Bert Bell De Benneville " Bert " Bell ( February 25 , 1895 – October 11 , 1959 ) was the National Football League commissioner from 1946 until his death . He was an assistant football coach at the University of Pennsylvania ( 1920 – 1929 ) and at Temple University ( 1930 – 1932 ) . He was the co - founder and part - owner ( 1933 – 1936 ) , sole owner ( 1936 – 1940 ) , and also head coach ( 1936 – 1940 ) of the Philadelphia Eagles . While owner of the Eagles , Bell proposed the creation of the NFL draft in 1935 , which led to its implementation in 1936 . He was part - owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers ( 1940 – 1946 ) and head coach for two games ( 1941 ) . He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963 . As NFL Commissioner , his role was to act as the principal spokesman for the NFL , enhance the league ' s popularity , maintain a core set of franchise owners that were financially sound and dedicated to the success of the NFL and its rules . While he was an employee of the owners , he had to resolve disputes between them and the players , and also disputes between different owners . He evolved his position from one of mediating disputes between owners to one of persuading owners to put short - sighted self - interests aside and act cohesively to improve the NFL ' s standing . In times of impasse among the owners , he acted unilaterally and decisively for the betterment of the league . His efforts in mediation , negotiation , persuasion , marketing , and leadership assisted in football ' s rise to become the most popular professional sport in America . Specifically , his accomplishments as commissioner included presiding over the NFL becoming the first coast - to - coast sports industry and presiding over the end of racial segregation in the NFL , enacting an anti - gambling resolution into the NFL constitution , merging the NFL with the AAFC , and developing league - wide team schedules that improved the competitive balance within the league . Also , from television ' s very beginnings , he set television policy for the NFL . He negotiated the first league - wide television contract , which included a TV revenue - sharing plan for NFL franchises . He enacted rule changes to enhance the appeal of the game for television viewers , paying spectators , and corporate television sponsorship , which eventually enabled football to become the first dominant sports attraction on television . He unilaterally recognized the NFLPA and amassed enough support for the NFL owners to agree to recognize the NFLPA . Early life . Bell was born de Benneville Bell , ( his first name was alternatively spelled as deBenneville , De Benneville , and DeBenneville , ) on February 25 , 1895 in Philadelphia to John C . Bell and Fleurette de Benneville Myers . John C . , an attorney in Philadelphia , was the city ' s District Attorney , ( 1903 – 1907 ) the Pennsylvania Attorney General ( 1911 – 1915 ) an author , and public speaker . His older brother , John C . Jr . , was born in 1892 . Bert ' s parents were very wealthy , and his mother ' s lineage in the United States predated the American Revolutionary War . Bell ' s father ( University of Pennsylvania , C ' 1884 ) played football as an end during his college days , and he brought Bert to his first football game at Penn , located a mile from their home , when he was six years old . Soon thereafter , Bert regularly engaged in football games with neighborhood friends . In 1904 Bert attended the Episcopal Academy . About this time , his father became director of athletics at Penn and helped form the NCAA . Bell attended the Delancey School from 1909 to 1911 . For high school , Bell enrolled in The Haverford School in 1911 . He was one of the best athletes in the school , and in his senior year he served as captain of the school ' s football , basketball , and baseball teams , and " was awarded The Yale Cup , given to ' The pupil who has done the most to promote athletics in the school . ' " Although he excelled at baseball , his first passion was football . His father was named trustee at Penn in 1911 ( until 1928 ) . Once commenting on Bert ' s plans for college , his father said , " Bert will go to Penn or he will go to hell . " University of Pennsylvania . Bell entered Penn in the fall of 1914 , as an English major , and became a member of Phi Kappa Sigma . He became the starting quarterback on the freshman Penn Quakers . His play earned him a position on the varsity for coach George H . Brooke as starting quarterback in 1915 , an unusual occurrence for a sophomore . He also played as a defender , punter , and punt returner . He started the first two games and Penn won them both . With Penn ' s record at 3 – 0 , Bell shared quarterbacking duties from the fourth through seventh games , with mixed success . As a punt returner , his lack of speed caused him to fumble occasionally because he could not get set properly before catching the ball . After Brooke