NBC College Football Game of the Week

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The NBC College Football Game of the Week refers to nationally televised broadcasts of Saturday afternoon college football games that were produced by NBC Sports, the sports division of the NBC television network in the United States. Bowl games were always exempt from the NCAA's television regulations, and the games' organizers were free to sign rights deals with any network. In NBC's case, the 1952 Rose Bowl at the end of that particular season was the first national telecast of a college bowl game.[1]

Background[]

NBC first televised college football on September 30, 1939. NBC broadcast the game between Waynesburg and Fordham on station W2XBS (which would eventually become NBC's flagship station, WNBC) with one camera and Bill Stern[2] was the sole announcer. Estimates are that the broadcast reached approximately 1,000 television sets.[3] Twelve years later, the first live regular season college football game to be broadcast coast-to-coast aired on NBC.[4][5] The game in question, was Duke at the University of Pittsburgh on September 29, 1951.

Pretty soon on June 6,[6] 1952, NBC Head of Sport Tom Gallery[7] led negotiations towards a one-year[8] football contract[9] (for $1,144,000[10]) with the NCAA. The contract incidentally came about after the 1951 NCAA convention voted 161-7 to outlaw televised games except for those licensed by the NCAA staff. The deal[11] allowed NBC to select one game a week[12] to broadcast on Saturday afternoons, with the assurance that no other NCAA college football broadcast would appear on a competitive network. In the first college football game to be broadcast under this new NCAA television contract, on September 20, Kansas defeated TCU 13–0.

By 1953, the NCAA allowed NBC to add what it called "panorama" coverage of multiple regional broadcasts for certain weeks – shifting national viewers to the most interesting game during its telecast.[13] After NBC lost its college football contract following the 1953 season, they carried Canadian football in 1954. NBC regained college football rights in 1955 and aired games through the 1959 season. NBC regained the NCAA contract for the 1964 and 1965 seasons

Even after losing the rights to regular season college football in both 1959 and 1965, NBC continued to carry postseason football. NBC carried the Blue–Gray Football Classic, an all-star game, on Christmas Day, until dropping the game in 1963 as a protest of the game's policy of segregation.[14] It consistently served as the Rose Bowl's television home until 1988 and added the Sugar Bowl from 1958 to 1969 (which replaced the network's coverage of the Cotton Bowl Classic).

Commentators[]

See also: List of NBC College Football personalities

Play-by-play[]

  • Mel Allen[15] (1952–1957)
  • Lee Giroux (1956)
  • Chick Hearn (1957, 1965)
  • Lindsey Nelson (1953, 1955-1959, 1964–65)
  • Jim Simpson (1957)

Color commentary[]

Red Grange (top) with broadcast partner Lindsey Nelson for NBC's NCAA Game of the Week coverage, 1955.
  • Frankie Albert (1965; with Chick Hearn)
  • Terry Brennan (1964–65; with Lindsey Nelson)
  • Leo Durocher (1956; with Lee Giroux on west coast regional games)
  • Bill Flemming (1957; with Mel Allen)
  • Lee Giroux (1957; with Chick Hearn)
  • Red Grange (1955–1959; with Lindsey Nelson)
  • Charley Harville (1957; with Jim Simpson on southeast games)
  • Bill Henry (1952)
  • Bill Munday (1953; with Lindsey Nelson)
  • Lindsey Nelson (1953; with Mel Allen)
  • Bill Voights (1956; with Mel Allen on midwest regional games)
  • Bud Wilkinson (1964–65; with Lindsey Nelson)

Schedules[]

1952[]

Mel Allen and Bill Henry served as the primary broadcast crew.

Date Teams Time (ET)
September 20 TCU at Kansas 3:45 p.m.
September 27 Princeton at Columbia 1:25 p.m.
October 4 Michigan at Stanford 4:40 p.m.
October 11 Texas A&M at Michigan State 1:45 p.m.
October 18 Cornell at Yale 1:45 p.m.
October 25 Purdue at Illinois 2:15 p.m.
November 1 Ohio State at Northwestern 2:15 p.m.
November 8 Oklahoma at Notre Dame 2:15 p.m.
November 15 Alabama at Georgia Tech 2:15 p.m.
November 22 UCLA at USC 4:45 p.m.
November 29 Army vs. Navy at Philadelphia, PA 1:00 p.m.

