When you said the reason was that "They forgot," that was so ridiculous and absolutely asinine to me that I audibly said "They f*cking what?!" and had to go back to make sure I heard that right.
The more outrageous thing is how there isn't more subscribers on your channel, the quality is so high that I'm dumbfounded to see that you don't have more than a million. You're great researcher/storyteller, hope your channel gets what it deserves pretty soon!
The Rams beat the Niners in a 21-20 thriller to get the Lions into the playoffs. The Chargers-Raiders game in contrast was a snooz....oh who am I kidding it was a 41-34 barnburner win for the Raiders that gave them the #1 seed in the AFC
"...one of the dumbest broadcasting decisions in NBC history." Which is amazing considering they had recently shown series such as Supertrain and Pink Lady, and how incompetent they are to this day at broadcasting the Olympics.
The Book of Daniel and the first iteration of the XFL were also major controversies for NBC, although NBC was only partially responsible for the latter of those two. This wasn't the NBC network's fault, but there was also some kind of controversy about the NBC affiliate in Terre Haute, Indiana running a bizarre political-style attack ad against the weather department of the CBS affiliate in Terre Haute a number of years ago. Regarding the Olympics, NBC uses basically the same broadcasting formula that ABC used when they had the Olympic broadcast rights more often than not, with two major differences: 1) NBC uses supplemental coverage on cable/satellite and streaming that makes the coverage on the big NBC over-the-air network look too theatrical and overproduced for a sports event (ABC never used ESPN or another cable network for supplemental Olympic coverage), and 2) NBC is broadcasting the Olympics in an era where the internet and social media are prevalent, neither of which were prevalent in the days of the ABC Olympic telecasts, and, thus, ABC never got a bad rap for tape-delaying the vast majority of the Olympic coverage like NBC does.
@@TimmyTickle That in retrospect had more to do to NBC overreacting in 2008 to ABC openly threatening to cancel Nightline and move Jimmy Kimmel to 12:35 if they had signed Leno to go at 11:35 PM opposite Conan on NBC (and Letterman on CBS). On paper, the 10:00 PM show was a great idea because many people were going to bed and getting up earlier and could get their late night fix at 10:00 before hitting the sack. What happened was, however, the ratings for late local news plummeted to where the NBC affiliate in Boston threatened to air local news from 10:00-11:35 unless Leno's 10:00 PM show ended. That forced NBC into the position that happened where NBC was forced to move Leno back to 11:35 PM and force Conan out, as doing it the other way would have cost NBC $120 Million more AND could have led to ABC again looking to sign Leno. Add to that then-NBC-Universal Chairman Jeff Zucker and Conan had a feud that went back to when they were at Harvard in the mid-1980's and that likely played into that. That also indirectly IMO led to NBC canceling the original "Law & Order" unexpectedly at the end of the 2009-'10 season, sparking a lot of criticism because an additional season would have meant it breaking the record it at the time shared with "Gunsmoke" of 20 seasons. IMO, that had to do with Conan signing to resume his late-night show on TBS, sister network of TNT, which had the rights to "Law & Order" repeats at the time. IMO, Zucker wanted to punish Turner for signing Conan by making sure TNT didn't get any additional episodes in their package (ironically, Zucker would later work for Turner on another sister network, CNN, which he very recently resigned from amid a scandal while the original "L & O" returned after an 10+-year absence less than a month ago for its 21st season AND it's spinoff "Special Victims Unit" would eventually break the 20-season record and is now in its 23rd season, though "The Simpsons," now in its 33rd season holds the record for non-news shows).
The final weekend of the 1982 NFL season took place on New Years weekend. The NFL blackout rules meant that the game had to be sold out 72 hours before game time, or 1 PM on December 30th. It would not surprise me that the key decision makers at the network or station level were on vacation between Christmas and New Years, this causing this oversight.
It's almost 100% certain that the possibility you floated was what actually happened. I've worked for four local TV stations, each in a different market. At all four of them, it's been an unwritten rule that the GM won't be in the building at all from Christmas Eve (or the Friday before it, if it falls on a weekend) until January 2nd (or the following Monday, if the 2nd falls on a weekend). I'd bet money that WDIV's GM hadn't been in the building for more than a week and, thus, hadn't thought about this ahead of time at all.
Oh my gosh. I don't remember this one. What a story....Can you imagine how that would have felt as a football fan? How is it possible that the network just forgot? What an incredible video. I love how you find these stories. Amazing.
Ironically NBC had a win and in game at 1:00 between 4-4 Buffalo and 4-4 New England. When 4 -4 Cleveland lost to Pittsburgh at the same time both could of made it with a tie mirroring the week 18 scenario between the Raiders and Chargers. Pats won 30 19
Someone at WDIV should've had a plan B, which was Browns/Steelers, to begin with. How did WDIV's PD not prepare for the possibility of the Packers/Lions game not being a sellout within 72 hours of kickoff? This situation is a whole lot different from the one that happened here in Tampa Bay the following season and that one's covered in a previous video.
Indeed. NBC dropped the ball, but it's like the ball rolled past WDIV/parent company Post-Newsweek Stations (now Graham Media Group) and they didn't try to recover it.
