Lamar Hunt's Contribution To American Sports

When asked who he was, many would say the original owner of the Kansas city Chiefs. In reality, he was so much more than that. Despite having his most accomplishments in American Football, he helped shape 4 lasting, popular american sports leagues. He has ties to the National Football League (NFL), The National Basketball Association (NBA), The North American Soccer League (NASL), which would later become part of Major League Soccer (MLS), and the World Tennis Championships (WTC). His contributions are what make him one of the most influential men in american sports. In fact in 1999, he was declared the 17th most influential person in sports, behind the likes of Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali (Gietschier,12). His contributions will list out exactly …show more content…
When co-founder Alan Rothenberg decided that it was time for the MLS to begin, one of the first people he called was none other than Lamar Hunt. Hunt had been a believer of a soccer league since the 1960s. While his business advisor had told him repeatedly that it was not a good idea, Hunt joined in the effort for an american soccer league. He also had the great financial idea of not spending so much money on players, because it might soon bankrupt the owners of the league (Abnos 84-89). Lamar Hunt had already at this point founded the American Football League,which turned out to be very profitable, made the merger between the AFL and the NFL, named and organized the superbowl, and was starting on his tennis endeavors. His very presence would give both the NASL and MLS credibility, from his work on the AFL. His idea of tight budgets would be the very thing that would give MLS the stability it needed to take off into the league it is today. Hunt would have rather seen the money go to soccer academies to develop young american soccer players than to sign some from europe. That is the reason why in 2005 the player acquisitions and salaries, were a third less of the 40 Million dollars spent in 2000 (Wahl 20-21). In addition to creating the league he also owned two franchises in …show more content…
A young son of an oil baron, Lamar Hunt, is looking to buy a football team. After being denied by his best chance with the Chicago Bears, he goes off with plans to start his own football league. With dreams in his eyes, and determination in his heart, he goes to 7 other rich people who would possibly like to get involved with the professional football game. That is how the American Football League started. Originally called the Foolish Club, this league would soon gather a following enough to compete with NFL teams in Texans. Fast forward to 1960, this new created football league finally takes the field for the first time, and has success. Lamar Hunt has started blazing the path for a great football organization, at first in his home of Dallas,Texas, and later in Kansas City, Missouri. The AFL got so big, that on June 8th, 1966, the current NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, announced that there would be a merger between the NFL and the AFL. Leading these talks for the AFL was none other than Lamar Hunt. Before the merger, Hunt helped to make, and even name the Super bowl.His Kansas City Chiefs would be facing the great Green Bay Packers in this first ever Championship game between the AFL and the NFL. Eventually the Chiefs would go on to lose this game, but would be back and win Super bowl IV against the Minnesota Vikings. Once the merger happened the overall name would still be the National