1953[]

Mel Allen and Lindsey Nelson served as the primary broadcast crew.

Date Teams Time (ET)
September 19 Oregon at Nebraska 3:45 p.m.
September 26 Dartmouth vs. Holy Cross at Lynn, MA 1:45 p.m.
October 3 Ohio State at California 4:45 p.m.
October 10 Oklahoma vs. Texas as Dallas, TX 2:30 p.m.
October 17 Tennessee at Alabama 2:45 p.m.
October 24 Arkansas vs. Ole Miss at Memphis, TN
Cornell at Princeton
Syracuse at Illinois
Indiana at Iowa 		2:45 p.m.
October 31 Pittsburgh at Minnesota 2:45 p.m.
November 7 Wisconsin at Northwestern 2:45 p.m.
November 14 Michigan at Michigan State 1:15 p.m.
November 21 UCLA at USC 4:15 p.m.
November 26 BYU at Utah 2:45 p.m.
November 28 Army vs. Navy at Philadelphia, PA 1:15 p.m.
December 5 SMU at Notre Dame 2:00 p.m.

1955[]

Lindsey Nelson and Red Grange served as the primary broadcast crew.

Date Teams Time (ET)
September 17 Miami (FL) at Georgia Tech 3:15 p.m.
September 24 Pittsburgh at Syracuse 1:15 p.m.
October 1 Ohio State at Stanford 4:45 p.m.
October 8 Villanova at Boston College 1:45 p.m.
October 15 Notre Dame at Michigan State 2:45 p.m.
October 22 Princeton at Cornell 1:45 p.m.
October 29 Iowa at Michigan 2:15 p.m.
November 5 Notre Dame at Penn 1:15 p.m.
November 12 Navy at Columbia 1:15 p.m.
November 19 UCLA at USC 4:15 p.m.
November 24 Texas at Texas A&M 2:00 p.m.
November 26 Army vs. Navy at Philadelphia, PA 1:15 p.m.
December 3 North Carolina at Duke 1:45 p.m.

1956[]

Lindsey Nelson and Red Grange served as the primary broadcast crew.

Date Teams Time (ET)
September 22 Georgia Tech at Kentucky 3:00 p.m.
September 29 Cornell at Colgate 1:45 p.m.
October 6 Arkansas at TCU 4:00 p.m.
October 13 Holy Cross at Penn State 1:45 p.m.
October 20 Army at Syracuse 1:45 p.m.
October 27 Oklahoma at Notre Dame 2:45 p.m.
November 3 Navy vs. Notre Dame at Baltimore, MD 1:45 p.m.
November 10 Iowa at Minnesota 2:15 p.m.
November 17 Princeton at Yale 1:45 p.m.
November 22 Cornell at Penn 1:45 p.m.
November 24 USC at UCLA 4:15 p.m.
December 1 Army vs. Navy at Philadelphia, PA 1:15 p.m.
December 8 Pittsburgh at Miami (FL) 2:15 p.m.

1957[]

Lindsey Nelson and Red Grange served as the primary broadcast crew. On October 12 and 26 and November 9, 23 and 28, NBC showed regional games with Mel Allen/Bill Flemming (midwest), Jim Simpson/Charley Harville (southeast), and Chick Hearn/Lee Giroux (west).

Date Teams Time (ET)
September 21 Maryland vs. Texas A&M at Dallas, TX 4:45 p.m.
September 28 Northwestern at Stanford 4:45 p.m.
October 5 Michigan State at California 5:15 p.m.
October 12 Army vs. Notre Dame at Philadelphia, PA 1:45 p.m.
October 19 Minnesota at Illinois 2:15 p.m.
October 26 Penn State at Syracuse 1:15 p.m.
November 2 Iowa at Michigan 1:15 p.m.
November 9 Duke vs. Navy at Baltimore, MD 1:45 p.m.
November 16 Notre Dame at Oklahoma 2:45 p.m.
November 23 Harvard at Yale 1:15 p.m.
November 28 Colgate at Brown 1:15 p.m.
November 30 Army vs. Navy at Philadelphia, PA 1:15 p.m.
December 7 Pittsburgh at Miami (FL) 3:45 p.m.

