The League: How Five Rivals Created the NFL and Launched a Sports Empire

by John Eisenberg

The epic tale of the five owners who shepherded the NFL through its tumultuous early decades and built the most popular sport in America

The National Football League is a towering, distinctly American colossus spewing out $13 billion in annual revenue. Yet its current dominance has obscured how professional football got its start.

In The League, John Eisenberg reveals that Art Rooney, George Halas, Tim Mara, George Preston Marshall, and Bert Bell took an immense risk by investing in the professional game. At that time the sport barely registered on the national scene, where college football, baseball, boxing, and horseracing dominated. The five owners succeeded only because at critical junctures in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s each sacrificed the short-term success of his team for the longer-term good of the League.

At once a history of a sport and a remarkable story of business ingenuity, The League is an essential read for any fan of our true national pastime.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Football, Biography, History, Memoir, Inspirational

416 pages, Hardcover

First published October 9, 2018

About the author

John Eisenberg is one of the country’s most acclaimed sportswriters. A native of Dallas, Texas and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he started out covering the “Friday Night Lights” for the now-defunct Dallas Times Herald in 1979. After rising through the ranks to cover pro basketball, he joined the staff of the Baltimore Sun in 1984. For the next 23 years he wrote columns in the Sun about the hometown Orioles, Ravens and Maryland Terrapins, and also covered major events such as the World Series, Super Bowl and Olympics. His honors included several firsts in the prestigious Associated Press Sports Editors’ contest. Since 2012 he has written columns on the Ravens’ website.

John has also authored 10 bestselling sports books, including The Streak: Lou Gehrig, Cal Ripken, Jr. and Baseball’s Most Historic Record. Published in 2017, it was a finalist for the Casey Award, which honors the year’s best baseball book, and was shortlisted for the PEN/ESPN Literary Sportswriting Award, which honors the year’s best sports book. John’s most recent title is The League: How Five Rivals Created the NFL and Launched a Sports Empire. John has also written for Sports Illustrated and Smithsonian Magazine. He lives in Baltimore with his wife of 35years. They have two grown children and a grandson.

Reviews

[Don Gerstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even Non-Fans of Football Should Read This Book

(Live Video Review at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SlUb... )

It will be far easier to tell you why you should read this book than to give you a rundown, chapter by chapter. Seldom is a book on sports history printed that contains entertainment as well as wisdom for so many.

Pro football came about due to the efforts of a handful of visionaries, men who could see a future in a game while others thought they were wasting their time. These men were not merely dreamers, they were businessmen who understood that something worthwhile is bound to cause pain, that overnight success is the exception to the rule. This is a story about dedication and sacrifice in the face of overwhelming odds.

Definitely for anyone seeking a book that is inspirational, goal-oriented, and yes, one with a happy ending (no spoiler here, we all know how big the NFL is, right?).

For those interested in writing books on any kind of history, this one could serve as a training manual. Author John Eisenberg’s research is outstanding, and his desire to stay within the boundaries of absolute truth is commendable. In the author’s own words: “I have not invented conversations; everything that appears within quotation marks is cited, as are numbers that are not commonly in the public record, such as financial profit and loss figures.” With this statement as his guide, Mr. Eisenberg places us in the midst of that action, sharing the professional wins and losses while demonstrating just how many times the NFL could have crumbled, leaving us with nothing more to watch on Sunday afternoons than old movies.

If you haven’t guessed, this isn’t a book about football dynasties nor is it centered on incredible football games that shouldn’t be forgotten. While stories of games and football seasons are shared, they are not the focus. Rather, it is on the determination of men who believed in something that they felt was bigger than all of them. In today’s world where business sometimes seems to be nothing more than dog-eat-dog and survival of the fittest, their personal histories and interaction with each other is entertaining, impelling, and motivating. Five stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and Perseus Books, Basic Books for an advance electronic copy of this book.

[Jim Goodrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been a fan of the NFL since the mid 70's so it was really interesting to learn the backstory of the league which started way back in 1920. It was fascinating to learn the life stories of 5 of the original team owners and founders of the league, and how they struggled for decades losing money and yet holding on, sometimes paying the players with IOUs, to keep their dreams alive. Over the years, more than 30 teams came and folded as the owners struggled to make money. It was through their sheer determination and tenacity that we are able to enjoy the insanely popular and lucrative sport that is the NFL today. I also enjoyed reading about the evolution of the sport which originally just copied the rules from college football, but then evolved as the owners decided that the rules should be changed to make the sport more entertaining. Finally, it was a funny contrast with today's NFL how the Steeler's were such pitiful losers for decades, while the Browns won the championship their first 4 years of existence in the AAFC. And then after the AAFC folded and the Browns joined the NFL, they won the championship their first year there as well. In fact between 1950 and 1955 the Browns reached the championship game every year and won 3 times. Times sure have changed since then!