Something similar happened to the Patriots in either’90 or ‘91. I did a quick search to refresh my memory, but I couldn’t find anything on it. The Pats failed to sell out a home game (not surprising back then). NBC in Boston was supposed to carry it, but blackout rules prevented them from showing the game. CBS showed a game at 1, then nothing at 4. I remember Bob Lobel (NBC Boston sportscaster) coming on the air to explain it had nothing to do with the affiliate. They were simply following the NFL’s broadcasting rules. So frustrating. Thank God for Redzone. I don’t have to deal with that kind of nonsense anymore.
@@phillies4100_mainsite rereading my comment from last year reminded me of the stupid rule that prevents RedZone from broadcasting when there is only one game left in the late afternoon slot. They tell you to watch it on your local affiliate. But if the local affiliate isn’t carrying a 4 PM game, you’re out of luck.
The 1:00 to 7:00 PM rule I believe was implemented in 1979 after a situation during the 1978 season where the Jets (then playing in Shea Stadium) and Giants both had home games at 1:00 PM that sold out, leading to New York not getting a 4:00 PM game (beginning with 1979, either the Jets or Giants would play a 4:00 PM game with the other at 1:00 unless one was playing on Monday night football or on Saturday late in the season). I'm wondering if the execs who made this mistake in Detroit got fired for it. Today, if that type of a mistake was made, they likely would not only be fired, but blacklisted as the NFL is the 800-pound gorilla of sports that it was not even close to in 1982. Of course, it would be a lot harder to make that kind of a mistake now given the NFL broadcast rules have changed significantly in recent years.
The bigger question should have been what was the NFL thinking not scheduling that Raiders-Chargers game on a NBC doubleheader week where most of the country can see instead of it being a regional singleheader since it was a big rematch of the AFC Championship Game???? Also the network didn't forget to show the game the local station did
It’s no wonder that NBC only has the Sunday night game. Back then, they honestly were completely incompetent. Be it production or broadcasters, pre game or post game. Thanks Gator. This was especially good!!
I dont think Dick Ebersol (back when he was running NBC Sports in the 90s) liked televising those Sunday afternoon AFC road team games similiar on why he didnt like televising MLB regular season games. That has to be a reason why they lost NFL football in 1998 but then in 2006, Ebersol acquired the new Sunday Night NFL package and he loved the fact that that included "flex scheduling".
@@ryanstrnad1852 It had more to do with NBC losing I believe $500 Million on the last AFC package. What was NOT realized, however, was that letting the AFC package go to CBS would prove over time costly for NBC, as after the 2003-'04 season their ratings fell off a cliff (as did all TV ratings largely I believe because of how ratings were measured, but NBC's was worse). It just happened that Disney was losing $150 Million a year on Monday Night Football and even with flex scheduling coming in for 2006 wanted out, with that MNF going to NBC BUT because at the time NBC had a solid Monday Night prime time lineup AND not wanting to risk losing viewers of Jay Leno to David Letterman made that Sunday Night Football while what was ESPN's Sunday Night package was moved to Monday Night Football and beefed up considerably from what it had been on Sunday night on ESPN (ESPN often got a lot of bad matchups on their SNF), which was much more valuable because the ESPN version of MNF had many more platforms it could be on as opposed to ABC (of course now, ESPN MNF games are in some cases simulcast on ABC a few times a year and there are now three ABC-only MNF games).
Lions averaging 72, 000 fans, including over 64 thousand (for the home finale) to watch a team with a 3 and 5 season record really isn't that bad. 3:37. Especially during a strike shortened season
I noticed that in one of the newspaper articles showed that NBC in Detroit should have aired the Browns-Steelers game at 1. That game ended in a 37-21 win for the Steelers. The Browns had cut the Steelers lead to 6 points in the 4th quarter so the game was closer than the score indicated
That certainly was a dumb decision, but not the only one for the 1982 season. On Thanksgiving, WJW-TV 8, the then-CBS (now Fox) affiliate in Cleveland, decided to air the movie "Dr. Doolittle" instead of the Giants-Lions game, much to the anger of Northeast Ohio football fans. I figured it was because the Browns were playing the Cowboys later in the day, and the station didn't want to cut into that game. Turns out Giants-Lions was the better game that day, highlighted by Lawrence Taylor's 97-yard interception return that sealed a Giants win, while the Browns did little against the Cowboys.
WJW made many poor decisions. In 1979 game 7 of the NBA western conference finals was at 1130pm because the game was in Seattle. WJW said the game would be joined in progress to air a repeat episode of Maude. Freaking Maude
@@ricknibert6417 I agree. Storer broadcasting was all about the $$$. They had multiple strikes at wjw. In my example about joining the NBA wcf after airing Maude. Maybr they wanted yo local advertising revenue.
You often state that NBC made the mistake here, but from what I saw & heard, it looks that Detroit's NBC affiliate, WDIV-TV, made the mistake. NBC didn't own that affiliate then (and probably still doesn't now), so I think the whole blame lies with WDIV-TV.
