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It’s been just over eighty-six years since the Philadelphia Eagles Kelly green was first broadcast into people’s homes on televisions. That game — a 1939 matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbett’s Field — saw some 1,000 fans (mostly in the New York area) tuned in to see those leather helmets.
The result was a Sunday afternoon obsession that has overwhelmed us to this day.
Photo Courtesy of Eagles Nation on X.
Sometime around the latter half of the 1920s — televisions first began to make their way into Philadelphia homes. They did not become mainstream there until after the end of World War II. Philo Farnsworth and Vladimir Zworykin — two pioneers of the TV industry — even hosted the first ever live broadcast of a football game in 1934 at our own Franklin Institute during The Great Depression. The very initial TV Broadcasts in Philadelphia date all the way back to another Great Depression Year (1932) transmitted by the Philco Corporation’s own W3XE.
Last February — even for those who were not interested in an Eagles Super Bowl LIX blowout win against the Chiefs 40–22 — saw an average viewership in the United States of 127.7 million viewers and a peak viewership of 137.7 million viewers. Two weeks ago — the first Eagles and Giants matchup drew some 15.6 million viewers. For the rematch this Monday night — of last season’s NFC Wildcard Playoff Game that drew 39.5 million viewers — I’ll be watching.
Won’t you be?
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