Richard O. Davies

As with many aspects of popular culture, professional sports did not obtain a truly national audience until the advent of mass media, particularly television. In the following selection from his book America's Obsession: Sports and Society Since 1945, University of Missouri history professor Richard O. Davies explains how television led to the ascendancy of the National Football League as one of the most popular and profitable sports leagues in the United States. The lucrative relationship established between the NFL and the national television networks set the precedent for how other sports leagues would be financed, and ABC's innovative presentation of Monday Night Football and its Wide World of Sports program set new standards for sports coverage and reporting. Davies also notes that television has impacted the games themselves, as professional football, baseball...