retired as commissioner in 1989 and died at the age of 70 in 1996 in Rancho Santa Fe, California.

External links

• National Football League website
• Time Magazine's Time 100: Builders & Titans: Pete Rozelle
• Sporting News: Pete Rozelle becomes NFL Commissioner
• NARC Officer Tribute: Pete Rozelle
• ESPN Classic - Rozelle made NFL what it is today

Preceded by: Austin Gunsel (interim)

NFL Commissioners

Succeeded by: Paul Tagliabue