NBC never owned WWJ/WDIV (it was WWJ from 1947-1978). It was owned by the Detroit Free Press, then traded for WTOP-TV (now WUSA-TV) because of a threat to ownership rules involving a newspaper and TV station in the same market. (WDIV is also the longest-tenured NBC affiliate, once WRBG in Albany switched to CBS in 1981-WRGB, long owned by General Electric but now owned by Sinclair, was the first TV station to sign on outside of NYC-WDIV/WWJ was the 10th station to sign on nationally.) (The longest tenured CBS affiliate is WUSA, beginning as WOIC, taking that affiliation away from WMAL, now WJLA which went to ABC…both have been affiliated with their networks since 1949.)
I want to respectfully disagree about the merits of the 16 team super bowl tournament in 1982. They had no other viable options. Plus now we have 14 teams in the playoffs. Regarding this video, it’s another excellent job. Many of your videos uncover fascinating stories from the NFL. I truly enjoy the videos. I was watching the Jets lose to Kansas City during the 1pm window that day
@@pronkb000 Part of the reason for the expanded playoff pool was to recoup some of the income lost due to the strike. I wouldn't doubt that some owners wanted to make that permanent.
There was talk that the NFL should have gone deeper into January and even February and made up all of the games even though that would have forced the NFL playoffs to the time period of the NCAA Tournament and pushed the Super Bowl back to March and for that year if so likely to a Monday night because of the NCAA Tournament (and I'm sure the NCAA and many elected officials would have been furious with the NFL if they had extended their season that late. Due to other TV commitments, the NFL likely would have also had to go to a 7:00/10:00 PM Saturday night window (with Monday night games on Friday night) in January and February that would have been ripe with other problems from elected officials and local authorities who back then would likely have frowned at the kind of night games we see now, especially given winter clothing in 1982-'83 was not nearly as far advanced as it is now.
@@pronkb000 I like it but the NFL needs to go to NBA-style seeding where winning your division ONLY guarantees you a playoff berth and nothing else. If it just happens the four best teams in a conference are ALL in the same division, they should be the top four seeds.
I’m of the belief that there will be a day when 16 teams are let in. Exactly half of the league makes it in this case (like the NHL now that they have 32 teams) but I could also see this happening if the NFL is ever again capable of expansion. Also, the NBA includes 16 out of 30 teams (20 out of 30 with that new play-in round giving two more teams in each conference a chance to get in). MLB is now at 12 out of 30 teams starting this season and almost got to 14 out of 30 if the owners got what they wanted as part of the new agreement. With the NFL, it won’t happen until a 7 seed shows they are capable of making a Super Bowl run and a lot of fans would hate it but I can’t see that not happening.
@@matthewdaley746 jimbo carter was teaching russia a lesson that one. Even tho it was iran that took the u s hostage. jimbo shouldn't have meddled in things.
WNBC-TV (channel 4) in NYC never showed the Detroit Lions game, but instead, it will have either the Giants or the Jets depending on a local New York team.
Quoth you from many videos. “Talk about a Dumb Decision.” You mentioned and linked to your video about the controversy between NBC and CBS the next season. I’m surprised CBS didn’t bring this up to defend themselves and attack NBC. You mentioned the Lions playoff calculations going into that week. This unofficial Official Jaguar Gator 9 historian will remind everyone you made a video about how the NFL misled the Steelers and other teams as to their playoff chances going into the next to last week of the season.
what i found to be interesting is here in the milwaukee wi area speaking of not being able to show games, going back to the early 80's was that when the green bay packers played at milwaukee county stadium, it was to where that CBS would not allow in this neck of the woods in the milwaukee area was that even if it was a doubleheader day,that b/c of the packers game was being played in a baseball stadium and not in a football stadium.
I'm a lifelong Detroit resident and I am surprised I don't remember this mishap by WDIV channel 4. I do however remember the Lions were hosting the Packers at the Dome with playoff implications. So my whole family decided to go, it was cheap back in those days to go to a game at the Silverdome. At days end the Lions ended up making the playoffs and the next week got absolutely crushed by the then Redskins now Commanders. But the next year the Lions won the division and of course lost in the playoffs as usual.
I was wondering the same thing. Growing up in the Los Angeles area in the 1980s I became far too familiar with the blackout rules because the Rams and Raiders almost never sold out home games. How bad was it? On January 8, 1984, most of the country got to see the AFC Championship game between the Raiders and Seahawks. In Los Angeles we got an "I Love Lucy" marathon.
That's hilarious. If I recall, that Packers - Lions game kicked off at that seldom used & now abandoned 2pm eastern time slot. I remember the NFL Today during the following week, aired a segment where a TV was placed in front of a section at Lions' stadium with that very Rams - 49ers game on with the Lions fans cheering for the Rams considering there'd be some overlap because of that aforementioned 2p est kickoff. As a Packers fan, the Pack lost on a late drive by the Lions that day where a controversial call during that drive wouldn't give a fumble recovery to the Packers.
That Packers-Lions game was a 1:00 PM ET game. After the 1980 season, the only city where the NFL still had games kicking off at 2:00 PM locally was Baltimore because of Sunday blue laws and local residents fearing a 1:00 PM local start would interfere with church services (something that would be proven true when the Ravens in their first two years in Baltimore in 1996-'97 played 1:00 PM Sunday home games there while their stadium at Camden Yards was being built), and even there, if they were playing the Jets or Giants at home that game would be at 4:00 PM with the other New York team playing at 1:00). Prior to 1981, the NFL likely was concerned in many cities in the Central Time Zone starting games at Noon local time would have led to local churches going bonkers but by 1981 churches had much less of a say as a rule on many things).