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book on the early days of the NFL, illustrating that it has not always been the sports giant it is today. Indeed, many of today's football fans would be very surprised to see how many teams failed early in the league's history and how these five pioneers (Halas, Mara, Bell, Marshall, Rooney) were fierce competitors but would band together to make changes that may hurt their individual teams in the short term but would benefit the league in the long run. All of the bad, such as Marshall's blatant racism that helped keep his team all white for a long time, as well as the good is illustrated here. Eisenberg has written a book that every professional football fan should read to learn what the NFL went through before becoming what it is now.

[Al · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a gift book but definitely in my wheelhouse. I remember looking at my grandparents’ encyclopedias and reading the history of sports. These books were from the 1960s and Football certainly lacked the storied history of other sports at that time.

And this book explains some of that. The NFL may have started in the 1920s but it was an uphill climb for decades.

This book sounds like it is a story of the early years but the subtitle is more indicative of what you get. This is the story of the NFL as told through the five most important men in the early days of the league.

This isn’t a flashy quick read but I loved the way it gave so much knowledge. Art Rooney, George Halas, Tim Mara, George Preston Marshall, and Bert Bell weren’t the only owners but they really were the main decision makers of the league.

In the early days, pro football was not considered serious sport. College football rules the day, but the pro leagues were secondary entertainment.

Although the owners didn’t always get along with each other and wanted to win, somehow always managed to put the priorities of the league ahead of their own.

And for that, this book is fantastic. Football struggled mightily but the persistence and smart acumen of the owners was able to overcome the hurdles. When things started to turn around, World War 2 came along and though the league came out of the other end more successful, it was an incredibly difficult time and the owners had to work together.

In the 1950s when ideas came along that challenged the status quo- integration and westward movement to name two- the opportunity opened up for a competitor the AAFC. Once again the owners went into survival mode and did what was best for the league. Another change was Television, a difficult river to navigate, yet again it was the right moves the NFL made.

It really is told in a fantastic way. All of the things we take for granted had to start somewhere but are novel ideas at the time. For example, breaking the league up into two divisions for a year end Championship is the birth of the Super Bowl (In 1938, Mara presciently suggested having it at a warmer neutral field in Florida, an idea nearly 30 years before its time).

The league starts as local teams with local players but evolves out of necessity. The idea of a draft is a brilliant suggestion to get teams on equal footing. Now, it was against the consistent winning teams’ best interests but having a competitive league was the most important thing. I am not sure another group of men would have landed at that same conclusion.

Over time, great marketing decisions and great in-game changes helped build the NFL and differentiate the sport from college football. Rule changes to make the sport exciting on the field with more action and even the idea of Halftime entertainment are of great importance. Then the break from college football with allowing more substitutions and changing from the concept of Ironman football to offensive and defensive specialists was a big win for the NFL.

Most of the owners do come off as being likable. Rooney who seemed to be selfless often at the cost of winning. Halas who often had to make the rough decisions. Bell who wasn’t a successful owner but ended up as the league’s first Commissioner and definitely the right selection for the job. Then there’s Marshall who was responsible for so many right changes but decades later is defined by his famous flaw- a resistance to integration.

I wouldn’t have thought to tell the story this way but the colorful characters could lend themselves to a movie or tv series. In that, it becomes a more interesting tale than just being a football story.

[John Deardurff · Rating 5 out of 5]

With a focus on the foundational years of the National Football League, this book takes us on a 30 year journey of how five men, George Halas (Bears), Tim Mara (Giants), Art Rooney (Steelers), Marshall (Redskins), and Burt Bell (Eagles) built and established America's Game.

The author used a 1934-35 owners meeting when these five men all met for the first time as a starting point for the story. The first part of the book does provide biographical information on each of the five men with a brief overview of how the league started in 1920.

I will admit being a Chicago Bears fan, but really loved learning about the impact of the founders of the other franchises. My only disappointment in the book is that it should have included all eight owners who dragged The League into existence. Charles Bidwell (Chicago Cardinals) is frequently mentioned and helped save the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions franchises financially on several occasions. He should have been included in the title reference. George Richards, the owner of the Detroit Lions, is barely mentioned at all in the book. But the biggest glaring absence is that of the founder of the Green Bay Packers, Curly Lambeau. The team is mentioned when it is related to Championship games, but Lambeau is only mentioned as an afterthought. This could be because it was and remains a publicly owned team or it was and is the only remaining small town teams in existence.

