Editing NFL on CBS (section)

====Labor disputes====
A CBS technicians strike in [[1972 NFL season|1972]] [[Labor dispute disruptions of sports on television|disrupted]] coverage of numerous NFL games. Some games were covered by local television crews, while some were not seen at all. The scheduled commentators for CBS did not cross the picket lines and instead, CBS had to scramble to substitute announcers. [[Billy Joe Patton]] and even the head of [[CBS Sports]], [[Bill MacPhail]], were among those that filled in. According to the ''[[New York Times]]'', the cut cables were discovered around noon. When CBS emergency crews (made up of supervisors) tried to bring other cables in from two trucks parked outside the stadium, a [[New York City]] [[New York Police Department|cop]] saw a striking CBS technician trying to pry loose a cable that was hooked up to one of the trucks. At this point, the cop attempted to arrest the technician, but two of the latter's cohorts got involved, with a "scuffle" then breaking out. The first technician was arrested for criminal tampering, while the other two got hauled in on a host of other charges. CBS presumably figured it would be impossible to avoid having it happen again (although the strikers reportedly only numbered 25), so they just canceled the broadcast.

Interestingly, the [[1972 San Francisco 49ers season|San Francisco]]-[[1972 Green Bay Packers season|Green Bay]] game at [[Milwaukee County Stadium|Milwaukee]] also had nine television cables cut, but the picture was only out for eight minutes at the start of the second half. Finally, in the [[1972 Los Angeles Rams season|Los Angeles]]-[[1972 Atlanta Falcons season|Atlanta]] game (called by Jack Drees, George Connor, and Gil Stratton), there were no replays because they had two less cameras in use because of the strike. That Sunday, CBS was also forced to preempt ''[[Face the Nation]]'' because of the strike, which is notable because it came just two days before the [[1972 United States presidential election|Presidential election]].

Also in Week 8 of the 1972 season, the [[1972 Dallas Cowboys season|Dallas]]-[[1972 San Diego Chargers season|San Diego]] game was seen on a [[KDFW|regional basis]] in Texas. [[Bill Mercer]] and [[Dick Risenhoover]] were the commentators for this game. No CBS network personnel worked this game, though it appears several CBS affiliates did cover the game. Meanwhile, that week's [[1972 Green Bay Packers season|Green Bay]]-[[1972 Chicago Bears season|Chicago]] game was covered by about five or six CBS affiliates in [[List of television stations in Wisconsin|Wisconsin]] and a [[List of television stations in Michigan|Michigan]] CBS affiliate in the [[Upper Peninsula]]. While the game actually was done by [[WBAY]], the channel fed the game to [[WISN-TV|WISN]] in [[Milwaukee]], who then distributed the game on a [[Closed-circuit television|closed-circuit]] feed to the other outlets. Bruce Roberts was not a part of the crew which was otherwise composed of Jack Whitaker and Jim Morse. The Week 11 [[1972 Minnesota Vikings season|Minnesota]]-[[1972 Pittsburgh Steelers season|Pittsburgh]] game was called by Jack Drees and George Connor with [[Andy Musser]] in CBS Control. CBS canceled the telecast for this the [[1972 Philadelphia Eagles season|Philadelphia]]-[[1972 New York Giants season|New York]] game in Week 11. The [[International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers]] had disrupted a couple of earlier telecasts from New York and CBS did not want any more hassle. [[WPVI]] (an ABC affiliate) in [[Philadelphia]] purchased the rights for this game. Abruptly on the day before the game, WPVI canceled the telecast (the Eagles lost 62–10).

The scheduled telecasts of two [[1972 New York Jets season|New York Jets]] home games, Week 8 vs. [[1972 Washington Redskins season|Washington]] and week 12 vs. [[1972 New Orleans Saints season|New Orleans]], were cancelled due to the labor dispute.