List of NFL Championship Game broadcasters

• The 1969 NFL Championship Game was the final broadcasting assignment for Paul Christman, who died less than two months later on March 2.
• The 1967 NFL Championship Game was televised by CBS, with play by play being done by Ray Scott for the first half and Jack Buck for the second half, while Frank Gifford handled the color commentary for the entire game.Shropshire, 1997 pg. 173 Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier served as sideline reporters. Gifford and Summerall were intimately aware of the personality differences that existed between Landry and Lombardi because they had both played on the New York Giants during Landry's and Lombardi's tenure at the Giants. Over 30 million people would tune in to watch the game.{{citation needed|date=April 2011}} No copy of the complete telecast is known to exist. Some excerpts (such as the announcers' pre-game comments on the field) were saved and are occasionally re-aired in retrospective features. The Cowboys' radio broadcast on KLIF, with Bill Mercer announcing, and the Packers' radio broadcast on WTMJ, with Ted Moore announcing, still exist.
• The 1964 NFL Championship Game also the last NFL Championship Game televised in black-and-white, as well as the last game in which penalty flags in NFL games were white. The league switched to bright yellow flags the next season. The gate receipts for the game were about $635,000 and the television money was $1.9 million.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=V3xfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3i8MAAAAIBAJ&pg=5962%2C3742689 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |agency=Associated Press |title=Pro football players await big payday from title game |date=December 22, 1964 |page=14}} Each player on the winning Cleveland Browns team received about $8,000, while Baltimore Colts players made around {{nowrap|$5,000 each.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=23FQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yhAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1111%2C3316004 |work=Milwaukee Sentinel |agency=Associated Press |title=Each member of NFL champs will get $8,000 |date=December 22, 1964 |page=2, part 2 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BFIaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=lCcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2040%2C2569420 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |agency=Associated Press |title=Facts and figures |date=December 28, 1964 |page=13, part 2}}}} This was about triple the amount for the players' shares in the AFL championship game.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EVtYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=lfcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2629%2C6810496 |newspaper=Spokane Daily Chronicle |location=(Washington) |agency=Associated Press |title=Linebacker key in Buffalo win |date=December 28, 1964 |page=10}}
• NBC paid the league $926,000 for the broadcast rights for the 1963 NFL Championship Game.{{cite news |url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1963/12/17/page/55/article/theater-tv-possible-for-title-game |work=Chicago Tribune |title=Theater TV possible for title game |date=December 17, 1963 |page=3, section 3}}{{cite news |url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1963/12/21/page/33/article/rozelle-sees-record-gross-for-playoff |work=Chicago Tribune |title=Rozelle sees record gross for playoff |date=December 21, 1963 |page=1, section 2}} The gate receipts for the game were about $500,000 and the television money was $926,000. For the first time, the NFL tried a closed-circuit telecast in the local blackout area, with 26,000 viewing on large screens in four locations: McCormick Place, International Amphitheatre, Chicago Coliseum, and Chicago Stadium;{{cite news |url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1963/12/19/page/215/article/n-f-l-sets-up-theater-tv-title-game|newspaper=Chicago Tribune |last=Rollow |first=Cooper |title=N.F.L. sets up theater TV title game |date=December 19, 1963 |page=1, section 3}}{{cite news |url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1963/12/30/page/41/article/26-000-warmly-approve-big-screen-telecast-in-three-chicago-arenas |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |last=Rivera |first=Thomas |title=26,000 warmly approve big screen telecast in three Chicago arenas |date=December 30, 1963 |page=5, section 3}} tickets ranged from $4 to {{nowrap|$7.50.}} Gross receipts were $1,493,954, with $35,402 from the closed-circuit telecast.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=93JQAAAAIBAJ&pg=6186%2C1714077 |work=Milwaukee Sentinel |agency=UPI |title=Each Bear got $5,899, NY $4,218 |date=January 29, 1964 |page=3, part 2 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• Due to the NFL's blackout policy which aimed to protect gate receipts, until {{nfly|1973}}, fans in a team's home market could not watch their team's regular season and playoff games on television, even if they were title games as was also the case in 1962.Associated Press. [http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80611abb&template=with-video&confirm=true Giants-Packers title games in '61 and '62 part of NFL lore], nfl.com, accessed December 1, 2010. New York fans made reservations for motels in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut so they could watch the game out of the {{convert|75|mi|-1|adj=on}} blackout zone,{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YbkrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9v4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=7097%2C6163758 |work=Nashua Telegraph |location=(New Hampshire) |agency=Associated Press |title=Packers-Giants in NFL title clash tomorrow |date=December 29, 1962 |page=11}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_L1YAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8egDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5014%2C4757309 |newspaper=Spokesman-Review |location=(Spokane, Washington) |agency=Associated Press |title=Fans flee N.Y. area for TV look |date=December 31, 1962 |page=8 }} and even though the game was played in {{convert|17|F}} temperatures with {{convert|35|–|40|mph|abbr=on}} winds, only 299 of the 65,000+ Giant fans who bought tickets to the sold out game stayed home.Gottehrer. pg. 17–22
• The 1961 NFL Championship Game was touted as "The Million Dollar Game," owing to the $600,000 in television broadcast rights paid to the NFL by NBC combined with a $400,000 gate to be generated through a projected sale of 40,000 tickets at the unitary price of $10 per seat regardless of location in the stadium.Lindsey Nelson, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6ywtMJT8bs "NBC Pregame Telecast,"] (video), 1:30 mark. With 40,000 tickets sold at $10 each and $615,000 in TV revenue, this game was the first NFL Championship to generate $1 million in revenue.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NDsaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DCcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1612%2C3160503 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |last=Johnson |first=Chuck |title=Packers play Giants in 'million dollar' game |date=December 31, 1961 |page=2, sports}} Each player on the winning Green Bay Packers team received $5,195, while New York Giants players made $3,340 each.
• During overtime of the 1958 NFL Championship Game, when the Baltimore Colts were on the eight-yard line of the New York Giants, someone ran out onto the field of Yankee Stadium, causing the game to be delayed; rumors have stated that it was an NBC employee who was ordered to create a distraction because the national television feed had gone dead. The difficulty was the result of an unplugged TV signal cable,Gifford and Richmond, p. 223. and the delay in the game bought NBC enough time to fix the problem before the next play.Bowden, pp. 203–206.
• An estimated 45 million people watched the game on television in the United States.Gifford and Richmond, p. 95. This audience could have been even greater except that because of NFL restrictions, the game was blacked out in the greater New York City area.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jLEhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wJsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2990%2C5597720 |work=Reading Eagle |location=(Pennsylvania) |agency=Associated Press |title=Colts face Giants for NFL title |date=December 28, 1958 |page=28}}Gifford and Richmond, p. 214. Still, the impact from this game is far reaching. A year later, Texas billionaire Lamar Hunt formed the American Football League, which began play with eight teams in the 1960 season. The growth of the popularity of the sport, through franchise expansion, the eventual merger with the AFL, and popularity on television, is commonly credited to this game, making it a turning point in the history of football. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle was said by Giants owner Wellington Mara to have attributed professional football's surge in popularity to the game, because it "happened just at that time, in that season, and it happened in New York".
• The 1951 NFL Championship Game the first NFL championship game to be televised coast-to-coast,MacCambridge, 2005, p. 73. and was blacked out by the league in the southern California area. The DuMont Network purchased the championship game TV rights from the NFL in May for five years (1951–55) for $475,000.{{cite news | first = Dan | last = Hall | title = Hallucinations | date = May 22, 1951 | page = 17 | url =https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=adM0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=UU4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5906%2C3028635 | newspaper = St. Petersburg Times | access-date = October 31, 2011 | quote = Bell said the money received each year under terms of the agreement will be placed in the players' pool.}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TQEqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dCMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2618%2C3124769

|newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |title=Du Mont buys rights to pro title contest |date=May 22, 1951 |page=6, part 2}}{{cite news | title = Pro Football and DuMont Sign a $475,000 TV Pact | date = May 22, 1951 | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/05/22/89441682.pdf | work = The New York Times | access-date = October 31, 2011 | quote = Bell said the $95,000 received each year under terms of the agreement will be placed in the players' pool.}}{{cite news | title = Fans Rush for Tickets to NFL Playoff Game | date = December 18, 1951 | url =https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XMJRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nmoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4260%2C1532124 | newspaper = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |agency=Associated Press | page = 18 | access-date = October 30, 2011}}The Pittsburgh Press and Patton p. 35 incorrectly state it was for $75,000.Rader, 1984, p. 35. The gross receipts for the game, including $75,000 for radio and television rights, was just under $326,000, the highest to date, passing the previous record of $283,000 five years earlier in 1946. Each player on the winning Los Angeles Rams team received $2,108, while Cleveland Browns players made $1,483 each.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dwEqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oiMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4761%2C3779039 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |agency=Associated Press |title=Rams collect $2,108 each |date=December 24, 1951 |page=4, part 2}}

• The 1949 NFL Championship Game was only televised on the West Coast, under the auspices of NFL Commissioner Bert Bell.Lyons: 156–157

{{reflist}}

• List of Super Bowl broadcasters
• List of AFL Championship Game broadcasters

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