The University of North Carolina Press

Reviews

"A fascinating journey from the 1969 beginning of Pete Rozelle's reign and his revolutionary idea of revenue sharing to the 2007 hiring of Roger Goddell and the failure to persuade cable providers to carry the league's network as a part of their basic packages."
--Aethlon

"An excellent addition to the literature on sport. . . . Recommended."
--CHOICE

"Oriard is probably the only person who could have written this book, a dense, comprehensive history of the National Football League's growth from a second-rate sport to the colossus it is now."
--Montreal Gazette

"[A] thoughtful, informative overview. . . . Oriard wonders whether the NFL may have gained the whole world but lost, or at least compromised, its soul. . . . The combination of [Oriard's] playing experience and his deep knowledge of the league's inner business workings makes for a unique and useful point of view. . . . In the end Oriard, for all his toughness, reveals himself to be something of a romantic. . . . Oriard is right to insist that if pro football permits the essential nature of the game to be lost in all that marketing, if it becomes all sizzle and no steak, something very American and very valuable also will be lost."
--Washington Post Book World

"Detailed, compelling, and strangely fascinating. . . . This book's signal contribution to our understanding of leisure, culture, and sport in America makes it highly recommended."
--Library Journal, starred review

"Enlightening and well researched. With his casual humor and refreshing lack of academic-speak, Oriard has fashioned a riveting examination of how a violent sport has become a staggering mainstream American success."
--Publishers Weekly