the new york giants first played their home games at polo grounds.
the new york giants first played their home games at polo grounds.
where did the new york giants first play their home games?
polo grounds
the first college football game played in yankee stadium was a 3-0 syracuse victory over pittsburgh on october 20, 1923. when an ill ruth could not lead the yankees to the world series in 1925, college football took center stage at yankee stadium that fall. the fiercely competitive notre dame–army game moved to yankee stadium, where it remained until 1947. in the 1928 game, with the score 0–0 at halftime, legendary notre dame coach knute rockne gave his "win one for the gipper" speech (with reference to all-american halfback george gipp, who died in 1920); notre dame went on to defeat army, 12–6. the 1929 game between the two teams had the highest attendance in the series at 79,408. the 1946 army vs. notre dame football game at yankee stadium is regarded as one of the 20th century college football games of the century. notre dame played 24 games at yankee stadium, going 15–6–3. army played 38, compiling a 17–17–4 record (including the best-attended game, on december 1, 1928 when army lost to stanford 26–0 before 86,000 fans). new york university played more games there than any other school, 96, using it as a secondary home field from 1923 to 1948, with a record of 52–40–4. nearby fordham university played 19 games there, going 13–5–1. eight college football games were played at yankee stadium on thanksgiving day, the first seven by new york university. perhaps, the most famous thanksgiving day game was the first. oregon state agricultural college (now oregon state) was the first west coast team to travel across the country and play an east coast team. 8–1 nyu was a 3–1 favorite to beat 5–3 osac, but oregon state upset the hometown favorites 25–13. will rogers lamented what the "oregon apple knockers" had done to his "city slickers" in a column after the game. after the 1928 game, nyu beat carnegie tech (now carnegie mellon university) in 1931 and 1932, defeated fordham in 1936, lost to carnegie tech in 1929, and lost to fordham in 1934 and 1935. in the eighth game, in 1963, syracuse beat notre dame, 14–7. this was a rematch following the teams' controversial 1961 game won by notre dame, 17–15. the gotham bowl was scheduled to premiere at yankee stadium in 1960, but was canceled when no opponent could be found for oregon state university. the 1961 game was moved to the polo grounds, and when just 6,166 people came to yankee stadium for the 1962 game, in which the university of nebraska defeated the university of miami, 36–34, the gotham bowl was never played again. the miami-nebraska game remains the only college bowl ever played at the stadium. in 1969, notre dame and army reprised their long series at the stadium (1925–1946 except 1930) with one final game. starting in 1971, the stadium hosted the whitney m. young urban league classic, a game between historically black colleges, often featuring grambling state university of louisiana, coached by eddie robinson, the first college coach to win 400 games. the classic helped to spread the fame of grambling and other similar schools. yankee stadium hosted its final classic during the 1987 season, also the last time a football game was played there. grambling lost to central state university of ohio, 37–21. the classic has been held at giants stadium and metlife stadium in new jersey's meadowlands sports complex ever since, though the yankees remain a supporter of the event. in 1926, after negotiations failed with the fledgling nfl and the chicago bears, red grange and his agent c.c. pyle formed the first american football league and fielded a team called the new york yankees based in yankee stadium. the league failed after only one year, but the team continued as a member of the nfl for two seasons before ceasing operations. a second new york yankees football team, not related to the first, split its home games between yankee stadium and downing stadium as it competed in the second afl in 1936 and 1937. a third afl new york yankees took the field in 1940 and became the new york americans in 1941. the new york yankees of the all-america football conference (aafc) played their home games at yankee stadium from 1946 to 1949. following the 1949 season, the nfl new york bulldogs acquired many of the players from the 1949 yankees. using the name the new york yanks they played two seasons at yankee stadium, 1950 and 1951. the new york giants of the nfl played their home games at yankee stadium from 1956 to 1973. on december 28, 1958, yankee stadium hosted the nfl championship game, frequently called "the greatest game ever played". the baltimore colts tied the giants, 17–17, on a field goal with seven seconds left. led by quarterback johnny unitas, the colts won in overtime, 23–17. the game's dramatic ending is often cited as elevating professional football to one of the united states' major sports. additionally, one of the most notable plays in nfl history occurred at yankee stadium on november 20, 1960 when the philadelphia eagles' chuck bednarik forcefully tackled the giants' frank gifford in the last minute of a close game, forcing a fumble recovered by the eagles that clinched the victory for philadelphia and ultimately helped the eagles dethrone the two-time defending champion giants as nfl eastern division champions. the hit left gifford with a concussion and forced his temporary retirement from football for the remainder of the 1960 season and all of the 1961 season. the giants played their first two home games at yankee stadium in 1973, concluding their tenancy on september 23 with a 23–23 tie against the philadelphia eagles. in october, they moved to the yale bowl in new haven, connecticut, for the rest of the season.
