On Any Given Sunday: A Life of Bert Bell

35. The Players Finally Get a Union

W ith four bills already pending in the House of Representatives to eliminate football and other professional sports from antitrust laws, Bert Bell spent much of the spring of 1957 vigorously stepping up his campaign on behalf of the NFL. First he officially registered as a lobbyist. Then he supervised the preparation of a 73-page brochure, The Story of Professional Football In Summary, outlining the “facts” of the league, which was mailed to every member of Congress. Finally, after talking to an estimated 65 or 70 lawmakers, he called a press conference at his new headquarters in Bala Cynwyd on May 6, pleading for public hearings so that the issue could be brought before the public. “I’m not trying to influence Congress,” the commissioner said. “All I want is to get them to hear me, then they can decide if professional football is a business or a sport. I have nothing to hide; they can have all our records . Unless the league is permitted to retain its option clause, we cannot survive.” Bell again cited the difference between the two major professional sports. “Baseball is a career,” he explained,“whereas football is a means to an end for a player. The option clause does not hold a player prisoner to any one club, but is a bargaining point in a player’s favor, instead. Our option and reserve clause is the greatest in the history of the world, including all sports, theatre, and television contracts. And I’m not saying that just because I wrote it. But if the courts hold that the clause is in restraint of trade, pro football will either have to go back to the early jungle days where 42 teams folded, or go out of business entirely.” Although the booklet primarily contained justification for Bell’s wellpublicized stances, it did provide some new information. For example: • When Bell owned the Philadelphia Eagles in 1938, the team’s annual payroll was less than $30,000. Now payrolls for the 12 35. The Players Finally Get a Union 262 • Chapter 35 teams average $300,000, not counting bonuses and coaches’ salaries. • Total sale value of all twelve clubs was $18 million. Total revenue from all sources in 1956 was $10.5 million. Total net profit was $600,000. • The U.S. government collected $900,000 in amusement tax from admissions to all NFL games in 1956. That sum was $300,000 more than the teams’ net profits. • Twenty-six of the league’s thirty-six preseason games were played for charity. • Of the NFL’s 396 active players, 30 percent held jobs in the cities with which their teams were affiliated. The Eagles recently ran advertisements in the Philadelphia newspapers urging employers to “take advantage of the varied skills” of their players. Asked if he ever considered running for the U.S. Senate, Bell pounded his desk, held up a brochure, and replied, “I have never even thought of running for the Senate. I have every intention of living and dying with this.” The commissioner had another day in court on July 21. Serving as professional football’s kickoff witness, Bell took the stand in Washington as a House Anti-Trust Subcommittee, headed by Representative Emanuel Celler, continued its lengthy investigation of professional sports. Representatives from major league baseball had testified previously. Flanking Bell in front-row seats as he answered lawmakers’ questions for nearly three hours were some of professional football’s biggest names. Players like Red Grange, Sid Luckman, and Chuck Bednarik sat with Chicago Bears president George Halas, patiently waiting for their turn to testify. Bell wasted no time in painting an opposite picture from the one portrayed by the baseball club owners. He declared in no uncertain terms that pro football wanted nothing to do with pay television or a farm system designed to groom young prospects. Conceding that revenue from commercial television had helped football over the financial hump, the commissioner said the NFL “doesn’t think so much of money” that it would scrap free TV in favor of paid telecasts. “The kids of this country are entitled to see sports free on TV,” he added. Later he said that pro football chose “to go on our own” without minor league affiliations.When the questioning turned to gambling, Bell explained again how the NFL employed ex-FBI agents.“There isn’t any such thing as The Players...