abruptly quit before the eight game , Bell regained the starting quarterback position . Penn finished with a record of 3 – 5 – 2 in his first year on varsity . Fleurette passed away on September 24 , 1916 , while Bell was en route from campus to her bedside . Nevertheless , he started the first game of the 1916 season on September 30 for new coach Bob Folwell . But again mixed results by Bell caused him to be platooned for the rest of the season . The team finished the regular season with a record of 7 – 2 – 1 , 10th seed in the east . After Harvard , and then Yale , turned down invitations to the 1917 Rose Bowl , Penn was offered an invitation and accepted it . The Quakers were installed as , depending on sources , heavy favorites , or 5 – 3 favorites over the Oregon Ducks . The Rose Bowl sold out and more than 25 , 000 attended the game . Penn ' s total offensive yards for the game was 230 vs . 242 for Oregon . The most successful offensive play for the Quakers was a 20 yard rushing gain by Bell . Bell was replaced at quarterback after throwing an interception , from the Quaker ' s fifteen yard line , in the fourth quarter that led to the final score , Oregon 14 , Penn 0 , three plays later . At the time , this game was considered to be the greatest football game ever played on the West Coast . In the 1917 season , Bell led Penn to a 9 – 2 – 0 finish . On December 1 , 1917 , Bell was inducted into a Mobile Hospital Unit of the United States Army for World War I . Later that day , his teammates unanimously selected him to be team captain for the 1918 season . However , after a few months of training , he was deployed to France , where he arrived in May 1918 . Bell and some members of his unit volunteered for dangerous assignments . As a result of one occasion , his unit received a congratulatory letter for bravery from General John J . Pershing . He was promoted to top sergeant and returned home in March 1919 with a discharge soon to be . He returned to Penn as captain of the football team for the 1919 season and again played erratically . The Quakers finished 1919 with a 6 – 2 – 1 record . His collegiate playing days were over , and he was viewed as having been , depending on sources , an above - average player to a borderline All - American candidate . Bell ' s play on the field had created supporters among the Quakers ' fans . But , he also had his critics . The animosity directed at Bell was due to either his family ' s social standing , Bert ' s play , or some other intangible reasons . Off the field , Bell ' s aversion to attending academic classes caught up with him , and in February 1920 he left Penn without a degree . Early career . Bell became a backfield coach for Penn ' s coach John Heisman from 1920 to 1922 . Under Heisman , he became well regarded as an assistant coach . When Louis Young became coach in 1923 , Bell stayed on as an offensive backfield coach . After Penn ' s declaration as collegiate champions in 1924 , Bell and fellow assistant coach Lud Wray received some unnamed offers for head - coaching positions , which both of them declined . As an offensive coach , Bell made early contributions to the development of " spinner " plays , which Pop Warner made famous years later . In 1928 , Bell and Wray had a dispute regarding Quaker football strategy . Bell felt Young and Wray overemphasized scrimmages in practices during the season , as opposed to a strength and conditioning regimen only . Consequently , in November , Bell tendered his resignation , which was not accepted . Bell declared he had no desire to seek a head - coaching position because he felt it was too time - consuming . Bell preferred to stay on at Penn , but his resignation was accepted prior to the start of the 1929 season . Late in Bell ' s career at Penn , his father set Bert up with at least one job , as a manager of the Ritz Carlton Hotel . Around 1929 , Bell become a stock broker and managed to lose approximately $ 50 , 000 during the Wall Street Crash of 1929 . His father bailed him out of his losses , and Bell continued to work , or returned to working at the Ritz for an unspecified period . In December 1929 , Bell announced he would become an assistant coach for Temple University for the next season . He was a backfield coach at Temple under head coach and former Penn teammate Heinie Miller for the 1930 through the 1932 season . When Pop Warner was hired to coach Temple for the 1933 season , he chose to hire his own assistants , and Bell was let go . During his coaching tenure at Penn and Temple , Bell spent most of his off time out drinking , socializing , and gambling . One of his favorite places was the Saratoga Race Course . He visited Saratoga every August as late as 1926 , and there he counted among his friends and companions the Vanderbilts , the Whitneys , Tim Mara , Art Rooney , and George Preston Marshall , among others . Marshall met Bell in Atlantic City in 1932 and tried to coax him into buying the rights