What Pete Rozelle, the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL), desperately needed in 1966 was an impartial outsider to help broker a pro-football merger with the upstart American Football League (AFL). He found exactly the team he needed after a phone call to Booz Allen.
The long-simmering rivalry between America’s two pro football leagues was escalating from a chippy competition into a scorched-earth war of attrition. The two leagues were poaching each other’s players and holding secret drafts to woo high-profile college All-Americans. At stake? The lucrative TV rights to televise football games, which skyrocketed after every round of contract negotiations.
Concerned that this interleague feud would inflict irreparable damage on the game itself, Pete phoned Jim Farley, then CEO of Booz Allen, in 1966 for guidance.
At that moment, level-headed owners from both leagues were trying to iron out a merger proposal. Back-channel communications were opening up. A compromise seemed possible.
What the peacemakers needed was a trustworthy referee—like Booz Allen—that could counsel them on antitrust hurdles, mediate disputes, and bring an outside perspective to the talks. Jim hung up the phone and drove across Manhattan to the NFL’s offices, and within 24 hours, Booz Allen and Pete’s office agreed to tackle the problem together.