As this year is the 100th anniversary of the NFL, I am sure we will see a few books celebrating this milestone. I have also read the NFL Century by Joe Horrigan, but this book was more enjoyable from a biographical and story telling point of view.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book, providing an early history of the National Football League. Though focusing mainly on the stories of five of its more prominent owners (Halas-Bears, Mara-Giants, Rooney-Steelers, Marshall-Redskins, and Bell-Eagles), the narrative manages to squeeze in a large number of the personalities who were part of Pro Football’s first 30 years. It introduces the many interesting developments which marked the early days of professional football (especially how the game opened up and became more fluid), the factors which caused its long term over shadowing by College Football, and the business considerations which always influenced its course. The author makes a strong case that the initial group of founders balanced their individual financial responsibilities with a dedication to sportsmanship and the desire to see their League survive. Pro football had many hurdles to overcome in its early years, all of which required these owners to closely work together (sometimes against their own players and many times against other sport industry competitors) in order for the League itself to survive. The development of the NFL draft, the politics of a championship season, the long process of integration, the key changes which propelled it to a position of equality with College Football, and the initial methodologies of television viewing rights are all covered in great detail. A great book for those wanting to know more about mid-20th Century sports in America and how the business side of those sports developed.

[Porter Broyles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not a sports enthusiast. There are teams that I follow, but the average number of professional games I watch a year is limited to the Super Bowl and the Colorado Avs (if they make the playoffs). That's it.

I'll read up on the games and follow my teams on ESPN, but I am the definition of a casual fan. I familiarize myself enough with the games that I can talk about the games with my coworkers and friends.

I say that because my 5 star review has to be taken in context. I am not knowledgable enough on the subject to pick this book apart or to feel that the stories have been told a million times. I read this book, in part, to have that knowledge to impress my friends.

I simply enjoyed this book.

Warning: This isn't a book for fans of Redskin founder George Marshall. Marshall was a racist and so too was the early history of his Redskins.

[Steven Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything you wanted to know about modern professional football tucked into 416 fascinating pages.

Looking back on the five men who shaped the National Football League, from its humble beginnings to its explosion into the contemporary cultural phenomenon it is today. Not only was it good reading, it was informative. For example... everything the Washington Commanders have dealt with over the past few years were shaped by the original owner who, true to form, presented his bride with his most prized possession on their wedding day: a confederate flag. If past is prologue, then George Preston Marshall's influence shaped so much of what came later.

The other four men were equally interesting, though none of them quite as controversial. Their stories and the evolution of the professional game make for wonderful reading.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a fan of the National Football League, you will enjoy this book. Eisenberg weaves together the biographies of the five figures responsible for keeping the league alive and afloat during its infancy and adolescence and ushering it into the modern age. The book contains plenty of scores and statistics, but Eisenberg keeps the story moving and doesn't bog the reader down with unnecessary details. He keeps the focus on the personalities of the NFL's founding fathers and their stories. The result is a very engaging book.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

My lovely wife got me this for a birthday present and I loved it. I don't care what my friend Phil has to say about it.

[LAMONT D · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are a football and NFL fan, then I think you will find this a fascinating read on the beginning of the league and the main characters that brought it into existence and carried it to its initial prominence and acceptance as an American sport. The details of some of the games played were not that necessary in my opinion to tell the story, but you certainly get a keen insight into the thinking and the actions of those iconic owners that shaped the league from its very start. Amazing that they did profit from the WWII shutdown of major college football by continuing to play plus all the innovations to make the offense more prolific, to institute a draft, the initial merger of a rival league and the foresight to take advantage of radio and eventually television. They were certainly slow in the integration process which unfortunately leaves a mark on just about every sports landscape in the middle of last century.

[Mary Sasala · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. For one, the writing was wonderful. He talks about a lot of men and each time he jumps between them he gives you small hints on who they were from when we last read about them. He tells so many stories that I didn’t know, not that I know a lot about the early days of the NFL. But this books filled me with knowledge and understanding of sports during the 1920-1940s. The characters really came to life.

Really great book.

[Alexander Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly fun book to read if you're into history and sports.

The start of the NFL is a hundred times more bizarre than you could ever imagine. The stories were incredible, and they kept coming one after another.

Oh, and if you hated the Redskins before, you haven't heard anything yet.

