This Man Owns the Only Recording of Super Bowl I

"The first Super Bowl was always our holy grail of lost sports programs," a curator at the Paley Center for Media tells the New York Times. Well, it's not lost anymore, having been found by Troy Haupt in the attic of his childhood home in North Carolina. The only recording of the Super Bowl I broadcast in existence was made by Haupt's father and discovered by Haupt after Sports Illustrated declared it to be worth $1 million in 2005. The Times has a fascinating story about the creation of the recording, its discovery, and why the NFL is refusing to buy it from Haupt while threatening him with legal action if he tries to sell it to anyone else. “It’s like you’ve won the golden ticket, but you can’t get into the chocolate factory,” Haupt laments.

Haupt turned down the NFL's initial offer of $30,000 for the recording. It's shown no interest in making a followup offer, and—with the league considering any sale of the recording "exploitation" of its "copyrighted footage"—Haupt is stuck. His lawyer alleges the league even strong-armed CBS into canceling a pre-Super Bowl segment with Haupt, for which he was to receive $25,000 and two tickets to the game. "A league with a bit more common sense, or just a basic command of public relations, would not be threatening Haupt," writes Stephen Carter at Bloomberg View. "It would be celebrating him for his possession of this unique and valuable treasure." You can read why Carter, a Yale law professor, thinks Haupt may have a legal case at Bloomberg View. And read the whole Times story here. (More Super Bowl stories.)