Program cover from the Jets-Raiders game from November 17, 1968
New York Jets (7–3)
Oakland Raiders (8–2)
32
43
Head coach: Weeb Ewbank
Head coach: John Rauch
1
2
3
4
Total
NYJ
6
6
7
13
32
OAK
7
7
8
21
43
Date
November 17, 1968 (1968-11-17)
Stadium
Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California
Favorite
Raiders by 7+1⁄2 points
Referee
Bob Finley
Attendance
53,318
Hall of Famers
Raiders: Al Davis (owner/general manager), John Madden (linebackers coach), Fred Biletnikoff, George Blanda, Willie Brown, Jim Otto, Art Shell, Gene Upshaw Jets: Weeb Ewbank (head coach), Winston Hill, Don Maynard, Joe Namath
TV in the United States
Network
NBC
Announcers
Curt Gowdy and Al DeRogatis
The Heidi Game or Heidi Bowl was a 1968 American Football League (AFL) game between the Oakland Raiders and the visiting New York Jets. The contest, held on November 17, 1968, was notable for its exciting finish, in which Oakland scored two touchdowns in the final minute to win the game 43–32. However, NBC, the game's television broadcaster, decided to break away from its coverage on the East Coast to broadcast the television film Heidi, which caused many viewers to miss the Raiders' comeback.
In the late 1960s, few professional football games took longer than two and a half hours to play, and the three-hour time slot allotted to the Jets and Raiders was thought to be adequate. A high-scoring contest, together with a number of injuries and penalties for the two bitter AFL rivals, caused the game to run longer than usual. NBC executives had originally ordered that Heidi begin at 7:00 p.m. EST, but then decided to allow the game to air to its conclusion. However, communicating this revised plan to the technicians running NBC's master control proved impossible – as 7 p.m. approached, NBC's switchboards were jammed by viewers phoning to inquire about the night's schedule, preventing the planned change from being communicated. Heidi began as scheduled, preempting the final moments of the game and the two Oakland touchdowns in the eastern half of the country, to the outrage of viewers.
Response to the pre-emption by viewers and other critics was negative; the family members of several Jets players were unaware of the game's actual conclusion, while NBC received further criticism for its poor timing in displaying the final score of the game during the Heidi movie. NBC's president Julian Goodman formally apologized for the incident. The Jets and Raiders met again on December 29 in New York in the AFL Championship Game, with the Jets winning 27–23. Two weeks later, they defeated the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League (NFL) in Super Bowl III.
In the aftermath of the incident, NBC installed special "Heidi phones", with a connection to a different telephone exchange from other network phones, to ensure that network personnel could communicate under similar circumstances. The game also had an influence on sports broadcasting practices; the future National Football League would contractually stipulate that all game telecasts be shown to their conclusion in the markets of the visiting team, while other major leagues and events adopted similar mandates. In 1997, the Heidi Game was voted the most memorable regular season game in professional football history.
The HeidiGame or Heidi Bowl was a 1968 American Football League (AFL) game between the Oakland Raiders and the visiting New York Jets. The contest, held...
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there's the HeidiGame, the extraordinary watershed moment in the history of TV's coverage of professional football. The histrionics of the game itself are...
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years later in Oxford on November 17, 1998, the 30th anniversary of the "HeidiGame". Born in Richmond, Indiana, Ewbank's father was a grocer who owned two...
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ISBN 978-1-77041-003-9. Prato, Greg (2021). Butt Fumbles, Fake Spikes, Mud Bowls & Heidi Games: The Top 100 Debacles of the New York Jets. New York: Greg Prato Writer...
Stadium in Queens, New York City, New York. In a rematch of the notorious HeidiGame played earlier in the season, the New York Jets (11–3) of the Eastern...
Oakland Raiders game now called The Heidi Bowl), which aired on November 17, 1968. Prior to the Jets-Raiders Sunday Night Football game on November 12...
the most remembered games on NBC was a 1968 game known as the HeidiGame. As its nationally televised game between the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets...
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quarterback Joe Namath's jaw during a 1967 game (though Ben Davidson was wrongly blamed), the famous HeidiGame during the 1968 season, and the Raiders'...
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and built a three-game lead over second-place Houston. New York's next game was at Oakland. In what became known as the HeidiGame, the Jets took a 32–29...
plays. These include the HeidiGame, the Immaculate Reception, The Sea of Hands Game, Ghost to the Post, the Holy Roller Game, and Red Right 88. He also...
only such game in Major League Baseball history until the COVID-19 pandemic forced the MLB to go without fans for the 2020 season. The HeidiGame, 1968 Jets...
time. Since the "HeidiGame" incident in 1968, in which NBC cut away from coverage of a New York Jets/Oakland Raiders football game on the east coast...
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