Evening star., 1938-11-22
Already Ahead
Of Mark SET
Last Year
Skins One Of Five
Clubs to Better
Crowd Figures
BY GAYLE TALBOT,
Associated Press Sports Writer.


NEW YORK, Nov. 22.-Among
those who will join in the spirit of
Thanksgiving this week are the
owners of the 10 clubs in the Ma
tional Professional Football League.
They are a singularly well-fed set
of gentlemen, with a business that
is flourishing beyond their widest
dreams of few years ago.
Already this season they have
enticed 1,016,255 cash customers to
their games, and there still ere
seven league contests to be played,
not counting the big play-off be-
tween the Eastern and Western divi-
sions of the league. Last years total
attendance was only slightly over
100000, and that was a record.
The money game is booming every
where. At least five clubs already
have set new individual crowd
marks. They are Detroit, Green
Bay, Cleveland, Washington and
Philadelphia. On one day this fall
$4,000 persons paid their way into
the professional citadels.
Detroit Doubles Attendance.
Detroit, which had $4,000 spec
tators at one game with Green Bay.
has doubled last years home at
tendance. The New York Giants and
Washington Redskins played before
81, 500 fans, the greatest crowd ever
to witness a sports event in the
Capital. A throng of $4,000 attended
a game in Green Bay, which has a
population of only about $1,000.
The two games that have created
the most excitement here this sea-
son were those between Army and
Notre Dame, which drew some 10000
to Yankee Stadium. and between
the Giants and Green Bay, which
was seen by $4,000 at the Polo
Grounds. In other words. it took
one of the greatest of the college
"traditional' rivalries to out-draw
the pros.
The men who bank-rolled the
professional sport through the lean
years are getting it back fest. One
of the beauties of their position is
the small original investment. Only
Green Bay owns and operates Its
own park, as a community enter
prise. All the others are happy to
hire the big baseball plants and let
somebody else pay the taxes
George Marshall, owner of the
champion Redskins. is feuding with
Clark Grifrth and threatening to
build himself a stadium, but he
doesn't mean 1t much.
Likes Ball Park Plan.
why should we sink $1,000 900 or
so in a park and let it eat up our
profits for the next 80 years when
the baseball people are anxious for
us to use their stadiums?" asked an
official of the Giants. Its nice
arrangement for both of u.s.
With the pro game showing such
a steady, healthy growth, the owners
have every reason to look forward
to mounting profits each season
and the players to increased sala-
ries. About the only thing they
nave 10 lear is siege OF Dao
weather, such as afflicted the Pitts
burgh club at the outset of this
season. The pro fan is not quite SC
hardy and determined as is the
collegite variety. Given cold rain
or a heavy snowstorm, he is prone
to stay home of a Sunday afternoon
The professionals still are pretty
secretive about the salaries they
pay, except in such case as where
Pittsburgh signed Whizzer White for
$4,000 for the season. That was
good publicity. The minimum wage
on the word of one owner is about
$125 per game for a reserve guard
The average for inemen is at least
twice that, he estimated, and the
galloping backs average close tc
$4,000 a season. Practically al
teams carry the limit of 30 players