2 Comments
User's avatar
Neural Foundry's avatar

The contrast betwen national coverage and local media blackout is facinating. In 1953, alums in Chicagoland relied on word of mouth and weekend papers while the game itself was happening in real time. It's a reminder of how geografically fragmented sports culture was back then, when even a rivalry as storied as Harvard-Yale could go unreported in major markets.

Expand full comment
Football Archaeology's avatar

Another odd one came in the form of blackouts. For a while, people thought closed-circuit games as central locations and pay-per-view would be a thing in the 1960s, but it took a little longer for the latter. https://www.footballarchaeology.com/p/football-and-early-pay-per-view-television

Expand full comment