The epic story of how pro football captured a nation.
I know football is huge in America. The NFL is king both on tv, in person, and in gambling. But I never understood why it over took baseball as our nations game. Baseball was king for years and then football took over. Why?
Well, there are a bunch of “why’s”. One thing that was fascinating was the fact that college football was (and still is) fanatical and that that college football did not want a professional football league! What!? They did not want to take anything away from their market.
It’s one reason we don’t have NFL games on Friday nights and Saturday’s.
The one snippet (there are many) that really stands out for me is that early on the NFL owners and commissioner realized that if they were to be successful as a LEAGUE, then they needed to share profits to all teams in the league. By sharing tv profits and ticket sales at the games with all teams in the league, they would make the LEAGUE stronger. That is the ONLY reason there is a successful NFL team in Greenbay Wisconsin.
How many professional sports teams are in cities with only slightly over 100,000 people (2018)? One. The Green Bay Packers.
Why? Because the league shares profits.
The other way the NFL leveled the playing field was that the team at the bottom of the league had first pick in the draft (which the NFL created too) allowing teams to improve their teams and ‘level the playing field’ and create a competitive league where any team has a chance to win over time. The other sports have caught on to this one too, which we take for granted.
If you are a sports fan, and especially if you are a football fan, this is a great book to give you that historical perspective.
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