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NFL on Dumont Question

O

oldvnewschool

I remember reading a while back on this forum

that Dumont had a Saturday Night Football package for the NFL.

It mostly involved New York Giants, Washington Redskins, and The Cleveland Browns.

But wasn't the Los Angeles Rams, Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, and the
Detroit Lions are part of the deal as well.

I know that Paramount had interest in Dumont and owned the KTLA and WBKB

stations which might explain why I thought the bears and rams may have been

a part of it.

I was just wondering if there were any other teams involved besides the Giants,

Redskins, and Steelers.

Thank You
 
> I remember reading a while back on this forum
> that Dumont had a Saturday Night Football package for the NFL.
>
> It mostly involved New York Giants, Washington Redskins, and
> The Cleveland Browns. But wasn't the Los Angeles Rams, Chicago Bears, Green Bay
> Packers, and the Detroit Lions are part of the deal as well.
>
> I know that Paramount had interest in Dumont and owned the
> KTLA and WBKB stations which might explain why I thought the bears and
> rams may have been a part of it.
>
> I was just wondering if there were any other teams involved
> besides the Giants, Redskins, and Steelers.
>
> Thank You

Paramount Pictures spun off United Paramount Theaters in 1949 as a result of a legal battle with the US Gummint that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Paramount Pictures kept KTLA and UPT kept Balaban & Katz, which owned WBKB. It was Paramount Pictures that had the stake in Dumont, although KTSL (now KCBS-TV) was LA's Dumont affiliate, not KTLA.

I'm not sure which teams Dumont had deals with (this was before the NFL took over TV rights for all teams), but I do remember seeing listings for the Bears on WGN-TV, which was Chicago's Dumont affiliate. I think WBKB carried some Bear games before Dumont bought the rights.
 
> I was just wondering if there were any other teams involved
> besides the Giants, Redskins, and Steelers.
>
Since DuMont owned stations in NY, Washington and Pittsburgh they would be the most likely to be involved. I understand that there was an agreement with one of the Chicago stations for Bears games, but I can't remember if it was the original WBKB (now WBBM) or WGN (which cleared DuMont programming after WBKB was sold to CBS).
 
dumont did saturday night games in 1953 and 1954. complete with a white football.

dumont had the rights to most sunday games as well from 1951 thru 1954, and some teams in 1955.

dumont televised the nfl championship game from 1951 thru 1954, the 1951 telecast was somewhat historic in that it was the first coast to coast telecast of a (college or pro) football game. harry wismer called the 51, 52 and 53 games. chuck thompson and byrum saam called the 1954 game.

as far as the saturday night games covered by dumont, perhaps highwayman128 can come thru with that info as he is the ace for finding the schedules.

hope this was of some help.

tb
 
"NFL Saturday Night Football" On DuMont In 1953 And 1954 (Was: Re: NFL on Dumont Question)

Going to Shrp Sports.com, I was able to isolate these NFL games during 1953 and 1954 as being played on Saturdays, which were likely night games and shown on DuMont:

1953:

Saturday Oct. 3rd: N.Y. Giants at Pittsburgh
(Note: the Baltimore Colts also hosted Cleveland on this date, but I suspect the Giants and Steelers were on DuMont, given Pittsburgh had a DuMont O&O)
Saturday, October 10th: Philadelphia at Cleveland
Saturday, October 17th: Pittsburgh at Philadelphia
Saturday, October 24th: Green Bay at Pittsburgh
Saturday, October 31st: Green Bay at Baltimore
Saturday, November 7th: Baltimore at Detroit
(No NFL game was listed as being played on Saturday, November 14th, 1953)
Saturday, November 21st: Chicago Cardinals at Philadelphia
(No NFL game was listed as being played on Saturday, November 28th, 1953)
Saturday, December 5th: Baltimore at Los Angeles Rams
Saturday, December 12th: Green Bay at Los Angeles Rams

1954:

Saturday, October 2nd: New York Giants at Baltimore OR Washington at Pittsburgh (someone will have to check old TV listings to see which of these games DuMont carried, given that all three of their O&O cities were playing. Maybe one game was on WABD-5 New York; the other on the network)
Saturday, October 9th: Pittsburgh at Philadelphia
Saturday, October 16th: Baltimore at Detroit
Saturday, October 23rd: Phladelphia at Pittsburgh
Saturday, October 30th: Green Bay at Philadelphia
Saturday, November 6th: Detroit at Baltimore
Saturday, Novemebr 13th: Baltimore at Green Bay (game in Milwaukee; Green Bay would for many years play some of their home games in Milwaukee)
Saturday, November 20th: San Francisco at Pittsburgh
(No NFL game was listed as being played on Saturday, November 27th, 1954)
Saturday, December 4th: Baltimore at Los Angeles
Saturday, December 11th: Baltimore at San Francisco

Perhaps someone can take down this information, go to a public library where 1953 and 1954 issues of the New York Times, Washington Post and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are available on microfilm, and verify this information with the TV listings pages of those papers to determine the actual DuMont Saturday-night NFL schedules for those seasons.

