If Winning Isn't Everything, Why Do They Keep Score?

For the first time, the National Football League is becoming directly involved in a film project, producing a biopic of famed Green Bay coach Vince Lombardi, who won five titles in nine years for the Packers. Variety is reporitng that the financing for Lombardi still hasn't been finalized, and that it's unclear if the NFL will pony up any funds for the film, but it will enable access to key locations such as the Packers' Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin and historical footage. Perhaps even more importantly, they will provide marketing muscle for the movie. The project has reportedly been in the works for a year and a half and will focus on the inspirational coach and the week leading up to the 1967 NFL championship between the Packers and the Dallas Cowboys known as the "Ice Bowl" (which ended in an amazing play from Packers QB Bart Starr). The script by David Murray is based partly on "Instant Replay," the bestselling memoir by team member Jerry Kramer and Dick Schaap. Both Kramer and Vince Lombardi Jr. have will act as consultants for the film. According to Variety, the NFL's involvement in the project marks a change in strategy for the league:

The NFL's previously been involved in telepics and features through licensing, fact-checking, supplying and filming game action and marketing in a wide variety of projects such as "Brian's Song," "Jerry Maguire" and "Invincible." But the "Lombardi" project represents a milestone for the league in that's been involved since its inception, according to Charles Coplin, the league's VP of programming.

Coplin said the NFL may come on as a producer on other features as part of the league's evolution into such areas as operating its own TV channel (the NFL Network) and producing its own halftime shows at the Super Bowl. "We have such a legacy with so much rich content that we'd be foolish not to explore opportunities for other films," he added.

"Lombardi," Coplin said, was particularly attractive on several levels. "He's an icon of popular culture who's well known among older NFL fans, but the story's also a great way for us to educate the younger fans," he said.

[PHOTO CREDIT: Neil Leifer/Sports Illustrated]