Early 90s I think it was in the LA area the Rams were at home and didn't sell out. CBS had the doubleheader but they can't show a late game also since Rams were at home. NBC showed an early game also. Both networks showed early games leaving no late game on either network.
That was actually if so a violation of NFL rules. The NFL has had a 1:00 to 7:00 (now 7:30) ET rule since 1979 to where before the blackout rules were changed, the Jets or Giants ALWAYS played a 4:00 game when the other was at 1:00. Now both play at 1:00 unless the main doubleheader game because the rules mean New York can show the main national game at 4:25.
THE HEIDI GAME In 1968, the Jets were playing the Raiders in the AFL playoffs. In the 4th quarter, the game stopped and HEIDI appeared on the screen. The network started showing the Shirley Temple movie HEIDE. This was a play off game. In the late 60's, the NFL was not that popular.
It wasn't the Shirley Temple version of "Heidi," but rather a new made-for-TV movie. Starring as Heidi was Jennifer Edwards, daughter of director Blake Edwards and step-daughter of Julie Andrews.
@@tygrkhat4087 Thank you for the exact information. It was 50 years ago, and I only remember Heidi plaster across the screen. If I recall correctly the game was tied in Oakland. The talking heads didn't even say anything. It was that abrupt.
6:05 almost saw the sack dance. Man those lion qb's sucked back then as usual. todd and wesley walker torched the lions on that day in '82. And 5:05 lt showing lions who the man is. That must have been the thanksgiving day game when lt accounted for all 13 g men pts. including returning a danielson pick for the game winning td.
Blaming an affiliate blunder on the network they are affiliated with is kinda disingenuous is it not? If I'm the NFL after that situation I fine the local NBC affiliate for a blunder which the league TV rules, and fine the CBS affiliate a smaller amount for not allowing the NBC affiliate to show a game at all and instituting a clause if the situation repeated itself, that the affiliate making the blunder's fine would go to the other network's affiliate to compensate them for allowing their rival to clean up their mess and show a game opposite their's.
That was a rule the NFL had in place at the time. If your game didn't sell out 72 hours before kickoff, your game was blacked out in your broadcast area.
My God someth9ng that could be said and explained in 4 min. (est.) is dragged out to 16 long long minutes. Somebody needs to check themselves, Ego is not a good thing!
how is it now unlike years ago where at 4/3 central where only one network was showing football,now at 4/3 central even on a non doubleheader day for CBS or for FOX, both networks are showing football at that time what changed??
When you said the reason was that "They forgot," that was so ridiculous and absolutely asinine to me that I audibly said "They f*cking what?!" and had to go back to make sure I heard that right.
The Lions would have had the same number of 1982 post-strike sellouts even if the Lions threw the ball straight into the ground every single time.
The more outrageous thing is how there isn't more subscribers on your channel, the quality is so high that I'm dumbfounded to see that you don't have more than a million. You're great researcher/storyteller, hope your channel gets what it deserves pretty soon!
The Rams beat the Niners in a 21-20 thriller to get the Lions into the playoffs. The Chargers-Raiders game in contrast was a snooz....oh who am I kidding it was a 41-34 barnburner win for the Raiders that gave them the #1 seed in the AFC
Also Lions won 27-24 against pack but lost in Wild card to Skins 31-7
"...one of the dumbest broadcasting decisions in NBC history."
Which is amazing considering they had recently shown series such as Supertrain and Pink Lady, and how incompetent they are to this day at broadcasting the Olympics.
Don’t forget the Leno/Conan Tonight Show conflict of 2010
The Book of Daniel and the first iteration of the XFL were also major controversies for NBC, although NBC was only partially responsible for the latter of those two. This wasn't the NBC network's fault, but there was also some kind of controversy about the NBC affiliate in Terre Haute, Indiana running a bizarre political-style attack ad against the weather department of the CBS affiliate in Terre Haute a number of years ago. Regarding the Olympics, NBC uses basically the same broadcasting formula that ABC used when they had the Olympic broadcast rights more often than not, with two major differences: 1) NBC uses supplemental coverage on cable/satellite and streaming that makes the coverage on the big NBC over-the-air network look too theatrical and overproduced for a sports event (ABC never used ESPN or another cable network for supplemental Olympic coverage), and 2) NBC is broadcasting the Olympics in an era where the internet and social media are prevalent, neither of which were prevalent in the days of the ABC Olympic telecasts, and, thus, ABC never got a bad rap for tape-delaying the vast majority of the Olympic coverage like NBC does.
@@TimmyTickle That in retrospect had more to do to NBC overreacting in 2008 to ABC openly threatening to cancel Nightline and move Jimmy Kimmel to 12:35 if they had signed Leno to go at 11:35 PM opposite Conan on NBC (and Letterman on CBS). On paper, the 10:00 PM show was a great idea because many people were going to bed and getting up earlier and could get their late night fix at 10:00 before hitting the sack. What happened was, however, the ratings for late local news plummeted to where the NBC affiliate in Boston threatened to air local news from 10:00-11:35 unless Leno's 10:00 PM show ended. That forced NBC into the position that happened where NBC was forced to move Leno back to 11:35 PM and force Conan out, as doing it the other way would have cost NBC $120 Million more AND could have led to ABC again looking to sign Leno. Add to that then-NBC-Universal Chairman Jeff Zucker and Conan had a feud that went back to when they were at Harvard in the mid-1980's and that likely played into that.