for a new NFL franchise , but Bell promptly disparaged the NFL and ridiculed the suggestion . NFL career . Philadelphia Eagles . By about February 1933 , Bell ' s opinion on the NFL had changed , and he wanted to become an owner . At the time , college football , played on Saturday , was vastly more popular than the NFL , so Bell was told a prerequisite to a franchise being granted to him was the Pennsylvania Blue Laws would have to be changed to permit NFL games to be played on Sunday . By the time the NFL league meetings were held in February 1933 , Bell had convinced Rooney to apply for a franchise membership in the NFL . Bell then played the primary role in convincing Governor Gifford Pinchot to issue a bill before the Pennsylvanian legislature to deprecate the Blue Laws . The legislature passed the bill in April 1933 , and not long after , the Governor signed it into law ; the law directed local communities to hold referendums to determine the status and extent of Blue Laws in their respective jurisdictions . Bell then needed money to purchase entry into the NFL but his father would not lend him any because he disapproved of football as a career . So Bell borrowed money from Frances Upton , his future wife , which he used to partner with Wray , among others , and buy the Frankford Yellow Jackets , a bankrupt NFL franchise . Bell named the franchise the Philadelphia Eagles , the partners paid the league entrance fee of $ 2 , 500 and agreed to guarantee the outstanding debt of the Yellow Jackets . The Eagles , Pittsburgh Pirates , and the Cincinnati Reds entered the NFL for the start of the 1933 NFL season . At the time they entered the NFL , there was a total of 10 teams that were split up into an Eastern and a Western division . Wray became head coach of the Eagles , and Bell became president . Bell negotiated a deal to have the team play their home games at the 18 , 500 - seat Baker Bowl for a percentage of the gate . On November 7 , 1933 , the referendum on the Blue Laws passed in Philadelphia and it became law . After the Eagles inaugural 3 – 5 – 1 season , a de facto segregation occurred in the NFL and African American s would not return to the NFL until the 1946 NFL season as for the previously two remaining African Americans , Ray Kemp was released , and Joe Lillard , a disruptive influence on , and off , the field , was let go by the Cardinals to prevent racially based fights from occurring . Before the 1934 NFL season , the financially struggling Portsmouth Spartans were sold to George Arthur Richards , moved to Detroit , and renamed the Detroit Lions . Also , Bell ' s proposal to have the winner of the annual NFL championship game be awarded the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy was accepted at the NFL owners meeting . The Reds went bankrupt amid the 1934 season and their position was taken over until the end of season by the St . Louis Gunners . The Eagles finished the 1934 season at 4 – 7 . The lack of the Eagles ' success on the field made it difficult to sell tickets and to be profitable . Bell ' s inability to sign a desired prospect eventually led him to believe the only way to bring a competitive parity to the NFL was for all teams to have an equal opportunity to sign eligible players . In 1935 , Bell proposed a draft be instituted to enhance competitive parity across the league . His proposal was accepted , and on February 8 , 1936 , the first NFL draft began , at which Bell acted as master of the ceremony . In their first three years , the Eagles lost about $ 85 , 000 . In the spring of 1936 , the franchise was put up for public auction . Bell became sole owner with a winning bid of about $ 4 , 500 . Austerity measures forced Wray to be let go , and Bell became head coach . Bell made the 102 , 000 - capacity Municipal Stadium the team ' s home field for the 1936 NFL season and coached them to a 1 – 11 finish , still their worst record ever . At league meetings in December , an application for an NFL franchise in Los Angeles was denied because Bell and Rooney argued Los Angeles was too far of a distance to travel for games . The 1937 NFL season began with a new franchise , Cleveland Rams , in the Western Division and the Redskins relocated to Washington , D . C . , The Eagles finished with a 2 – 8 – 1 record . With a 5 – 6 record in 1938 , the franchise made its first profit ( $ 7 , 000 ) . The Eagles finished 1 – 9 – 1 in 1939 and 1 – 10 in 1940 . Pittsburgh Steelers . A series of events that resulted in the sale of the Steelers and the Eagles began in 1940 which confuse even the most knowledgeable football historians . Alexis Thompson was in the market to buy a sports franchise sometime around 1940 and he finally focused his efforts on an NFL club . Published reports at the time indicated Rooney had lost approximately $ 100 , 000 on the Steelers since entering the league . Albeit , Thompson preferred to buy the Eagles because it was in Philadelphia , he approached