The League, John Eisenberg
The League, John Eisenberg
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The League
How Five Rivals Created the NFL and Launched a Sports Empire

Author: John Eisenberg

Narrator: Daniel Thomas May

Unabridged: 11 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 10/09/2018


Synopsis

The epic tale of the five owners who shepherded the NFL through its tumultuous early decades and built the most popular sport in America The National Football League is a towering, distinctly American colossus spewing out $14 billion in annual revenue. But it was not always a success. In The League, John Eisenberg focuses on the pioneering sportsmen who kept the league alive in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, when its challenges were many and its survival was not guaranteed. At the time, college football, baseball, boxing, and horseracing dominated America's sports scene. Art Rooney, George Halas, Tim Mara, George Preston Marshall, and Bert Bell believed in pro football when few others did and ultimately succeeded only because at critical junctures each sacrificed the short-term success of his team for the longer-term good of the league. At once a history of a sport and a remarkable story of business ingenuity, The League is an essential read for any fan of our true national pastime.
  

Reviews

Goodreads review by Dee on October 09, 2018

Even Non-Fans of Football Should Read This Book (Live Video Review at [URL not allowed] ) It will be far easier to tell you why you should read this book than to give you a rundown, chapter by chapter. Seldom is a book on sports history printed that contains entertainment as wel......more

Goodreads review by Chris on May 26, 2024

"The League" was an interesting read about the founders of the National Football League, George Halas, Tim Mara, Art Rooney, Bert Bell and George Marshall. If all you know about the NFL begins with the first Super Bowl, when the league was already 47 years old, then you should read this book.. It w......more

Goodreads review by Al on August 23, 2024

This was a gift book but definitely in my wheelhouse. I remember looking at my grandparents’ encyclopedias and reading the history of sports. These books were from the 1960s and Football certainly lacked the storied history of other sports at that time. And this book explains some of that. The NFL m......more

Goodreads review by Jim on February 13, 2019

I have been a fan of the NFL since the mid 70's so it was really interesting to learn the backstory of the league which started way back in 1920. It was fascinating to learn the life stories of 5 of the original team owners and founders of the league, and how they struggled for decades losing money......more

Goodreads review by Porter on August 17, 2021

I am not a sports enthusiast. There are teams that I follow, but the average number of professional games I watch a year is limited to the Super Bowl and the Colorado Avs (if they make the playoffs). That's it. I'll read up on the games and follow my teams on ESPN, but I am the definition of a casual......more


Quotes

"John Eisenberg tells the fascinating account of how five owners, including the Bears's George Halas, cut through their disputes and differences to work together to form the foundations of the league."—Chicago Tribune

"The pluck-and-luck tale of the creation and stabilization of the league is a small but exemplary chapter in American capitalism and popular culture."—Wall Street Journal

"[A] deeply researched, surprise-on-every-page, and altogether marvelous new book"—Weekly Standard

"Drawing on extensive research and personal interviews with descendants of the principle figures, Eisenberg (That First Season) puts a nearly century-old story into contemporary context. Football fans of all teams will appreciate this fascinating history."—Publishers Weekly

"A readable and fresh look at the early history of the NFL"—Library Journal

"Fans who only know the league as it exists today will be shocked and fascinated by its early years."—Booklist

"A rich history of the rise of the National Football League from its virtual obscurity at its genesis in the 1920s to its position as an economic and cultural powerhouse today... Thoroughly researched and gracefully told... An engaging and informative cultural history, on and off the gridiron."—Kirkus (Starred)

"In The League, John Eisenberg goes deep. He takes us to where it all started, in smoky backrooms, when the NFL-an American monolith now-was more David than Goliath. Carefully researched and astutely narrated, this is a fascinating time-transport trip that tells us as much about America as it does about football.—Gary M. Pomerantz, author of Their Life's Work

"We have had some terrific owners since the first half of the 20th century but founders are founders, and this is their marvelous story--how they survived the Great Depression and a World War, scrambling to make their player payrolls from week to week. They did it through their incredible character, loyalty to each other, and their love of the game--and they built the greatest sports league in America."—Ernie Accorsi, former General Manager of the Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, and New York Giants

"Talk about a team of rivals ready to claw each other to death on Sundays and join forces to sell their game from Monday to Saturday, this is it! Halas, Mara, Marshall, Bell, and Rooney-this is their story. It is also the NFL's story. How the men and the league came though the ballyhoo of the 1920s, survived the Great Depression and World War II, and set the stage for football's ascendency as the national game is told by John Eisenberg with humor, heartbreak, and insight. Before the owners were billionaires, they were just a collection of scoundrels who believed in football and money."—Randy Roberts, coauthor of A Season in the Sun