That also indirectly IMO led to NBC canceling the original "Law & Order" unexpectedly at the end of the 2009-'10 season, sparking a lot of criticism because an additional season would have meant it breaking the record it at the time shared with "Gunsmoke" of 20 seasons. IMO, that had to do with Conan signing to resume his late-night show on TBS, sister network of TNT, which had the rights to "Law & Order" repeats at the time. IMO, Zucker wanted to punish Turner for signing Conan by making sure TNT didn't get any additional episodes in their package (ironically, Zucker would later work for Turner on another sister network, CNN, which he very recently resigned from amid a scandal while the original "L & O" returned after an 10+-year absence less than a month ago for its 21st season AND it's spinoff "Special Victims Unit" would eventually break the 20-season record and is now in its 23rd season, though "The Simpsons," now in its 33rd season holds the record for non-news shows).
They should do a video about NBC showing an NFL game that had no announcers.
The final weekend of the 1982 NFL season took place on New Years weekend. The NFL blackout rules meant that the game had to be sold out 72 hours before game time, or 1 PM on December 30th. It would not surprise me that the key decision makers at the network or station level were on vacation between Christmas and New Years, this causing this oversight.
It's almost 100% certain that the possibility you floated was what actually happened.
I've worked for four local TV stations, each in a different market. At all four of them, it's been an unwritten rule that the GM won't be in the building at all from Christmas Eve (or the Friday before it, if it falls on a weekend) until January 2nd (or the following Monday, if the 2nd falls on a weekend).
I'd bet money that WDIV's GM hadn't been in the building for more than a week and, thus, hadn't thought about this ahead of time at all.
Oh my gosh. I don't remember this one. What a story....Can you imagine how that would have felt as a football fan? How is it possible that the network just forgot? What an incredible video. I love how you find these stories. Amazing.
At least NBC could have run scores across the bottom of the screen while the newscasts were showing stories of war, violence, and personal tragedy.
NBC in that era was only just beginning to have people with an IQ greater than room temperature; the Tartikoff Revolution was just starting.
Ironically NBC had a win and in game at 1:00 between 4-4 Buffalo and 4-4 New England. When 4 -4 Cleveland lost to Pittsburgh at the same time both could of made it with a tie mirroring the week 18 scenario between the Raiders and Chargers. Pats won 30 19
Welcome to Dumb (Broadcasting) Decisions
Today, both CBS and FOX air double headers in what is now Week 18 to air more games with playoff implications.
and blackout rules no longer exist. Because the NFL makes as much money from the TV contracts as they do from ticket sales.
@@Lonestarr022 They still exist, but it's up to the team to enforce such.
Someone at WDIV should've had a plan B, which was Browns/Steelers, to begin with. How did WDIV's PD not prepare for the possibility of the Packers/Lions game not being a sellout within 72 hours of kickoff? This situation is a whole lot different from the one that happened here in Tampa Bay the following season and that one's covered in a previous video.
I wonder if any heads rolled as the result of that debacle?
Indeed. NBC dropped the ball, but it's like the ball rolled past WDIV/parent company Post-Newsweek Stations (now Graham Media Group) and they didn't try to recover it.
@@hrtvfan2870 Dropped the ball? More like spiked the ball into the ground.
@@CTubeMan ...on every single play
The games were played during New Years weekend, which meant that the 72 hour rule hit when the key decision makers were unavailable.
Something similar happened to the Patriots in either’90 or ‘91. I did a quick search to refresh my memory, but I couldn’t find anything on it. The Pats failed to sell out a home game (not surprising back then). NBC in Boston was supposed to carry it, but blackout rules prevented them from showing the game. CBS showed a game at 1, then nothing at 4. I remember Bob Lobel (NBC Boston sportscaster) coming on the air to explain it had nothing to do with the affiliate. They were simply following the NFL’s broadcasting rules. So frustrating. Thank God for Redzone. I don’t have to deal with that kind of nonsense anymore.
Also, NFL got rid of their stupid rules too. The blackout rule and the PAT at the end of regulation rule
@@phillies4100_mainsite rereading my comment from last year reminded me of the stupid rule that prevents RedZone from broadcasting when there is only one game left in the late afternoon slot. They tell you to watch it on your local affiliate. But if the local affiliate isn’t carrying a 4 PM game, you’re out of luck.
The 1:00 to 7:00 PM rule I believe was implemented in 1979 after a situation during the 1978 season where the Jets (then playing in Shea Stadium) and Giants both had home games at 1:00 PM that sold out, leading to New York not getting a 4:00 PM game (beginning with 1979, either the Jets or Giants would play a 4:00 PM game with the other at 1:00 unless one was playing on Monday night football or on Saturday late in the season).