[JC Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic look into the NFL's early days that were filled with risk and uncertainty. A must read for any fan of the modern game who tunes in every Sunday.

[Emily Elston · Rating 2 out of 5]

needed a better editor. so much unnecessary detail.

[Greville Waterman · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a long distance fan of the NFL I have often wondered about how the league began and built up its strength and popularity.

Finally all my questions have been answered in John Eisenberg's thorough examination and assessment of the role that five major pathfinders played.

This book details the exploits of Art Rooney, George Halas, Tim Mara, George Preston Marshall and Bert Bell and is never less than fascinating with so many vignettes and stories.

This is a masterpiece of research and is also well written and compelling.

[Pete Remington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really a 3.5 for my review, but I'd lean 4 versus 3 if I had to make a choice.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew almost nothing about the history of the NFL before I read this book so I found it very informative.

It mostly covers the years 1920 to 1960 and focuses on 5 team owners who were most influential in that time period: the owners of the Chicago Bears(George Halas), New York Giants(Tim Mara), Washington Redskins(George Preston Marshall), Philadelphia Eagles (Bert Bell) and Pittsburgh Steelers (Art Rooney).

Eisenberg does a great job of making the story very readable and engaging and keeping a smooth flow while not getting bogged down in unnecessary details.

In no particular order here area few things that stood out to me:

-That professional football was so fragile when it started and many teams lost a lot of money for decades.
-How much the Bears and the Giants dominated in the early NFL (and correspondingly the Eagles and the Steelers both sucked for DECADES).
-How the idea of introducing a draft was accepted as a way helping out the weaker teams. I am surprised how easily the owners of the strong teams accepted that the league would be better if the weaker teams became stronger.

It definitely makes me appreciate the business side of the NFL (and professional sports in general)more, like why the NFL does things a certain way and why some sports become popular and others don't.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a longtime member of the NFL media, I'm quite familiar with the basics of the league's origin story. What surprised me about Eisenberg's fantastic book was how much more detail there is to the story that I was *not* aware of.

Through an in-depth look at the lives of the NFL's founding fathers, Eisenberg gives us a rich history of the league's infancy that goes beyond the typical chronicling of rule changes and on field storylines that usually populate early NFL narratives.

Eisenberg's blend of careful and thorough research with fascinating contextual history makes this a can't miss for industry types as well as casual fans of the game.

*I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review title: Team of rivals

Before the NFL was a trillion-dollar conglomerate, it was a struggling band of brothers. Formally initiated in 1920 (hence the 100th anniversary celebrations throughout the 2019 season), it was composed of small town businessmen running franchises that came and when often in a single season. But at the December 1934 post-season meeting five owners were in the room together for the first time: George Halas, George Preston Marshall, Bert Bell, Tim Mara, and Art Rooney. They didn't just represent the Bears, Redskins, Eagles, Giants, and Steelers, respectively; for the next five decades they would agree, disagree, win, lose, cooperate, and compete. They wereThe League. Eisenberg's joint biography of these five men is the biography of the league.

They were a disparate bunch, Halas, Mara, and Rooney from poor immigrant backgrounds who worked (or gambled) hard for a living, Bell born into money but so profligate he was disinherited by his father by the time he invested in a franchise, and Marshall the only successful businessman of the lot. Yet each was passionate about his sport (Halas and Bell playing college ball and coaching their NFL teams), his city, and his team. I only listed the team names above because those names and those owners are so intimately linked to their cities that every fan knows them. After placing all five men in that 1934 meeting (relying heavily throughout on meeting minutes from NFL archives and personal interviews with second and third generation family members) Eisenberg gives each owner a chapter to introduce their biography and background. From then on, though each man remains a strong-willed individual, the account is about their efforts on behalf of the joint enterprise that was "the league";it was, as Halas described it in antitrust hearings in Congress in 1981 (when he was 86 years old!), "the rim" which prevents collapse of the wheel when one team, the spokes in his metaphor, is weak (p. 335).

