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NFL on CBS
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====Monday night games on CBS==== During the early 1960s, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle envisioned the possibility of playing at least one game weekly during [[prime time]] for a greater television audience. An early bid by ABC in 1964 to have the league play a weekly game on Friday nights was abandoned, with critics charging that such telecasts would damage the attendance at [[high school football|high school games]]. Undaunted, Rozelle decided to experiment with the concept of playing on Monday night, scheduling the [[1964 Green Bay Packers season|Green Bay Packers]] and [[1964 Detroit Lions season|Detroit Lions]] for a game on September 28, 1964. While the game was not televised, it drew a sellout crowd of 59,203 spectators to [[Tiger Stadium (Detroit)|Tiger Stadium]], the largest crowd to watch a professional football game in [[Detroit]] up to that point. Two years later, Rozelle would build on this success as the NFL began a four-year experiment of playing on Monday night, scheduling a total of five Monday night games on CBS from 1966 to 1969 (including two in 1968).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1966/10/31/page/69/article/ex-neighbors-will-tangle-in-st-louis|title=Chicago Tribune - Historical Newspapers}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1967/10/31/page/41/article/green-bays-late-surge-wins-31-23|title=Chicago Tribune - Historical Newspapers|date=May 27, 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1968/09/17/page/55/article/los-angeles-deals-cards-24-13-loss|title=Chicago Tribune - Historical Newspapers|date=May 27, 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1968/10/29/page/49|title=Chicago Tribune - Historical Newspapers|date=May 27, 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1969/10/28/page/47/article/cowboys-harass-fran-frustrate-giants-25-to-3|title=Chicago Tribune - Historical Newspapers|date=May 27, 2023 }}</ref> The first prime-time telecast on CBS was on Saturday night, September 10, 1966, with the [[1966 Baltimore Colts season|Baltimore Colts]] opening the season against the [[1966 Green Bay Packers season|Green Bay Packers]] at [[Milwaukee County Stadium|Milwaukee]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1966/09/10/page/91/article/packers-and-colts-open-1966-n-f-l-season-tonight|title=Chicago Tribune - Historical Newspapers|date=May 27, 2023 }}</ref> The first Monday night national telecast was on October 31, 1966, with the [[1966 St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) season|St. Louis Cardinals]] winning at home over the [[1966 Chicago Bears season|Chicago Bears]], 24β17.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/196610310crd.htm|title = Chicago Bears at St. Louis Cardinals - October 31st, 1966|website = [[Pro-Football-Reference.com]]}}</ref> NBC followed suit in [[List of American Football League seasons#1968 .5B9.5D|1968]] and [[List of American Football League seasons#1969 .5B10.5D|1969]] with games involving [[American Football League|AFL]] teams. The Chicago-St. Louis game on October 31, 1966, was a national Monday night telecast except in St. Louis. [[Jack Drees]] and [[Frank Gifford]] called the first half and [[Lindsey Nelson]] and Gifford did the second half. This was almost certainly the first NFL prime time game ever televised in [[Color television|color]]. The Green Bay-St. Louis game from a year later on October 30 was likewise, also a prime time "coast to coast" telecast. Jack Drees again did play-by-play for the first half, while this time, [[Ray Scott (sportscaster)|Ray Scott]] did play-by-play for the second half, and [[Frank Gifford]] was the analyst for the full game. During subsequent negotiations on a television contract that would begin in [[1970 NFL season|1970]], Rozelle concentrated on signing a weekly Monday night deal with one of the three major networks. After sensing reluctance from both NBC and CBS in disturbing their regular programming schedules, Rozelle spoke with ABC. Despite the network's status as the lowest-[[Nielsen ratings|rated]] network, ABC was also reluctant to enter the risky venture. Only after the independent [[Hughes Sports Network]], an entity bankrolled by reclusive businessman [[Howard Hughes]] showed interest, did ABC sign a contract for the scheduled games. Speculation was that had Rozelle signed with Hughes, many ABC affiliates would have pre-empted the network's Monday lineup in favor of the games, severely damaging potential ratings. There was even talk that one or two ABC [[owned-and-operated station]]s would have ditched the network feed to carry the games.
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