I'm wondering if the execs who made this mistake in Detroit got fired for it. Today, if that type of a mistake was made, they likely would not only be fired, but blacklisted as the NFL is the 800-pound gorilla of sports that it was not even close to in 1982. Of course, it would be a lot harder to make that kind of a mistake now given the NFL broadcast rules have changed significantly in recent years.
I still don't get how you haven't hit at least 100 k subscribers your channel is like a modern NFL films
The bigger question should have been what was the NFL thinking not scheduling that Raiders-Chargers game on a NBC doubleheader week where most of the country can see instead of it being a regional singleheader since it was a big rematch of the AFC Championship Game???? Also the network didn't forget to show the game the local station did
The game was originally scheduled for Week 3, which *was* a planned NBC doubleheader week.
The Lions and being terrible, name a more iconic duo
Was it really Week 17? There weren't byes in 1982. IIRC the only byes pre-1990 in the NFL were in years where there were an odd number of teams.
It was the strike year. Week 3-10 we’re wiped out. They added a 17th week to get to a nine game season.
It’s no wonder that NBC only has the Sunday night game. Back then, they honestly were completely incompetent. Be it production or broadcasters, pre game or post game. Thanks Gator. This was especially good!!
I dont think Dick Ebersol (back when he was running NBC Sports in the 90s) liked televising those Sunday afternoon AFC road team games similiar on why he didnt like televising MLB regular season games. That has to be a reason why they lost NFL football in 1998 but then in 2006, Ebersol acquired the new Sunday Night NFL package and he loved the fact that that included "flex scheduling".
@@ryanstrnad1852 It had more to do with NBC losing I believe $500 Million on the last AFC package. What was NOT realized, however, was that letting the AFC package go to CBS would prove over time costly for NBC, as after the 2003-'04 season their ratings fell off a cliff (as did all TV ratings largely I believe because of how ratings were measured, but NBC's was worse). It just happened that Disney was losing $150 Million a year on Monday Night Football and even with flex scheduling coming in for 2006 wanted out, with that MNF going to NBC BUT because at the time NBC had a solid Monday Night prime time lineup AND not wanting to risk losing viewers of Jay Leno to David Letterman made that Sunday Night Football while what was ESPN's Sunday Night package was moved to Monday Night Football and beefed up considerably from what it had been on Sunday night on ESPN (ESPN often got a lot of bad matchups on their SNF), which was much more valuable because the ESPN version of MNF had many more platforms it could be on as opposed to ABC (of course now, ESPN MNF games are in some cases simulcast on ABC a few times a year and there are now three ABC-only MNF games).
Lions averaging 72, 000 fans, including over 64 thousand (for the home finale) to watch a team with a 3 and 5 season record really isn't that bad. 3:37. Especially during a strike shortened season
The Lions sure can't catch a break, can they? 🥺
Actually they did catch a break. They got into the playoffs with a 4-5 record
Its in their dna.
I noticed that in one of the newspaper articles showed that NBC in Detroit should have aired the Browns-Steelers game at 1. That game ended in a 37-21 win for the Steelers. The Browns had cut the Steelers lead to 6 points in the 4th quarter so the game was closer than the score indicated
That certainly was a dumb decision, but not the only one for the 1982 season. On Thanksgiving, WJW-TV 8, the then-CBS (now Fox) affiliate in Cleveland, decided to air the movie "Dr. Doolittle" instead of the Giants-Lions game, much to the anger of Northeast Ohio football fans. I figured it was because the Browns were playing the Cowboys later in the day, and the station didn't want to cut into that game. Turns out Giants-Lions was the better game that day, highlighted by Lawrence Taylor's 97-yard interception return that sealed a Giants win, while the Browns did little against the Cowboys.
Wow i didn't know that
WJW made many poor decisions. In 1979 game 7 of the NBA western conference finals was at 1130pm because the game was in Seattle. WJW said the game would be joined in progress to air a repeat episode of Maude. Freaking Maude
TV8 was never completely committed to CBS daytime or late night programs, but I never knew it actually preempted an NFL telecast for a movie.
@@ricknibert6417 I agree. Storer broadcasting was all about the $$$. They had multiple strikes at wjw. In my example about joining the NBA wcf after airing Maude. Maybr they wanted yo local advertising revenue.
You often state that NBC made the mistake here, but from what I saw & heard, it looks that Detroit's NBC affiliate, WDIV-TV, made the mistake. NBC didn't own that affiliate then (and probably still doesn't now), so I think the whole blame lies with WDIV-TV.
NBC never owned WWJ/WDIV (it was WWJ from 1947-1978). It was owned by the Detroit Free Press, then traded for WTOP-TV (now WUSA-TV) because of a threat to ownership rules involving a newspaper and TV station in the same market. (WDIV is also the longest-tenured NBC affiliate, once WRBG in Albany switched to CBS in 1981-WRGB, long owned by General Electric but now owned by Sinclair, was the first TV station to sign on outside of NYC-WDIV/WWJ was the 10th station to sign on nationally.) (The longest tenured CBS affiliate is WUSA, beginning as WOIC, taking that affiliation away from WMAL, now WJLA which went to ABC…both have been affiliated with their networks since 1949.)
