Today's Tidbit... Setting New Standards For Goal Posts

A few days ago, I wrote about college football's adoption of the two-point conversion in 1958. In that article, I mentioned that college football increased the width of its goal posts in 1959 from 18 feet 6 inches to 24 feet 4 inches, which led to a reduced use of the two-point conversion. However, as often happens when researching a particular topic, the research on two-point conversions uncovered information about alternatives the rule makers considered other than widening the goal posts.

A previous article covered how high school, college, and pro football differed on the location and/or width of their goal posts from 1927 to 1991, leading to some places having two sets of goal posts on the field.

Kezar Stadium with dual goal posts. (McGuire, Dan. San Francisco 49ers. 1960.)

Before widening the goal posts and adding the two-point conversion, however, football considered alternative goal post designs seeking to increase scoring to reduce tie games and, as some said, put the foot back in football.