The Sports Grouch

Unless you’re as old as Lester Townsend, you don’t remember pro football’s earliest days. Happy 111th birthday, Lester.

Believe it or not, I wasn’t around in 1919 either.

I recall seeing my 1st televised pro football game in New York in 1961. It was Y.A. Tittle’s 1st year at quarterback for the N.Y. Giants and they beat Washington.

Only 100 years

Rome, my father liked to say, wasn’t built in a day. He was talking about my own lack of patience.

Neither was the National Football League. It’s taken a long and often rocky 100 years to get where it is.

Pro football’s influence led the NFL to touch us in most facets of life.

“History usually requires a long lens to truly assess empires and influence,” Anthony Gulizia and Jeremy Willis wrote in USA Today. “It has grown and expanded along with America. When factories ruled the Midwest, pro football came, too.

When Americans moved West and Baby Boomers spurred the economy, football grew.”

When Atlanta, Houston, Nashville, Seattle and Charlotte became major cities, the NFL expanded. With TVs in most all of our homes, 46 of the 50 best watched programs last year were pro football games.

The early days

Playing pro ball 100 years ago had little prestige or the money that players enjoy today.

What became the NFL was born in northeast Ohio. There football was nothing more than a weekend game and a way for college athletes to make more money.

The games were organized by athletic clubs and paid for by business and. often, the players’ employers.

Like the old textile league, the players were on the payrolls as workers. Their work was practicing during the week and playing on weekends.

Their families, friends, neighbors and fellow employees were devoted fans.

Team loyalty brought pride in their companies.

Pro football was a financial crap shoot. The Akron Pros, pro football’s first champions, folded after 6 seasons. From 1920-30, 46 teams folded.

What’s the future?

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s goal is $25 billion in revenue by 2027.

That will undoubtedly make the league find ways to limit concussions and other long-term health problems. Also uncertain is if the league’s international games produce enough revenue to make teams or conferences outside the U.S. promising for foreign owners who can afford the risks.

By the way, which pro team do you root for?

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