9781422283042

made the struggling L.A. franchise a success in three years. After Com- missioner Bert Bell died during a Philadelphia Eagles game in late 1959, NFL owners held a meeting in early 1960 and found themselves deadlocked over Bell’s succes- sor. They finally compromised and picked the 33-year-old Rozelle on the 23rd ballot. Once in office, Rozelle aimed much of his energy toward unifying the NFL’s network television pres-

ence. It took an act of Congress—the Broadcast Act of 1961—to make it happen, thanks again to the magic of Rozelle’s PR skills. He lobbied on Capitol Hill, and the National Football League then signed a $9.3 million, two-year contract with CBS Television. A lot of that money was distributed evenly among the 14 teams. That even distribution part was huge. The NFL now could operate outside federal antitrust laws .

Pete Rozelle was the visionary who first merged the NFL and TV on a national scale.

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