The Lions incompetence spread out to the Detroit NBC affiliate
I want to respectfully disagree about the merits of the 16 team super bowl tournament in 1982. They had no other viable options. Plus now we have 14 teams in the playoffs. Regarding this video, it’s another excellent job. Many of your videos uncover fascinating stories from the NFL. I truly enjoy the videos. I was watching the Jets lose to Kansas City during the 1pm window that day
I'm not a big fan of the 7th seed, but 14/32 is a little more palatable than 16/28.
@@pronkb000 Part of the reason for the expanded playoff pool was to recoup some of the income lost due to the strike. I wouldn't doubt that some owners wanted to make that permanent.
There was talk that the NFL should have gone deeper into January and even February and made up all of the games even though that would have forced the NFL playoffs to the time period of the NCAA Tournament and pushed the Super Bowl back to March and for that year if so likely to a Monday night because of the NCAA Tournament (and I'm sure the NCAA and many elected officials would have been furious with the NFL if they had extended their season that late. Due to other TV commitments, the NFL likely would have also had to go to a 7:00/10:00 PM Saturday night window (with Monday night games on Friday night) in January and February that would have been ripe with other problems from elected officials and local authorities who back then would likely have frowned at the kind of night games we see now, especially given winter clothing in 1982-'83 was not nearly as far advanced as it is now.
@@pronkb000 I like it but the NFL needs to go to NBA-style seeding where winning your division ONLY guarantees you a playoff berth and nothing else. If it just happens the four best teams in a conference are ALL in the same division, they should be the top four seeds.
I’m of the belief that there will be a day when 16 teams are let in. Exactly half of the league makes it in this case (like the NHL now that they have 32 teams) but I could also see this happening if the NFL is ever again capable of expansion.
Also, the NBA includes 16 out of 30 teams (20 out of 30 with that new play-in round giving two more teams in each conference a chance to get in).
MLB is now at 12 out of 30 teams starting this season and almost got to 14 out of 30 if the owners got what they wanted as part of the new agreement.
With the NFL, it won’t happen until a 7 seed shows they are capable of making a Super Bowl run and a lot of fans would hate it but I can’t see that not happening.
wow, another example of how in shambles nbc was in the late 70s/early 80s.
@@matthewdaley746 jimbo carter was teaching russia a lesson that one. Even tho it was iran that took the u s hostage. jimbo shouldn't have meddled in things.
I think the broadcasting incompetence- related stories are more interesting than the "on field" ones (which are also great)
WNBC-TV (channel 4) in NYC never showed the Detroit Lions game, but instead, it will have either the Giants or the Jets depending on a local New York team.
1968 Jets-Raiders game.
Additionally, WJBK (now a Fox owned & operated station) was the CBS affiliate for Detroit at that time.
Quoth you from many videos. “Talk about a Dumb Decision.”
You mentioned and linked to your video about the controversy between NBC and CBS the next season. I’m surprised CBS didn’t bring this up to defend themselves and attack NBC.
You mentioned the Lions playoff calculations going into that week. This unofficial Official Jaguar Gator 9 historian will remind everyone you made a video about how the NFL misled the Steelers and other teams as to their playoff chances going into the next to last week of the season.
what i found to be interesting is here in the milwaukee wi area speaking of not being able to show games, going back to the early 80's was that when the green bay packers played at milwaukee county stadium, it was to where that CBS would not allow in this neck of the woods in the milwaukee area was that even if it was a doubleheader day,that b/c of the packers game was being played in a baseball stadium and not in a football stadium.
I'm a lifelong Detroit resident and I am surprised I don't remember this mishap by WDIV channel 4. I do however remember the Lions were hosting the Packers at the Dome with playoff implications. So my whole family decided to go, it was cheap back in those days to go to a game at the Silverdome. At days end the Lions ended up making the playoffs and the next week got absolutely crushed by the then Redskins now Commanders. But the next year the Lions won the division and of course lost in the playoffs as usual.
I wonder if the station manager lost his/her job?
I’d love to have heard that call between NBC and CBS. I hope the CBS exec laughed at the NBC exec
Interesting hairdo for Berman. Looked like Snoopy.
I want to know what they showed instead of football.
I was wondering the same thing. Growing up in the Los Angeles area in the 1980s I became far too familiar with the blackout rules because the Rams and Raiders almost never sold out home games. How bad was it? On January 8, 1984, most of the country got to see the AFC Championship game between the Raiders and Seahawks. In Los Angeles we got an "I Love Lucy" marathon.
The blackout rule was trash 🗑 I have vague memories of it from my childhood.
How do you keep coming up with these great videos.
OfficialJaguarGator9 The NBC affiliate is to blame for the mixup. Not CBS.
When did he say CBS was to blame?
@@CTubeMan I don’t know, but clearly that NBC affiliate in Detroit didn’t know the rules.
Again, Detroit vs. Everyone.
WOW! GREAT CHANNEL! How do you find these?
That's hilarious. If I recall, that Packers - Lions game kicked off at that seldom used & now abandoned 2pm eastern time slot. I remember the NFL Today during the following week, aired a segment where a TV was placed in front of a section at Lions' stadium with that very Rams - 49ers game on with the Lions fans cheering for the Rams considering there'd be some overlap because of that aforementioned 2p est kickoff. As a Packers fan, the Pack lost on a late drive by the Lions that day where a controversial call during that drive wouldn't give a fumble recovery to the Packers.
