American Football League on ABC

Broadcast history

In 1960, the American Football League struck a five-year deal with ABC worth about $2.125 million annually for the whole league. The agreement covered roughly 37 regular-season games, the AFL Championship, and the All-Star Game, which aired regionally on 15 straight Sundays plus Thanksgiving. This marked the first time pro football shared TV revenue equally among teams; the NFL copied the model in 1961, prompting Congress to pass the Sports Broadcasting Act.

ABC and the AFL pioneered moving on-field cameras and were the first to wire players with microphones during games. The league also put players' names on jerseys, helping fans identify them on TV and in stadiums. The final AFL broadcast on ABC was the All-Star Game on January 16, 1965, after NBC bought the rights in January 1964 for $36 million over five years, starting with the 1965 season. That cash injection triggered a bidding war with the NFL, leading to the AFL-NFL merger in June 1966.

ABC did not air pro football again until after the merger and the launch of Monday Night Football, aside from the 1966 Continental Football League championship.

List of commentators

Pat Hernon hosted ABC's national postgame show from New York. Commentators included Charlie Brockman (1964), Jack Buck (1960-1963), John Ferguson (1960), Bill Flemming (1964), Curt Gowdy (1962-1964), Keith Jackson (1964), Charlie Jones (1960-1964), Les Keiter (1960), Bob Neal (1961), Elmer Angsman (1960; 1964), Fred Benners (1960), Paul Christman (1962-1964), Dick Danehe (1960), Bill Dudley (1960), Lee Giroux (1961), Johnny Lujack (1964), Paul Mannaseh (1960), Jim McKay (1961), and George Ratterman (1960-1964). ABC showed scores and updates from both the AFL and NFL but seldom showed AFL highlights except from the regionally broadcast game, and never showed any NFL highlights.