Eisenberg recounts the struggles and slow successes of the rim and spokes through those founding years. By 1950, with the league expanded by the addition of teams from the disbanded All-American Football Conference and Bell newly named league commissioner (after giving up his team ownership stake), the five men are still the hub:

the “tight little group” was even tighter. Bell was in charge, with four men constantly whispering in his ear: Halas, whose tenure dated to the league’s birth; Mara, who had doggedly fought for and defended his New York franchise since 1925; Marshall, whose innovations and prejudices had shaped the league in fundamental ways; and Rooney, the affable peacekeeper. That they still controlled the league soon became evident.(p. 283)

And as the author documents on multiple occasions, while each fought fiercely for his own team's best interests, each also recognized when compromise was necessary to strengthen the league, and each was strong enough, wise enough, and secure enough in their own self-confidence that they could put the collective interest ahead of self-interest. It is an essential ingredient of the huge success of the league that is easy to forget now that it is so hugely dominant in money and popularity among team sports. That success is no accident, and can be traced directly back to those difficult decisions for the best interest of the league by these five founders. The success also owes to some small but unique innovations they introduced: the player draft in reverse order of team finishing place, balanced scheduling, the establishment of two divisions and a league champion determined by playoffs, and surprisingly, the introduction at that 1950 meeting of unlimited substitution. Approved quietly and unheralded at the time, Eisenberg places this change at the foundation of innovations like dedicated offensive and defensive coordinators who would rapidly advance techniques, players specialized for their role on offense or defense, and improved quality of play for the full 60 minutes because of fresher players.

These five men were not perfect, and Eisenberg doesn't shy from the facts of history. Rooney, while lovable and perhaps loyal to a fault, was a poor judge of success and his teams were almost always losers until that 1970s dynasty. Halas wasn't shy about taking every advantage even if it broke or at least skirted the rules. Marshall was unashamedly racist and refused to draft or sign African-American players until forced in 1962 by both the competitive disadvantage of selecting from a smaller pool of talent and the demands of the stadium authority in Washington DC that he put an integrated team on the field. It is a dark mark on this story that even tarnishes Marshall's legacy in death: his will stipulated that the charitable foundation he established must not foster "racial integration in any form." (p. 335)

Eisenberg tells the history well, with footnoting, from both primary and secondary sources. While it has a few pictures, more would have added to the retelling. While he provides some season recaps and game stories, it is not primarily a history of the game on the field, but of the men who put the game on the field and on the geographic and financial map of their time and beyond. Eisenberg brings the five men forward to the late 1950s as a team of rivals, with an epilogue that summarizes the last years of each man's life. NFL Century, the official 100-year history of the league, will be a valuable companion to The League, if not as compelling to read.

[Don McDaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was outstanding in every way - part history, great nostalgia, conjuring memories of just how important these men and their cities were to not just professional sports and professional football, but to the formation of American civic pride. Football is a uniquely American experience that forged brotherhood in our cities and among our people. Written by a great writer, a pride Baltimore’s, it is a romantic journey back into a simpler, yet powerful time.

[John Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eisenberg has written a very detailed history of the National Football. It is so detailed, in fact, that he provides specific plays to games that happened 100 years ago. He must have spent many hours scouring microfiche files of old newspapers to find the stories, and I think it was worth the effort. It's not what I would call an easy read; it gets a bit dry in places, but many of the stories here are very much worth reading. Great book!

[Adelbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and interesting review of the NFLs early years and development.

[Sportfogaolda24 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Az online sportfogadás típusai: Átfogó útmutató

Az online sportfogadás a fogadási lehetőségek széles skáláját kínálja a különböző preferenciáknak és stratégiáknak megfelelően. Akár tapasztalt fogadó, akár kezdő, a sportfogadások különböző típusainak megismerése javíthatja fogadási élményét. Ez az útmutató végigvezeti Önt az online sportfogadások különböző típusain, példákat és információkat ad ezek működéséről. Útmutatónkat itt ajánljuk, hogy 2024-ben új játékosként vagy akár tapasztalt sportfogadóként is bekerülhessen az online sportfogadásba!

1. Moneyline fogadások

Leírás: A Moneyline fogadások közvetlen fogadások arra vonatkozóan, hogy melyik csapat vagy játékos nyer egy mérkőzést vagy eseményt. Az oddsok pozitív (+) vagy negatív (-) számokként jelennek meg, jelezve a lehetséges kifizetést egy 100 dolláros fogadáshoz viszonyítva.

Példa: Az A-csapatra tett fogadás (-150) azt jelenti, hogy 150 dollárt kell fogadnia, hogy 100 dollárt nyerjen, ha az A csapat nyer. A B-csapatra tett fogadás (+200) azt jelenti, hogy egy 100 dolláros fogadás 200 dollárt nyer, ha a B csapat nyer.

2. Pont Spread fogadások

Leírás: A pontkülönbözetű fogadás magában foglalja a mérkőzésen elért győzelemre való fogadást. A kedvenc csapatnak bizonyos számú ponttal kell nyernie (az árkülönbség), míg az esélytelenebb csapat kevesebb pontot veszíthet, mint a különbség, vagy nyerhet egyenesen.

