000 03887cam a22003858i 4500
001 on1023488375
003 OCoLC
005 20181022015053.0
008 180321s2018 nyua b 001 0deng
010 _a 2018012386
040 _aDLC
_beng
_erda
_cDLC
_dOCLCO
_dOCLCQ
_dOCLCF
_dTH8
_dOQX
_dABJ
_dQQ3
_dRB0
_dNFG
020 _a9780465048700
_q(hardcover)
020 _a0465048706
_q(hardcover)
020 _z9781541617377
_q(ebook)
035 _a(OCoLC)1023488375
042 _apcc
043 _an-us---
092 _a796.3326
_bE36
049 _aNFGA
100 1 _aEisenberg, John,
_d1956-
_eauthor.
_9138406
245 1 4 _aThe League :
_bhow five rivals created the NFL and launched a sports empire /
_cJohn Eisenberg.
250 _aFirst edition.
264 1 _aNew York :
_bBasic Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc.,
_c[2018]
264 4 _c©2018
300 _aviii, 397 pages :
_billustrations ;
_c25 cm
336 _atext
_btxt
_2rdacontent
337 _aunmediated
_bn
_2rdamedia
338 _avolume
_bnc
_2rdacarrier
504 _aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520 _a"The National Football League is a towering, distinctly American colossus taking in $14 billion in annual revenue and provoking intense national debate over issues from player safety to political protest. Yet its current dominance obscures a surprising origin story. As it turns out, in the beginning most people found the very idea of professional football absurd. In The League, acclaimed author John Eisenberg reveals how the five men who built the NFL took an immense risk by investing in the sport in the 1920s and 1930s. Art Rooney, George Halas, Tim Mara, George Preston Marshall, and Bert Bell first achieved renown as gamblers, bookies, and prodigal sons. What they shared, other than street smarts and a competitive streak, was an unusual passion for professional football at a time when the nation was obsessed with college football, baseball, boxing, and horseracing. As Eisenberg shows in this absorbing chronicle of the NFL's first decades, the League nearly failed numerous times. It was frequently short on funds or fans, and often both. New teams appeared and quickly folded. The Depression and the Second World War only magnified the challenges the owners faced. The five rivals succeeded because each sacrificed the short-term success of his team for the longer-term good of the League. Together they instituted a draft and revised the rules to transform a plodding, run-based game into a dazzling aerial show. Together they ushered the NFL into the TV era of the 1950s -- when the league we know today first came into view. A remarkable story of sportsmanship and business ingenuity, The League is an essential read for any fan of our true national pastime." --
_cFrom publisher's description.
505 0 _aPrologue -- Part One. Chapter 1: Halas: The founder -- Chapter 2: Mara: The promoter -- Chapter 3: Marshall: The showman -- Chapter 4: Bell: The profligate son -- Chapter 5: Rooney: The gambler -- Part Two. Chapter 6: Almost broke -- Chapter 7: New ideas -- Chapter 8: Benny and the Giants -- Chapter 9: Instituting a draft -- Chapter 10: Betting bonanza -- Chapter 11: Move to DC -- Part Three. Chapter 12: Brotherhood of rivals -- Chapter 13: A step forward -- Chapter 14: The greatest rout -- Chapter 15: Same, old Pirates -- Chapter 16: Political winds -- Chapter 17: Dog meat -- Chapter 18: Two wars -- Chapter 19: The right guy in charge -- Part Four. Chapter 20: Back across the color line -- Chapter 21: Scandal -- Chapter 22: Everyone loses -- Chapter 23: The little black box -- Chapter 24: All-white Redskins -- Chapter 25: Forty million viewers -- Epilogue.
610 2 0 _aNational Football League
_xHistory.
_927832
650 0 _aFootball
_zUnited States
_xHistory.
_959933
994 _aC0
_bNFG
999 _c279296
_d279296