--- description: We've come a long way since early TV broadcasts of football title: Super Bowl XLIX 2015 on TV: Look Back at the TV History of the Game image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9cdedcaad78320c4/69877c8bcd6848e35709968e/football.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How Television Changed the Super Bowl  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 1, 2015 11:00 PM CUT  Elijah Pitts #22 of the Green Bay Packers takes the hand off from quarterback Bart Starr #15 against the Kansas City Chiefs during Super Bowl I on Jan. 15, 1967, at the Los Angeles Coliseum in Los Angeles Elijah Pitts #22 of the Green Bay Packers takes the hand off from quarterback Bart Starr #15 against the Kansas City Chiefs during Super Bowl I on Jan. 15, 1967, at the Los Angeles Coliseum in Los AngelesFocus On Sport / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 1, 2015 11:00 PM CUT It’s not news that this year’s Super Bowl expects huge TV-viewership numbers: in fact, as _Forbes_ [has reported](http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2015/01/20/super-bowl-49-needs-120-million-viewers-for-advertisers-to-win/ "undefined"), the increasing price of commercial space during the game means that a whopping 120 million people will need to watch — that’s nearly 8 million more than last year — in order for those ads to be as valuable as they were last year. But, when the first Super Bowl took place in 1967, football on TV was a very different beast. As TIME explained in [a 1972 consideration of the “television football freak,”](http://time.com/vault/issue/1972-01-17/page/47 "undefined") early television broadcasts of football involved a camera held in position above the 50-yd. line and a commentator describing the action à la a radio broadcast, as if the picture weren’t also visible to TV viewers. By the time of the fifth Super Bowl, the production surrounding the TV broadcast had ballooned, including more than a dozen cameras and 100 crew members. Instant replay and jumbo screens within the stadium had also become a thing. The estimate for viewership that year, in the days leading up to the game, was around 62 million. Expanding the TV coverage of football wasn’t easy, for the same reason that playing football’s not easy. Once the single, stationary camera was replaced by an array of moving cameras, that meant that the cameramen and TV directors had to be able to guess where the ball was going to go. When they guessed wrong, the viewers at home missed the play. (They could also miss plays for sillier TV reasons: TIME later [remarked](http://time.com/vault/issue/1973-10-08/page/58 "undefined") that the sport’s “first major concession to TV” happened in 1967, when the second half of the game had to have two kickoffs because NBC had been airing a commercial during the first one.) As the expertise of TV sports broadcasters increased, so did interest in football. As TIME [observed](http://time.com/vault/issue/1973-10-08/page/58 "undefined") in 1973, that interest-at-a-distance, helped along by shiny commercial production quality, turned the spot from a mostly collegiate test of strength and character into a full-fledged entertainment behemoth: --- > “” --- This Sunday, you can watch that scramble at 6:30 on NBC — high ritual and all. **_Read TIME’s original coverage of Super Bowl I here in the TIME Vault:_** [Bows Before the Bruises](http://time.com/vault/issue/1967-01-13/page/53/ "undefined") ### The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos From a Football Classic  Not published in LIFE. The Kansas City Chiefs wait to take the field against the Packers prior to the start of Super Bowl I, Los Angeles, 1967. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Kansas City's Fletcher Smith, with the Green Bay Packers massed behind him, prior to the start of Super Bowl I, Los Angeles, 1967. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Green Bay's Jerry Kramer - a tremendous offensive lineman who, incredibly (and shamefully), was never inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Ñ in Super Bowl I, 1967. Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Super Bowl I, 1967. Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Green Bay's Elijah Pitts eludes Kansas City defenders, Super Bowl I, 1967. Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Chiefs linebacker E. J. Holub, Super Bowl I, 1967. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Packers head coach Vince Lombardi, Super Bowl I, 1967. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Green Bay wide receiver Max McGee, Super Bowl I, 1967\. His line for the game: seven receptions, 138 yards, two TDs. Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Green Bay QB and game MVP Bart Starr, Super Bowl I, 1967. Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Super Bowl I, 1967. Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Elijah Pitts (#22) running the Packers' "power sweep," Super Bowl I, 1967. Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Tight end Reggie Carolan in the Chiefs' locker room, Super Bowl I, 1967. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Kansas City defensive lineman Jerry Mays prior to Super Bowl I, 1967. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Quarterback Len Dawson in the Chiefs' locker room, Super Bowl I, 1967. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Kansas City sideline, Super Bowl I, 1967. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Super Bowl I, 1967. Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Green Bay receiver Carroll Dale hit by the Chiefs' Willie Mitchell, Super Bowl I, 1967. Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Green Bay's Jim Taylor (#31), Super Bowl I, 1967. Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Kansas City's injured Fred Williamson carried off the field, Super Bowl I, 1967. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Kansas City head coach Hank Stram, Super Bowl I, 1967. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Paul Hornung (#5), a future Hall of Famer who did not play in the game due to injury, Super Bowl I, 1967. Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Jim Taylor tackled by the Chiefs' Sherrill Headrick, Super Bowl I, 1967. Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Jim Taylor, Super Bowl I, 1967\. Packer lineman at left is the great Fuzzy Thurston. Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Jim Taylor, Super Bowl I, 1967. Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. On the Kansas City sideline, Super Bowl I, 1967. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Fred "The Hammer" Williamson led from the field at the end of the first Super Bowl, 1967\. Williamson broke his arm during the game. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Sherrill Headrick, Jerry Mays and other Kansas City Chiefs, Super Bowl I, 1967. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. The Packers' Herb Adderley and Kansas City's tight end Fred Arbanas head to the lockers after Green Bay's 35-10 victory in Super Bowl I, Los Angeles, 1967. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3687668/super-bowl-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3687668/super-bowl-history/"},"headline":"How Television Changed the Super Bowl","datePublished":"2015-02-01T23:00:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:05:58.286Z","description":"We've come a long way since football first aired on the small screen","url":"https://time.com/3687668/super-bowl-history/","keywords":["Sports topic","Football","NFL","Super Bowl topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9cdedcaad78320c4/69877c8bcd6848e35709968e/football.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9cdedcaad78320c4/69877c8bcd6848e35709968e/football.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Super Bowl I - Kansas City Chiefs v Green Bay Packers","caption":"Super Bowl I - Kansas City Chiefs v Green Bay Packers","creditText":"Focus On Sport / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3687668/super-bowl-history/","name":"How Television Changed the Super Bowl"}}]}] ```