1958[]

Date Teams Time (ET)
September 20 Vanderbilt at Missouri 4:45 p.m.
September 27 Tennessee at Auburn 4:45 p.m.
October 4 Washington State at California 4:45 p.m.
October 11 Ohio State at Illinois 2:15 p.m.
October 18 Penn State at Boston University 1:15 p.m.
October 25 Army at Pittsburgh 1:15 p.m.
November 1 Michigan State at Wisconsin 1:15 p.m.
November 8 Notre Dame at Pittsburgh 1:15 p.m.
November 15 Princeton at Yale 1:15 p.m.
November 22 Notre Dame at Iowa 2:15 p.m.
November 27 Texas A&M at Texas 2:45 p.m.
November 29 Army vs. Navy at Philadelphia, PA 1:15 p.m.
December 6 Holy Cross at Boston College 1:15 p.m.

1959[]

Date Teams Time (ET)
September 19 Rice at LSU 4:45 p.m.
September 26 Oklahoma at Northwestern 3:15 p.m.
October 3 California at Texas 5:15 p.m.
October 10 Penn at Princeton 1:45 p.m.
October 17 Notre Dame at Michigan State 2:15 p.m.
October 24 Iowa at Purdue 3:15 p.m.
October 31 Army vs. Air Force at Bronx, NY 1:45 p.m.
November 7
(Doubleheader) 		Pittsburgh at Boston College
Air Force at Missouri 		1:15 p.m.
4:00 p.m.
November 14 Pittsburgh at Notre Dame 1:15 p.m.
November 21 Wisconsin at Minnesota 2:15 p.m.
November 26 North Carolina at Duke 1:45 p.m.
November 28 Army vs. Navy at Philadelphia, PA 1:15 p.m.
December 5 Syracuse at UCLA 3:45 p.m.

See also[]

  • College football on television
  • Notre Dame Football on NBC
  • College Football on NBCSN
  • NBC college bowl game broadcasts

References[]

  1. ^ "Rose Bowl Game History — KTLA". Archived from the original on March 8, 2008. Retrieved May 28, 2008.
  2. ^ "BILL STERN (Audio) - Gold Time Radio - Jim Ramsburg". Jim Ramsburg.
  3. ^ "First televised football game, Waynesberg vs Fordham, 1939". American Sportscasters Online. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
  4. ^ Pedersen, Paul M.; Parks, Janet B.; Quarterman, Jerome; Thibault, Lucie, eds. (2011). Contemporary Sport Management (4th ed.). Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-7360-8167-2. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
  5. ^ Watterson, John Sayle (November 14, 2002). College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy. p. 270. ISBN 9780801871146.
  6. ^ Branch, Taylor (October 2011). "The Shame of College Sports". The Atlantic.
  7. ^ "NBC acquires rights to NCAA football". NBC Sports History Page.
  8. ^ Weber, Bruce (May 27, 2015). "Walter Byers, Ex-N.C.A.A. Leader Who Rued Corruption, Dies at 93". New York Times.
  9. ^ Fleisher, Arthur A. The National Collegiate Athletic Association: A Study in Cartel Behavior. p. 53. ISBN 9780226253268.
  10. ^ Zimbalist, Andrew (15 January 2001). Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism and Conflict in Big-Time College Sports. p. 94. ISBN 9781400823079.
  11. ^ Wolters, Larry (June 12, 1952). "June 12, 1952 - TELEVISION NEWS AND VIEWS". Chicago Tribune.
  12. ^ Byers, Walter. Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Exploiting College Athletes. pp. 79–96. JSTOR 10.3998/mpub.14486.
  13. ^ "Why Football on TV is Limited". Look. October 20, 1953(The "primary purpose is to reduce the impact of the television upon game attendance"){{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  14. ^ "Blue-Gray Telecast Is Killed". The Anniston Star. Anniston, Alabama. UPI. November 9, 1963. Retrieved June 1, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Record Book-2 2008:Layout 1" (PDF). SIDEARM Sports.
Retrieved from ""