comparisons between the national football league and ncaa football
in , both of the indianapolis colts's home games against the new york giants and the washington redskins were played in prime time. the indianapolis colts were the first nfl team that played neither of its home interconference games in the afternoon since 1978, the first year all teams (except the four fifth-place teams) were guaranteed two interconference games at home. in , both of the houston oilers's home games against the chicago bears and the green bay packers were played in prime time. in , both of the buffalo bills's home games against the new york giants and the washington redskins and both of the san diego chargers's home games against the chicago bears and green bay packers were played in prime time. in , both of the new england patriots's home games against the new york giants and the dallas cowboys were played on sunday nights. in , the jacksonville jaguars's home game against the green bay packers was played on a monday night instead. in , both of the miami dolphins's home games against nfc teams were televised in prime time, a rare occurrence that prevented fox from airing a game from pro player stadium that season. this had also happened in , though fox was scheduled to broadcast the chicago bears' game from miami until it was moved to monday night due to its coverage of the world series; espn was already planning to cover the detroit lions' game at miami later on. in , the baltimore ravens also had both of their interconference games aired in prime time instead, with the game against the green bay packers on abc and the contest against the minnesota vikings on espn. in , the atlanta falcons had both of their interconference home games aired in prime time instead, with the game against the new england patriots on nbc's sunday night football and the contest against the new york jets on monday night football. the atlanta situation affected cbs affiliate wgcl-tv, which is the lowest-rated of the major network affiliates in the atlanta market and has struggled to gain traction in the market since becoming the market's cbs affiliate following television realignment of the mid-1990s. in , the arizona cardinals had both of their interconference home games aired in prime time instead, with the game against the baltimore ravens on monday night football and the contest against the cincinnati bengals on nbc's sunday night football, though cbs was scheduled to broadcast the bengals-cardinals game until it was moved to sunday night (for the first time since ). both of the cardinals' interconference home games in 2016 were also in primetime, with the new england patriots game on sunday night football and the new york jets game on monday night football, though cbs will air the team's game at san francisco as part of that network's joint thursday night football coverage with nfl network. as such, barring a crossflex of a cardinals sunday afternoon game, cbs's solo production will have no cardinals games for the second consecutive season (possibly the first time such a scenario occurred with one team in back-to-back years). also, fox did not broadcast any games from o.co coliseum in 2016 (barring crossflexes) as both of the oakland raiders' interconference home games (versus the atlanta falcons and carolina panthers) were crossflexed to cbs, though fox will air the team's road game at the new orleans saints which was crossflexed from cbs. in , both of the detroit lions's home games against the new york jets and the new england patriots were played in prime time. also, cbs did not broadcast any games from raymond james stadium as one of the tampa bay buccaneers' interconference home games (versus the pittsburgh steelers and cleveland browns) was aired in primetime and the other was crossflexed to fox. in , both of the new orleans saints's home games against the houston texans and the indianapolis colts will be playing on monday nights. in addition, fox will not be broadcasting any games from dignity health sports park as one of the los angeles chargers' interconference home games (versus the green bay packers and minnesota vikings) will be crossflexed to cbs and the latter will be played on sunday night.
national football league on television