Football: The Pros

Popularity.

By the beginning of the decade professional football was surpassing baseball in popularity. The Baltimore Colts' stunning overtime victory over the New York Giants to win the National Football League (NFL) championship in 1958 had thrilled a nationwide television audience and helped attract a new generation of fans to professional football. The NFL championship game had as large a television viewing audience as the World Series. By the end of the decade professional football was the national pastime. NFL attendance had climbed above 90 percent of stadium capacity—figures that were the envy of the baseball owners, Sunday afternoons—traditionally reserved as time spent with family—were taken over by the sport, as fathers sat in their living rooms glued to their television sets. Even the football widows—the wives of armchair fans—came to recognize the names and the language of football. A new breed of superstar...

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