The League: The Rise and Decline of the NFL

by David Harris

Professional football is more than “America’s Game”—it is America’s obsession, as millions follow the violent spectacle staged by the NFL each year from training camps to the Super Bowl. But behind the game is a billion-dollar business—and over the last decade inside the business there has occurred an extraordinary shift of power…..

Genres: Football, Sports, Nonfiction, History

710 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1986

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Reviews

[Seth · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a hefty volume, at 600+ pages. I actually owned this book at one time, and maybe I still do. I acquired it when I was 12 or so because I thought, "Football? I'll read about football." But it was a little too dense for my young mind.

The book is actually more about football the business than football the game. It's an interesting read if you're interested in such things. If not, then it's probably not for you. Basically it chronicles the off-the-field history of the NFL from about 1972 through 1984. The main characters of the book are Raiders owner Al Davis and commissioner Pete Rozelle, as the central storyline of the book is Davis plotting to move his team from Oakland to Los Angeles, and the lawsuit that ensued.

There were plenty of other storylines as well regarding the owners of other teams and their shenanigans. The Sullivans getting Massachusetts law changed so they could regain control of the Patriots, the Eagles owner nearly having his team seized by creditors, Bob Irsay's decadelong quest to get the Colts out of Baltimore, the Rams and their questionable connection with shady characters in scalping Super Bowl tickets, Art Modell and a dizzying array of financial transactions regarding the Browns and their stadium, and plenty of disagreements between the owners on policies such as cross-ownership with other professional sports leagues and the ability to move their team to another city. And also the stadium issue, with owners attempting to get the public to finance facilities to generate new revenue for their teams.

I also learned a few fun facts, such as the fact that the New Orleans Saints exist because the NFL needed help getting the NFL-AFL merger through Congress in 1967 and gave the city a team in exchange for help from a couple of Louisiana senators.

It's also ironic that the main issue of the book, the NFL's right to control what teams play in Los Angeles, is pretty much moot, since Al Davis went back to Oakland anyways and there hasn't been a team in Los Angeles for a decade and the league is doing just fine.

[Billy Hogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent book about a very tumultuous era of NFL history, from 1974 to around 1984. This was the era when I first began following NFL football, in 1972. It was the era where the League went from a fairly unified organization after the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, called "League Speak" in the book, to one whose unity was fractured somewhat because of various legal challenges as well as a handful of rebellious owners. The book details how various owners came to become NFL owners, and in some cases, have to sell their teams for different reasons. We also get a behind the scenes look at the various levels of integrity some of the owners had in the way they conducted business in general. One owner that stood out to me was Art Modell, owner of the Cleveland Browns, who, even in the 1970's, was struggling to get an up to date stadium for his team. He would eventually move his team to Baltimore to become the Ravens, decades after the era covered in the book.

The story covers the era of the NFL from when Pete Rozelle was elected as Commissioner after the death of previous NFL leader Bert Bell, how he built his power and influence over the owners, modernized the league, and revolutionized the League's TV contracts, finalizing the game's rise as the nation's favorite sport. The book ends with his enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall Of Fame, when his power and influence had taken a dip because of some legal decisions and the actions of some of the owners, most prominently Al Davis.

Davis also had struggles in Oakland trying to get a modern stadium for his team, until he moved the team to Los Angeles without League approval as specified by League rules. While this is a big part of the story, it's not the only one. There's also Robert Irsay, owner of the Baltimore Colts, who moved the team to Indianapolis in the middle of the night. Leonard Towes, owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, would eventually have to sell the team because of his massive debts. There are a lot more stories about the highs and lows of various owners.

Author David Harris did an excellent job of researching and writing this book, giving us an insider's view of the inner workings of my favorite league. You get a good view of how the "sausage is made", so to speak, and you might not like everything you learn. But it's a great book to read in order to learn how the NFL began to grow into the behemoth it is today, and I would recommend it to any football fan.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

pretty interesting story behind the scenes of the nfl just before it became a colossal juggernaut.

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

consider this a proto-version of john helyar's lords of the realm: the real history of baseball. very similar book, nearly 700 pages in length built from hours upon hours of interviews with many of the OG or near-OG owners of the AFL/NFL merger period. harris gets a lot wrong about the future of the league - things work out, especially the stadium and network contract games, but he couldn't have known that - but the history he lays down here is invaluable, in that it shows how the art modells and al davises were basically just heavily leveraged men who weren't even one-millionaires before they extorted cities into building their vast fortunes. required reading for any folks who want to learn about what a clever bunch of crooks and operators these executives were. football is much closer to its precarious carny past than most in 2022 would be willing to admit.

[AndrewP · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wanted to get some background on America Football when I was living in Germany. Interesting historic information but a bit boring to read.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

(read this before Goodreads, added this years after reading the book)

Probably liked it.