Professional Team Sports in the Age of Television

The rise of television radically transformed American professional sports, from the way that games were played to the number of people who watched to the salaries that players received. Television provided a tantalizing new source of audience and funds – if a sport could adapt to its requirements. Professional football took full advantage of the new medium, changing rules to make the game more exciting, adding color in the form of cheerleading squads and fan activities, and hiring dramatic, controversial broadcasters such as Howard Cosell. These moves transformed the National Football League from a minor sport into an integral component of American culture. Professional basketball advanced as well. Baseball, in contrast, struggled with the new situation and lost ground. Ironically, while professional sports promoted all-out competition, both players and team owners learned that the best way to prosper in the television era was to cooperate. Team owners worked together to create the kind of parity that made most games worth watching as well as to negotiate for the most favorable broadcast contracts. Players formed unions and negotiated as a group on issues that included minimum/maximum salaries, league-wide salary caps, grievance procedures, salary arbitration, pensions, and healthcare issues.