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The Rise of the NFL (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Roger Basseck.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: And I'm Paula Davis. Spotlight uses a special English method
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: In February of twenty twenty six, the National Football League
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  Speaker 1: held its sixtieth Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is the
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  Speaker 1: championship game of American football. The Seattle Seahawks defeated the
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  Speaker 1: New England Patriots twenty nine to thirteen, but the real
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  Speaker 1: winner was the NFL. Over one hundred and thirty million
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: people in the United States watched the game.
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  Speaker 2: On today's Spotlight Advanced book at how the NFL became
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  Speaker 2: the most popular sport in America, We'll see what changes
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  Speaker 2: it has brought to American society and to the rest
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  Speaker 2: of the world.
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  Speaker 1: American football was created as a combination of soccer and rugby,
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  Speaker 1: two European football games. Both soccer and rugby began as
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  Speaker 1: kicking games. Since American football used kicking like European football games,
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  Speaker 1: Americans also called their game football. Passing in European football
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  Speaker 1: is when one player kicks the ball with their feet
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  Speaker 1: to another player on their team. Passing did not become
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  Speaker 1: a part of American football until years later, players began
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  Speaker 1: throwing the ball to teammates with their hands.
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  Speaker 2: The NFL begun in nineteen twenty with only fourteen teams.
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  Speaker 2: Cities like Canton, Ohio, and Decay, Sir Illinois, were home
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  Speaker 2: to the original teams. Football had only local popularity. It
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  Speaker 2: was a long way from capturing the nation's attention.
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  Speaker 1: By the nineteen sixties, football was becoming a more popular sport.
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  Speaker 1: Other cities wanted football teams, but the NFL did not
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  Speaker 1: want to expand, so a group of businessmen started a
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  Speaker 1: new league. It was called the American Football League, or AFL.
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  Speaker 1: After several years, the head of the NFL and the
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  Speaker 1: owner of one of the AFL's teams, the Kansas City Chiefs,
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  Speaker 1: had a meeting. They decided to hold a game between
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  Speaker 1: the champions of each league at the end of the
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  Speaker 1: football season. They called the game the super Bowl. They
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  Speaker 1: held the first Super Bowl in nineteen sixty seven. In
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  Speaker 1: nineteen seventy, the AFL joined the NFL. A few years later,
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  Speaker 1: the NFL split into two parts. From then on, the
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  Speaker 1: winners of each part played in the super Bowl at
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  Speaker 1: the end of the football season.
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  Speaker 2: The competition between the two parts helped to increase football's popularity.
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  Speaker 2: The more people watched football, the more it became a
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  Speaker 2: part of America's culture. High school football games on Friday
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  Speaker 2: nights became weekly events in towns across the country. College
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  Speaker 2: football achieved great popularity, selling out games in stadiums with
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  Speaker 2: one hundred ten thousand seats. Graduates of colleges passed down
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  Speaker 2: their love for their school's football team to their children.
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  Speaker 2: Support of the local college football team became a tradition.
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  Speaker 2: Keith Jackson, a college football broadcaster, said, go into a
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  Speaker 2: college football town and you will find three generations of
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  Speaker 2: a family sitting together. The best college players were then
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  Speaker 2: drafted into the NFL. Fans of college players continued to
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  Speaker 2: follow them in the NFL.
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  Speaker 1: The NFL also limited the amount of money each team
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  Speaker 1: could spend on players. This gave each team a chance
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  Speaker 1: to hire the best players. It gave these teams an
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  Speaker 1: equal chance of competing.
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  Speaker 2: The Internet helped the NFL grow. The Internet allowed viewers
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  Speaker 2: across the globe to follow the NFL. The NFL held
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  Speaker 2: games each season in cities like London, Berlin, and Mexico
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  Speaker 2: City to grow its league.
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  Speaker 1: During the nineteen nineties and two thousands. The NFL also
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  Speaker 1: changed or created rules to encouragem scoring. These changes made
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  Speaker 1: the game more exciting. Fans liked to watch games with
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  Speaker 1: more action. Gene Anderson, a mother of four and a
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  Speaker 1: church organist who lived in Massachusetts, said, I like the passing.
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  Speaker 1: It's fun to see if they can catch the ball.
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  Speaker 1: You never know what will happen. Football had the tension
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  Speaker 1: of a close soccer match, but with much more scoring.
