STL All Sports

The Yale Bowl, opened in 1914, was the most magnificent structure of its kind in the world at the time. Many other stadiums were built after Yale had led the way, but not many have been of the true bowl shape, such as the plant at New Haven. Many have been on the horseshoe pattern. Some schools, in areas where big league baseball parks operate, decided against the expense of erecting their own stadiums and rent the baseball fields for important contests.

World War II affected football attendance considerably, as a result of transportation restrictions, but with the fighting ended before the 1945 football season began, the crowds returned in greater force than ever before. The 1949 attendance shattered all records at the autumnal sport, which in the long-ago generally attracted fewer than a corporal's guard of students, even though admission was free.

Shortly after the post-war boom in the sport, a new problem-television-arose. Since the development of video on a national basis, the authorities, notably the powerful National Collegiate Athletic Association, have imposed certain restrictions, such as permitting only one game to be televised nationally each Saturday during the regular season.

Although the majority claim that the televising of a big game is hurting the attendance at other games, a strong minority have made their presence felt. No satisfactory solution has come out of the controversy, which may go on for years. With or without television, large crowds generally have turned out to watch winning teams, a fact of life common to most team sports.