Television as a Social Element
The televising of sporting events began in the United States in 1939 with coverage of a Columbia-Princeton baseball game（televised sport had appeared in Germany in 1936）.In short order，however，college and professional gameswere being televised on a regular basis，creating instant celebrities and，at least to some degree，assuaging political tensions.
The first national telecast of baseball games was in 1951，when the American Telephone and Telegraph Com pany（AT&T）6 assembled a cable system.The 1951 World Series7 was scheduled to be the first live event to be broadcast across the entire country.Under pressure from the NBC television network，the NBA also initiated a new rule in 1954 to increase scoring and eliminate intentional stalling of the game.The change was deemed desirable as a way to spice up low-scoring games such as one in 1950，when，much to the chagrin of fans，the FortWayne Pistons had beaten the Minneapolis Lakers by themeasly score of 19-18.Under the new rule，each team had to shootwithin 24 seconds or lose possession of the ball，thus assuringmore aggressive offensive efforts，which were highly appreciated by audiences.Thus，television networks began to influence the nature of the game.Professional basketball's stature，however，grew slowly，in part because of its provincial nature.
9-4 The first National Telecast of Baseball Games
By 1959，10 years after its creation by themerger of the NBL and the BAA，the resultant NBA had moved most of it franchises to larger urban centers.The 8 teams drew more than twomillion fans to games in 1959，but such popularity spawned the rival American Basketball League in 1961.It lasted only until 1963，but rivalry rose anew with the organization of the American Basketball Association in 1967.The new league distinguished itself with a red，white，and blue ball，a 30-second shot clock8，and a long-range three-point shot—rules thatmade the gamemore aggressive and attractive tomany fans.Aswith league rivalry in football，the competition for players increased salaries dramatically until the two competitorsmerged in 1976.
The nature of American sport since 1960 has been affected by the introduction of first television and later，the internet.Television in particular transformed sport by bringing games to a wider audience and by showering billions of dollars on various leagues，which has trickled down to the athletes themselves.The combination of sport，particularly football，with television is one that has created new national holidays，such as Super Bow l9 Sunday and themonth-long depression of business productivity that is the result of M arch M adness10.Football team owners flourished thanks to the television contracts negotiated by the league's commissioner.In 1970，the year the NFL-AFL merger took effect，the NFL signed contractswith the 3 major networksworth$142 million.All3 networks used play-by-play announcers and analysts to provide viewerswith insights，and ABC11 spruced up M onday Night Football12 telecasts by adding innovative halftime highlights of the Sunday games.The NFL was not the only beneficiary of the largesse coming in from television，just the first，other than roller derby and boxing，to take full advantage of it.In the 1960s and 1970s，the NCAA monopolized TV college sports coverage and closely controlled the number of games a team could televise.Despite an initial dip in the amount that colleges received from networks，major conferences began to negotiate separate deals.As a result，the amount ofmoney for television contracts has reached billions of dollars formultiyear contracts.