Shrp Sports also listed eight NFL games in 1955 as being played on Saturday nights, but I don't know for sure if DuMont's Saturday-night NFL coverage continued into 1955 or not. I do know DuMont did carry Sunday-afternoon NFL games of some teams in 1955, but the league was so worried about whether the network (which by that time had eliminated all of it's entertainment programming) would even be around long enough to cover the championship game. As a result, the NFL cancelled a deal with DuMont for the '55 championship game and instead got the game on NBC.

And some at ABC still claim "We were first with a weekly prime-time NFL telecast in 1970!".

Wrong!!
 
Re: "NFL Saturday Night Football" On DuMont In 1953 And 1954 (Was: Re: NFL on Dumont Question)

> Going to Shrp Sports.com, I was able to isolate these NFL
> games during 1953 and 1954 as being played on Saturdays,
> which were likely night games and shown on DuMont:
>
> 1953:
>
> Saturday Oct. 3rd: N.Y. Giants at Pittsburgh
> (Note: the Baltimore Colts also hosted Cleveland on this
> date, but I suspect the Giants and Steelers were on DuMont,
> given Pittsburgh had a DuMont O&O)
> Saturday, October 10th: Philadelphia at Cleveland
> Saturday, October 17th: Pittsburgh at Philadelphia
> Saturday, October 24th: Green Bay at Pittsburgh
> Saturday, October 31st: Green Bay at Baltimore
> Saturday, November 7th: Baltimore at Detroit
> (No NFL game was listed as being played on Saturday,
> November 14th, 1953)
> Saturday, November 21st: Chicago Cardinals at Philadelphia
> (No NFL game was listed as being played on Saturday,
> November 28th, 1953)
> Saturday, December 5th, 1953: Baltimore at Los Angeles Rams
> Saturday, December 12th, 1953: Green Bay at Los Angeles Rams
>
>
> 1954:
>
> Saturday, October 2nd: New York Giants at Baltimore OR
> Washington at Pittsburgh (someone will have to check old TV
> listings to see which of these games DuMont carried, given
> that all three of their O&O cities were playing. Maybe one
> game was on WABD-5 New York; the other on the network)
> Saturday, October 9th: Pittsburgh at Philadelphia
> Saturday, October 16th: Baltimore at Detroit
> Saturday, October 23rd: Phladelphia at Pittsburgh
> Saturday, October 30th: Green Bay at Philadelphia
> Saturday, November 6th: Detroit at Baltimore
> Saturday, Novemebr 13th: Baltimore at Green Bay (game in
> Milwaukee; Green Bay would for many years play some of their
> home games in Milwaukee)
> Saturday, November 20th: San Francisco at Pittsburgh
> (No NFL game was listed as being played on Saturday,
> November 27th, 1954)
> Saturday, December 4th: Baltimore at Los Angeles
> Saturday, December 11th: Baltimore at San Francisco
>
> Perhaps someone can take down this information, go to a
> public library where 1953 and 1954 issues of the New York
> Times, Washington Post and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are
> available on microfilm, and verify this information with the
> TV listings pages of those papers to determine the actual
> DuMont Saturday-night NFL schedules for those seasons.
>
> Shrp Sports also listed eight NFL games in 1955 as being
> played on Saturday nights, but I don't know for sure if
> DuMont's Saturday-night NFL coverage continued into 1955 or
> not. I do know DuMont did carry Sunday-afternoon NFL games
> of some teams in 1955, but the league was so worried about
> whether the network (which by that time had eliminated all
> of it's entertainment programming) would even be around long
> enough to cover the championship game. As a result, the NFL
> cancelled a deal with DuMont for the '55 championship game
> and instead got the game on NBC.
>
> And some at ABC still claim "We were first with a weekly
> prime-time NFL telecast in 1970!".
>
> Wrong!!
>
I assumed those games on Saturdays were not televised by the NFL
considering that was a package that started in 1953, not 1951 like
the Sunday package.

I'm shocked that the other Chicago (Now Arizona) team got on there as well as Philadelphia.

Baltimore, Cleveland, and San Francisco came from the old AAFC and I'm
not suprised they got exposure.

It's a shame that the NFL doesen't mention the 51 Sunday Game Package on Dumont.
Sure CBS is CBS, but they had no right to pick on poor ol Dumont.

Hopefully someday they will be recoginized on the NFL website because they

only mention them as hosting the NFL Title game between 1951 and 1954.

On top of that, they had the Thanksgiving games for four years before ABC
picked up the rights for one year before, you guess it, CBS took over.

So this indeed explains it.

Thank You
 
Re: "NFL Saturday Night Football" On DuMont In 1953 And 1954 (Was: Re: NFL on Dumont Question)

> > 1953:
> > Saturday, December 5th, 1953: Baltimore at Los Angeles
> Rams
> > Saturday, December 12th, 1953: Green Bay at Los Angeles
> Rams
> >
> >
> > 1954:
> > Saturday, December 4th: Baltimore at Los Angeles
> > Saturday, December 11th: Baltimore at San Francisco
>
these games were actually saturday afternoon games as opposed to night games, but still went coast2coast on dumont.

as far as i know the 1955 saturday night games were not nationally on dumont.

tb
 
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