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Main articles: National Football League on television, History of the National Football League on television, List of NFL Championship Game broadcasters, List of Pro Bowl broadcasters, List of AFL Championship Game broadcasters, List of Super Bowl broadcasters, and List of Playoff Bowl broadcasters
Since the 1960s, all regular season and playoff games broadcast in the United States have been aired by national television networks. When the rival American Football League (AFL) began in 1960, it signed a 5-year television contract with ABC. This became the first ever cooperative television plan for professional football, through which the proceeds of the contract were divided equally among member clubs. ABC and the AFL also introduced moving, on-field cameras (as opposed to the fixed midfield cameras of CBS and the NFL), and were the first to have players "miked" during broadcast games. As the AFL also had players' names stitched on their jerseys, it was easier for both TV viewers and people at the games to tell who was who.
As of the 1961 season, CBS held the rights to all but one of the NFL's teams; the Cleveland Browns had a separate contract with Sports Network Incorporated (SNI) to carry their games over a regional network. However, the Browns and SNI were forced to break their deal when the NFL and CBS devised their own revenue sharing plan after CBS agreed to telecast all regular season games for an annual fee of $4.65 million. A special antitrust exemption, the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, was passed in Congress to accommodate the collective contract, which restricted what days the league could televise their games. CBS' fee later increased to $14.1 million per year in 1964, and $18.8 million per year in 1966.
With NBC paying the AFL $36 million in 1965 to televise its games, and the intensified battle over college prospects, both leagues negotiated a merger agreement on June 8, 1966. Although they would not officially merge into one combined league until 1970, one of the conditions of the agreement was that the winners of each league's championship game would meet in a contest to determine the "world champion of football."
The first ever AFL-NFL World Championship Game was played on January 15, 1967, between the NFL champion Packers and the AFL champion Chiefs. As CBS held the rights to nationally televise NFL games and NBC had the rights to broadcast AFL matches, it was decided that both would cover that first game. The next three AFL-NFL World Championship Games, the initial Super Bowls, were then divided by the two networks: CBS broadcast Super Bowls II and IV while NBC covered III.
and 28 Related for: NFL on television in the 1960s information
Since the1960s, all regular season and playoff games broadcast inthe United States have been aired by national television networks. When the rival American...
to theNFL understanding television at an earlier time, they were able to surpass Major League Baseball inthe1960s as the most popular sport inthe United...
Thetelevision rights to broadcast National Football League (NFL) games are the most lucrative and expensive rights of any sport inthe world. Television...
to theNFL understanding television at an earlier time, they were able to surpass Major League Baseball inthe1960s as the most popular sport inthe United...
Hockey Night in Canada commentating crews (1960s) Bob Wilkin (July 3, 1956). "Television Coverage For Ten NHL Contests Sports Here and There". The Christian...
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greater television audience (while theNFL had scheduled Saturday night games onthe DuMont Television Network in 1953 and 1954, poor ratings and the dissolution...
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watch thein-house feed of the game, which was blacked out of Kansas City. In 1962, CBS dropped the Sunday baseball Game of the Week once theNFL season...
game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing theNFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game has been played onthe second Sunday in February. Prior...
inception in 1920, the National Football League (NFL) has played games on Thanksgiving Day, patterned upon the historic playing of college football games on and...
Rams Seahawks 49ers The 2023 NFL season was the 104th season of the National Football League (NFL). The regular season began on September 7, 2023, with...
broadcast by networks usually only in "game of the week" or championship situations, except for theNFL (see NFLontelevision) and motorsport. Other sports...
from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, the draft was held in various cities with NFL franchises until the league settled on New York City starting in 1965...
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the major television networks. American television pays theNFL billions of dollars each year to maintain their television rights; the Super Bowl, in...
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NFL, the lack of television stations led to NBC taking over the rights beginning the very next season until April 7, 1962—NBC's first tenure with the...
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fictional account of life in the NFL during the1960s, featuring quarterback Seth Maxwell, a character widely believed to be based on Meredith, and receiver Phil...
has been reported to have played with the now defunct Dallas Texans of theNFL (not the AFL team which became the Kansas City Chiefs), but this is not...
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significant rivalries between teams and notable players inthe National Football League (NFL). Rivalries are occasionally created due to a particular...
every week of the 2023 season due to the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes. All games are simulcast on ESPN unless otherwise noted. The 2024 NFL schedule was...
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