That Packers-Lions game was a 1:00 PM ET game. After the 1980 season, the only city where the NFL still had games kicking off at 2:00 PM locally was Baltimore because of Sunday blue laws and local residents fearing a 1:00 PM local start would interfere with church services (something that would be proven true when the Ravens in their first two years in Baltimore in 1996-'97 played 1:00 PM Sunday home games there while their stadium at Camden Yards was being built), and even there, if they were playing the Jets or Giants at home that game would be at 4:00 PM with the other New York team playing at 1:00). Prior to 1981, the NFL likely was concerned in many cities in the Central Time Zone starting games at Noon local time would have led to local churches going bonkers but by 1981 churches had much less of a say as a rule on many things).
Early 90s I think it was in the LA area the Rams were at home and didn't sell out. CBS had the doubleheader but they can't show a late game also since Rams were at home. NBC showed an early game also. Both networks showed early games leaving no late game on either network.
That was actually if so a violation of NFL rules. The NFL has had a 1:00 to 7:00 (now 7:30) ET rule since 1979 to where before the blackout rules were changed, the Jets or Giants ALWAYS played a 4:00 game when the other was at 1:00. Now both play at 1:00 unless the main doubleheader game because the rules mean New York can show the main national game at 4:25.
THE HEIDI GAME
In 1968, the Jets were playing the Raiders in the AFL playoffs.
In the 4th quarter, the game stopped and HEIDI appeared on the screen.
The network started showing the Shirley Temple movie HEIDE.
This was a play off game. In the late 60's, the NFL was not that popular.
He did a video on that. That was one of the dumbest broadcasting decisions ever of all time.
It wasn't the Shirley Temple version of "Heidi," but rather a new made-for-TV movie. Starring as Heidi was Jennifer Edwards, daughter of director Blake Edwards and step-daughter of Julie Andrews.
@@tygrkhat4087 Thank you for the exact information. It was 50 years ago, and I only remember Heidi plaster across the screen.
If I recall correctly the game was tied in Oakland. The talking heads didn't even say anything. It was that abrupt.
Also, that was not a playoff game.
@@CTubeMan thank you
Like I said it was over 50 years ago.
Were the Jets & Oakland playing?
The Loins were a bad team that year? Imagine my surprise.
The Loins were definitely censored that week
The Loins sleep tonight......😉
@@robertwilloughby8050 aweembowa aweembowa
This isn't a football story, it is an explanation of why program managers make the big bucks and some how still die young!
6:05 almost saw the sack dance. Man those lion qb's sucked back then as usual. todd and wesley walker torched the lions on that day in '82. And 5:05 lt showing lions who the man is. That must have been the thanksgiving day game when lt accounted for all 13 g men pts. including returning a danielson pick for the game winning td.
If my memory serves me correctly, Al Ackerman was in charge of sports at WDIV back then.
They should have shown a rerun from the Alex Karras era. Detroit fans would have loved that.
Someone got fired.
was nbc tempted to air the heidi movie that sunday ? did anyone get fired overt this ?
They took my football game, can’t have shit in Detroit.
So did NBC forget to send WDIV a game or did WDIV just choose not to air an early game? 🤔
This coulda been avoided without that stupid blackout rule
Alas only in Detroit ...
you know what they say: can’t have shit in detroit
I thought the lions made the playoffs in 82
They did. They beat Green Bay 27-24 in the early game, and the Rams beat the 49ers in the late game 21-20.
I don’t remember this happening
Blaming an affiliate blunder on the network they are affiliated with is kinda disingenuous is it not?
If I'm the NFL after that situation I fine the local NBC affiliate for a blunder which the league TV rules, and fine the CBS affiliate a smaller amount for not allowing the NBC affiliate to show a game at all and instituting a clause if the situation repeated itself, that the affiliate making the blunder's fine would go to the other network's affiliate to compensate them for allowing their rival to clean up their mess and show a game opposite their's.
Isn't that more on the local station than the network
82 season was a total joke and failure for everyone. Does Washington's name have an * next to their name in the record books? I think it should
The erstwhile Redskins won two Super Bowls in strike shortened seasons and only won one in a full season after the 1991 season.
Why Detroit blacked out because it didn't sell out!!!
That was a rule the NFL had in place at the time. If your game didn't sell out 72 hours before kickoff, your game was blacked out in your broadcast area.
My God someth9ng that could be said and explained in 4 min. (est.) is dragged out to 16 long long minutes. Somebody needs to check themselves, Ego is not a good thing!
NBC Motown were dunzo
how is it now unlike years ago where at 4/3 central where only one network was showing football,now at 4/3 central even on a non doubleheader day for CBS or for FOX, both networks are showing football at that time what changed??
NBC you would have been better off spiking the ball
i really like all the obscure stories, but man you always sound so echoy.
I love NFL Red Zone.
Let’s go Brandon
Sir, Get Your Political Stuff Out Of The Sport! No Politics Please!
en el que = where
wear
NFL RIGGED!
It's Not Rigged.
NBC did worse than if they'd just spiked the ball on every play.
So did LOCAL4 (WDIV) back then.
Please invest in a better microphone and don't record in a tunnel