Példa: Az A-csapat -5,5-re tett fogadás azt jelenti, hogy legalább 6 ponttal kell nyerniük ahhoz, hogy a fogadásod nyerjen. A B-csapat +5,5 fogadása azt jelenti, hogy akár 5 pontot is veszíthetnek, vagy megnyerhetik a játékot, hogy a fogadásod nyerjen.

3. Fölött/alatt (összes) fogadások

Leírás: A felett/alatt fogadások előre jelzik, hogy a mérkőzés összpontszáma vagy az összesített pontok egy, a fogadóiroda által meghatározott szám felett vagy alatt lesznek.

Példa: Ha egy futballmérkőzésen több mint 2,5 gólra fogad, akkor nyer, ha mindkét csapat által szerzett gólok száma meghaladja a 2,5-öt. A 45,5 pont alatti fogadás egy focimeccsre azt jelenti, hogy nyersz, ha mindkét csapat által szerzett pontok száma 45 vagy kevesebb.

4. Javasolt fogadások

Leírás: Az ajánlati fogadások vagy a kellékfogadások a játékon vagy eseményen belüli, a végső kimeneteltől független konkrét kimenetelekre összpontosítanak. Ezek magukban foglalhatják a játékosok teljesítményét, az egyéni statisztikákat vagy konkrét eseményeket a mérkőzés során.

Példa: Fogadás arra, hogy melyik játékos szerez először gólt egy futballmeccsen, vagy hány ütést ér el egy dobó egy baseballmeccsen.

5. Határidős fogadások

Leírás: A határidős fogadások hosszú távú fogadások egy jövőbeli esemény kimenetelére, például bajnoki győztesekre, ligagyőztesekre vagy játékos díjakra. Ezeket a fogadásokat általában jóval az esemény előtt kötik meg, és vonzó oddsokat kínálhatnak.

Példa: Fogadás a következő Super Bowl győztesére az NFL-szezon kezdete előtt.

6. Parlay fogadások

Leírás: A parlay fogadások során több külön fogadást kombinálnak egy fogadásba. A parlay fogadás megnyeréséhez az összes fogadáson belül nyerni kell. Ez nagyobb potenciális kifizetéseket kínál, de nagyobb kockázatot hordoz.

Példa: Több futballmérkőzésre vonatkozó pénzvonal-tétek összevonása egy pénzes fogadásban.

7. Élő fogadás (in-play).

Leírás: Az élő vagy játék közbeni fogadásokat a mérkőzés közben kell megtenni. Ezek a fogadások sokféle kimenetelre vonatkozhatnak, például a következő gólszerzőre, a következő hajtás kimenetelére vagy az adott negyedben elért pontok teljes számára.

Példa: Fogadás arra, hogy a következő csapat gólt szerez egy élő futballmérkőzésen.

Az online sportfogadások különböző típusainak megismerése lehetővé teszi fogadási stratégiájának változatossá tételét, és a fogadások egyedi preferenciáihoz vagy meglátásaihoz szabását. Kísérletezzen különböző fogadási típusokkal, hogy megtalálja az Ön számára legmegfelelőbbet, és ne felejtsen el felelősségteljesen fogadni a korlátai között. Élvezze az online sportfogadás izgalmát, miközben kihasználja a különféle fogadási lehetőségeket az élmény fokozására.

[Lisa-Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up on football and basketball because my dad was a devoted sports fan. This book brought back memories of the game as I remember it in the glory days of Dallas, Pittsburgh, and Oakland. History plus family business plus sports. The most surprising thing about the five founding fathers of football was the fact that they did not see its potential as a huge financial engine. George Halas (Bears), Tim Mara (Giants), Art Rooney (Steelers), George Marshall (Redskins), and Bert Bell (Eagles) were actually more conspirators than competitors. They just wanted a good game! The Green Bay Packers almost folded until the Bears’ owner/coach Halas lobbied for a new Packers stadium! Picture the five original owners sitting around a chalkboard in 1936, dividing up the graduating college players among the nine NFL teams. It was the first “draft.” “The players had not agreed to this method of distributing talent, and it did not benefit them; now that one team owned their rights, they could not solicit multiple offers and pit bids against each other.” There are so many interesting aspects to the story of football, from the invention of rules allowing substitutions to the rules about how many forward passes you can throw. Today’s controversy about modern rule changes to protect players are nothing compared to the rule changes of the past, and yet the game survives. “The unlimited-substitution rule was a cornerstone of football’s future; it led to teams developing two separate units, an offense and defense.”