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  Speaker 1: The average number of viewers who watched the Super Bowl
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  Speaker 1: went from eighty to ninety million during the nineteen eighties
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  Speaker 1: and nineteen nineties to one hundred eleven million by twenty eleven.
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  Speaker 2: The NFL was also wise to encourage fantasy football. Fantasy
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  Speaker 2: football is a game where fans pick certain players from
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  Speaker 2: all the different teams in the NFL. A fan uses
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  Speaker 2: players until the team is complete. The fans imaginary team
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  Speaker 2: competes against other teams in the Fantasy Football League. The
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  Speaker 2: fan collects points based on how his or her team's
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  Speaker 2: players perform in NFL games. This allows fans to stay
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  Speaker 2: interested in the whole NFL, not just one team. Fantasy
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  Speaker 2: football appeals to many people who never followed football closely.
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  Speaker 2: Brian Butler, a counselor from Fort Worth, Texas, said, I
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  Speaker 2: never used to watch the NFL. It didn't really interest me.
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  Speaker 2: But then I joined a fantasy football league and started
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  Speaker 2: paying attention to players all over the league.
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  Speaker 1: All these factors led to the NF becoming the most
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  Speaker 1: popular sport in America. Exciting games were broadcast on television
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  Speaker 1: each Sunday, Monday, and Thursday. Fans could not wait to
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  Speaker 1: see if their favorite team could make it to the
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  Speaker 1: Super Bowl. Players made amazing runs and throws. There were
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  Speaker 1: close games with great finishes every year. The Super Bowl
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  Speaker 1: was the country's highest rated broadcast. Watching football games became
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  Speaker 1: popular during American Thanksgiving celebrations. Thanksgiving is a national holiday
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  Speaker 1: in America and Canada, remembering the colonial pilgrim's harvest meal
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  Speaker 1: with Native Americans. The NFL broadcasts two or three games
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  Speaker 1: on Thanksgiving Day. Families across North America gathered before and
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  Speaker 1: after meals to watch these games.
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  Speaker 2: The Super Bowl each February is an unofficial holiday. A
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  Speaker 2: super Bowl party can be as big as an event
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  Speaker 2: like a Christmas or a New Year's Eve party.
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  Speaker 1: Football became an American tradition, and the NFL is still
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  Speaker 1: its most popular league. But was it a healthy tradition?
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  Speaker 1: Were three days a week too many to show NFL games?
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  Speaker 1: College football games were broadcast on Saturday. High school games
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  Speaker 1: were held every Friday during the fall, Five days a
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  Speaker 1: week were devoted to football for almost half a year.
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  Speaker 1: Was it all too much.
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  Speaker 2: For football fans? The answer was no. It brought communities
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  Speaker 2: closer together by cheering on their local team. In Stratton, Colorado,
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  Speaker 2: high school football coach Jesse McConnell said, the whole town
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  Speaker 2: comes to watch our team. They see them at the
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  Speaker 2: gas station. They're always asking the kids how the season
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  Speaker 2: is going. Football helped families unite over professional and college
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  Speaker 2: football teams. It gave people a break from the daily
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  Speaker 2: pressures they faced at work. It was fun entertainment the
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  Speaker 2: whole family could enjoy.
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  Speaker 1: And the continued growth of the NFL proved one thing
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  Speaker 1: to be true about America and about the rest of
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  Speaker 1: the world. It couldn't wait for the next game.
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  Speaker 2: Do you like to watch football games? Have you ever
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  Speaker 2: played American football yourself? You can leave a comment on
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  Speaker 2: our website at www dot Spotlight English dot com. You
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  Speaker 2: can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: x You can also get Spotlight episodes delivered directly to
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotslight
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  Speaker 2: English app.
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  Speaker 1: The writer of this episode was Peter Anderson. The producer
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  Speaker 1: was Michio Osaki. The voices you heard were from the
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  Speaker 1: United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted
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  Speaker 1: for this episode and voiced by Spotlight. No AI or
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: artificial intelligence was used in this episode. Spotlight episodes are written, voiced,
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  Speaker 1: and produced by real people for real people, no matter
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  Speaker 1: where in the world they live. This episode is called
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  Speaker 1: the Rise of the NFL.
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  Speaker 2: We hope you can join us again for the next
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  Speaker 2: Spotlight Advanced episode. Goodbye.