Abstract
This chapter charts the National Football League's (NFL) meteoric rise, thanks to NFL Films' unwavering designation of pro football as a unique and unifying reflection of America. Fueled by a combination of sport and media's increasingly profitable symbiosis and Commissioner Pete Rozelle's image-consciousness, the NFL enhanced its marketing efforts during the 1960s and began to diversify aggressively, creating branded products that reached out to audiences beyond the white, middle-class men who composed its typical fan base. The Rozelle-era NFL solidified its prominence in American culture through its merger with the American Football League and subsequent development of the Super Bowl. This chapter examines how the NFL made connections to as many potential fans as possible by establishing national television exposure, branding various items, organizing athletic events for kids, donating to charitable causes, and creating a tourist attraction. It looks at one production that codified NFL Films' signature aesthetic practices, They Call It Pro Football, and how it situates professional football as “the sport of our time.”
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