I learned that, at first, the NFL was considered a lame substitute for the excitement of college football, that the original owners tightly controlled which cities got a team, and that the Redskins’ founding owner was always a racist. I never knew that the New York Giants had Tom Landry as the defensive coach and Vince Lombardi as the offensive coach. The talent! I loved hearing the history of the coaches and players that were legends by the time I became an NFL fan. My dad went to some of the first Oakland Raiders’ games in 1960 and became a lifelong Raider fan – except for those unpleasant LA years. I grew up watching the games with him every Sunday and Monday night. Dad, my brother, and I would debate all the important questions: Who was better at quarterback – Kenny Stabler or Roger Staubach?

This book was a good mix of telling the founding fathers’ personal stories and describing the milestones of an industry. Radio and then TV changed the game but didn’t hurt attendance. The original owners eventually expanded to other cities and football really did become a national sport. The author wraps up the story by describing what the NFL looked like in the 1980s, when Art Rooney and George Halas were the last of the original owners to die. Halas said “In 60 years I have watched our ugly duckling of a league grow into a majestic eagle…Our league did and does demand hard work, planning, experimentation, and solid management…I have devoted all my energies to professional football.” We should debate whether the league of today retains the same ethics as those early days, but there is no doubt that the original owners accomplished a tremendous feat in building the NFL empire.

[Joe Kraus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the thesis of this one. As Eisenberg tells the story – one I have heard in capsule form before – the NFL survived its early days because its original owners realized that the league had to do well more than any individual team did.

I’d always heard that the Maras – Tim Mara as I learn here in more detail – were the real heroes of the league. They had the most valuable franchise of all, the Giants, but they declined the chance to dominate in an era when no one else could have competed. They gave their blessing, for instance, to the first-ever draft as a way to distribute talent to the weaker teams. And, while the Giants often had more home games than others – insuring paydays – but they gave large percentages to their rivals as part of the gate receipts.

It's interesting as well to hear about George Preston Marshall, of the “Redskins.” It’s striking to hear that Marshall – who started the team in Boston – made a conscious bid to be the pro football team of the American South. As a consequence, he insisted on a segregated, all-white team – something he may have been inclined to do from the start.

And it’s good to hear about Art Rooney, a name revered even this far east in Pennsylvania. The sense is that he was devoted to the team and the city but that – because he couldn’t quite afford to keep up given the limited income possibilities of the smaller city – his squads were usually awful.

My favorite as a Bears fan, of course, is George Halas. That’s a story I’ve heard before, including the fact that he was a good enough baseball player to suit up for the Yankees a few times. It’s fun to hear how competitive he was, how even half a century later he’d get angry over what he felt was a bad call costing the Bears the first ever NFL championship.

And I’ll add that it’s interesting to hear about Bert Bell, the one least associated with a particular team, and the way he negotiated meaningful compromises and work-arounds – including the idea about the draft.

As Eisenberg tells us, they understood themselves as a team, competing on the field but supporting each other off it.

Yet…that’s not quite new ground. And, as Eisenberg organizes this, it’s less a give-and-take and more a long succession of one narrative and then another. He’ll give us a long chapter on Halas complete with anecdotes, and then he’ll repeat some of the anecdotes and details in a later one.

I get where Eisenberg is coming from, but the outline shows through too fully. The first third of this is a succession of separate biographies. Then, it isn’t clear where the endpoint is. We get the rise and establishment of the league, then…things sort of skip forward to the deaths of the last living of these founders. As I say, it makes sense before you write it, but there’s ultimately a stiffness to the whole. It’s simply not efficient.

To be fair, I enjoyed this enough for it to whet my appetite, so I determined to read another football book, this one Rich Cohen’s Monsters.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

