Apr. 25, 1963 - Television and radio rights to the NFL’s 1963 championship game were purchased today for $926,000 by NBC. CBS, the only other network to submit a bid, offered $750,000. NBC’s winning bid was believed to be the highest price ever paid for broadcasting rights to a one-day sports event. NBC paid $615,000 to broadcast the NFL championship game last December (pictured). The 1963 game between the Eastern and Western Conference titleholders in the NFL is scheduled to be played Dec. 29 in the home city of the Western team. Home television will be blacked out for a radius of 75 miles from the city where the game is played. The growing national interest in professional football has caused the television rights to the games to increase tremendously in recent years. When the NFL first sold television rights to the championship game in 1951 to the now defunct DuMont Network, the price was $75,000. Television rights to NFL games during the regular season of 1963 are held by CBS, which will pay $4,650,000.
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