In the late 1960s, when then Browns owner Art Modell was serving as the first — and only — NFL president — he helped negotiate what was then considered to be an incredibly lucrative TV deal for the league.

When he phoned Pete Rozelle with the good news, the NFL commissioner expressed surprise and delight that Modell was able to get such a large total amount.

“No,” Modell corrected him, “that’s the amount per team.”

Rozelle was silent on the other end of the line. He nearly dropped the phone.

Pro football had finally arrived as a TV sport. It was making up ground — albeit with much, much more to go — on the runaway leader in that regard, Major League Baseball.

Now, 57 years later, the MLB TV contracts, both nationally and per many teams, are a collective mess. And the NFL? It is getting obscenely large audiences, as per usual, for its annual combine that is being held this week in Indianapolis.

Players are running and jumping, and viewers, unable to watch it live because they’re working during the weekdays, are running out of the office at quitting time, jumping into their car and hurrying home to watch it on tape.

Rozelle and Modell were true visionaries in realizing the potential of the mix of TV and football, but even in their wildest dreams, they didn’t see anything like this coming.

The same is true — only in a much grander sense — for the NFL Draft. There used to be no live coverage of it, but now it draws hundreds of thousands of people to show up for it in the host city for the right to stand on asphalt in the cold and “watch” the proceedings on a stage a half-mile away.

If the fans will go crazy over events like these and make them must-see, either on TV or in person, then what else will cause them to salivate?

We — or you; I don’t think I’ll be there — will see in 57 years.

Steve King