For all of the football fans that believe the game starts with the Super Bowl this is the book that they need to read. To learn about Joe Carr the first commissioner who saw the growth of the league from the ’20s and ’30s. He created officials, he also created standard contracts for players, got a team in New York City and started to move other smaller teams to the larger cities knowing that the league would only succeed that way. You find out just who much power Halas, Preston Marshall, and Mara had early on. After his passing there was no guidance then they voted in Bert Bel former owner of the Eagles. Really the pro game started to change in the ’40s especially with the passing game where you could throw the anywhere behind the line of scrimmage. The college game you had to be five yards behind and they also did not have hash marks in the college game also. The author also takes you through some of the stars of the day Luckman, Baugh, Baugh is still the only player to be an All-Pro at three different positions in the same year, quarterback, defense back and punter. Even Don Hutson the split end for the Packer who had 99 touchdowns until Jerry Rice broke his record it stood for 44 years, his four receiving touchdowns in a quarter still stands. On defense, he played safety had 30 interceptions one season he had eight in a ten-game season. He also had 172 extra points and seven field goals. You will read about Red Grange, and many, many other players which made the league along with the owners. The book takes you up to when Pete Roselle takes over and you also get a look at the game which really changed everything for football, the 1958 championship which went into overtime and was televised. Though I already knew a lot of the early history I still enjoyed reading this book and the interviews with the family members are what took this book over the top. A very good book. I received this book Netgalley.com I gave it 5 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com

[Julie Pahutski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meticulously researched account of the origins of the National Football League.

As a true football fan and a lover of history, I enjoyed this overview of the men whose passion and vision (but not always wealth) created the NFL. The five primary characters--the owners of the Bears, Giants, Redskins, Steelers, and Eagles--made up the rules as they went along. I was especially impressed by Bert Bell, the NFL's first Commissioner, whose vision for the draft set the stage for at least a semblance of opportunity between the pro teams. It was interesting to hear about how the different teams rose and fell in their success since the 1930's. In a time before huge stadiums and lucrative TV contracts, these men frequently lost money on their teams but loved football so much that they persevered, innovated, and compromised their way to success. Lessons learned include (1) competition is good but too much of it is counterproductive, and (2) the teams that integrated reaped the benefits of stronger personnel through wins on the field. (There's a bit of background here on why the Washington Football Team was so reluctant to change their name--i.e., their original owner was a racist.)

I would have loved a little more information on how the game play has changed over the years. This information is doled out in small dollops, which decreases context. For example, originally the players played both offense and defense. The goal post changed position several times. I know the equipment changed over the years, but no mention of this was made. Maybe this information was limited to keep the length reasonable, or maybe it was considered secondary to the core story, which is one of personality and business. However, I think it would have added a lot to the book.

[Bill Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Currently I am reading G-Man about J Edgar Hoover. Before that I read Cuba. Both books were tight the 20th Century as a backdrop. I missed the first half of the 20th century but much of the history I lived through was influenced, if not directly affected by events that took place in the first half. "The League" is with the same backdrop. For me, the NFL has been bigger than life. I remember Johnny Unitas, Sam Huff and their predecessors like Sammy Baugh, Bronko Nagurski; and the list goes on and on. Here was the story of the five men that started it all. The Chicago Bears with George Halas (60 years as coach and owner), the Pittsburgh Steelers and their charismatic owner Art Rooney, George Marshal with his racism in DC, Bert Bell, the only owner turned league commissioner before Pete Rozelle, and New York's Tim Mara. These were the makers of the multi-billion dollar empire we take into our lives from the draft to the super bowl. It was fascinating to read about the friendship and cooperation within this group. They put the league ahead of their teams. And they had to. If the league failed they failed. Through this development there were the hardships of the depression, World War II, player contracts and the draft, racial changes and, the role of television--first, as an impediment cutting ticket sales and later on developing into the revenue generator the league has come to depend on. Like the books I mentioned in the beginning of this review, my understanding of the events of the 20th century came to life within this context. My gridiron heroes took their places in The League and my life has been what it was because of it.
Recommended.

[Scott Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This work offered insight into perhaps the 5 Founding Fathers of the modern NFL: George Halas, Art Rooney, Tim Mara, George Marshall and Bert Bell. This men, all of different backgrounds and interests, all came together to take the sport of professional football from a backwater league and lay the foundation for the game that would become the dominant cultural pass-time for America. They faced many challenges and all brought good and bad aspects to the game and league. Perhaps the most interesting of the figures to read about was Marshall. whose name in the current environment is sullied (with very good reason). Yet, if not for him, the game may not have embraced the first steps towards a more entertaining/wide open game that encouraged more passing and offense, which helped bring about interest. Halas' role is well-known. Mara built the Giants into a New York institution, thus helping grow the league. Bell struggled with his Philly team, but served as the first commissioner of the game and did much to get its footing in the post-WWII world to help move beyond its second-tier status. Rooney was perhaps the least football savvy, but his role as peacemaker and beloved figure did much to help the game, and culminated with his leading the Steelers to perhaps the greatest period of dominance in NFL history.

A fascinating read for those who wish to learn the history of the game, and the personalities that did much to get it that way.