1932 NFL Championship Game
The 1932 NFL Playoff Game: an indoor tiebreaker that changed football forever.
The 1932 NFL Playoff Game was an extra game held to break a tie in the 1932 season's final standings in the National Football League (NFL); it matched the host Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans. Because of snowfall and anticipated extremely cold temperatures in Chicago, Illinois, it was moved indoors and played at the three-year-old Chicago Stadium on December 18 on a reduced-size field on Sunday night. The Bears won, beating the Spartans 9-0.
Last updated 2026-10-21 from the source article.
Quick Facts
- Visitor
- Portsmouth Spartans
- Visitor coach
- George Clark
- Visitor record
- 6–1–4
- Home
- Chicago Bears
- Home coach
- Ralph Jones
- Home record
- 6–1–6
- Date
- December 18, 1932
- Stadium
- Chicago Stadium
Facts from the source article.
Background
The game was set to be played at Wrigley Field, the Bears' home stadium, but due to severe blizzards followed by extremely cold temperatures and wind chill, the game was moved indoors to Chicago Stadium. The Stadium at that time was the largest indoor arena in the world with a maximum seating capacity of 26,000. Two years earlier, the Bears and Cardinals had played a charity exhibition game at the arena after the 1930 season. The game was moved indoors due to extreme weather, allowing for reasonable attendance and gate revenue.
The Bears won 9–7. It wasn't an uncommon practice in the city, as local teams played in the Dexter Park Pavilion as early as 1917, when the Racine Cardinals and the Evanstons from Evanston played to a scoreless tie. A week before the game, the concrete surface had tanbark placed atop for a Salvation Army-sponsored circus; elephant manure from the circus produced an odor that caused a Bears player to vomit on the field.
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