Rooney about buying the Steelers but they were unsuccessful in negotiating a price . In late November 1940 , depending on source , Thompson , or representatives for Thompson had approached Bell with the intention of buying the Eagles . Bell had told Thompson the Eagles were not for sale . Not deterred , Thompson suggested to Bell that Bell and Rooney should talk together about one of them selling their teams and then entering into a partnership . Bell notified Rooney of Thompson ' s offer to buy the Eagles and his refusal to sell . Rooney had the Steelers ' board of directors offer Bell a 20 % commission if he could negotiate a sale of the Steelers to Thompson . On December 11 , 1940 , the league approved the sale of the Steelers to Thompson . Rooney took the proceeds from the sale ( $ 160 , 000 , or $ 165 , 000 , depending on sources ) and then immediately bought a 50 % stake in the Eagles . On April 3 , 1941 it was announced that Bell and Rooney would move their franchise to Pittsburgh , and Thompson would move his franchise to Philadelphia . Furthermore , Bell and Rooney ' s franchise would be named the Pittsburgh Steelers , and Thompson ' s franchise would be named the Philadelphia Eagles . This sequence of events in the transaction have been nicknamed as the " Pennsylvania Polka " by sports historians and was brought to its final step because Rooney did not want to leave Pittsburgh . Bell and Rooney apportioned $ 7 , 500 annual salaries for each of themselves , pursuant to the Steelers being profitable , and they became president and vice - president , respectively . One inescapable fact is that if Bell had sold the Eagles directly to Thompson and then bought a stake in the Steelers , then Rooney would have never had to pay Bell a 20 % commission . Ostensibly , Rooney had provided financial assistance to Bell . By the opening of training camp , Rooney would become the general manager and Bell would become the head coach . In their inaugural season , Bell was resigned to the Steelers having a dreadful season after Rooney denigrated the team during training camp in a phrase that would soon morph into the " Same old Steelers " − ( SOS ) . After losing the first two games of the 1941 season , Rooney pressured Bell into resigning as head coach . Bell ' s coaching career ended with a 10 – 46 – 2 record . For coaches with at least five years in the NFL , it was the worst record in the history of the NFL . By 1943 , 40 % of NFL players had been drafted into the United States Armed Forces because of World War II . The number of players available from the previous season ' s teams were for the Steelers 6 , Cardinals 10 , Detroit 12 , New York 13 , Green Bay and Cleveland 14 , and the Eagles 16 . This shortage of players could have been eradicated if African Americans had been integrated into the teams . Some owners wanted to shut down the league until the war ended , but Bell was one of the owners arguing against it because the league might not be able to jump start itself after the war , it was their duty as patriots to continue the league , and Major League Baseball was continuing its schedule . Consequently , the Steelers and Eagles were forced to pool their players to field a team and temporarily merge for the 1943 season , into a team referred to as the Steagles . The Chicago Cardinals , however , suspended their participation in the league for the 1943 season . The Steelers merger with the Eagles concluded when the season ended . The following season , the Cardinals were able to resume operations because the Steelers merged with them in a team referred to as Card - Pitt . In September , 1944 , Arch Ward organized a group of investors to create the AAFC for the purpose of competing against the NFL . The AAFC began battling the NFL to get the best players almost from its inception . and consequently player salaries were immediately driven up drastically . " Bullet " Bill Dudley attributed Bell ' s nervous nature , during his contract negotiations with the Steelers , a possible consequence of the AAFC ' s creation . However , throughout his partnership with Rooney , Bell suffered financially and Rooney bought an increasing , unspecified , share of the Steelers from Bell . Eventually , Rooney gained controlling interest of the Steelers . However at the end of the 1945 season , Rooney believed the Steelers were in the most financially perilous position since he entered the NFL with the Pirates . NFL commissioner . Hiring . When Elmer Layden was hired as NFL commissioner in 1941 , Ward was viewed as dictating the hiring of Layden . Some owners had been upset because they believed they were not given fair representation on who should become the commissioner . Throughout 1945 , Dan Topping , owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers , and Mara , had been feuding because Mara would not permit Topping to use Yankee Stadium as his home field , due to the stadium ' s proximity to the Giants home field , the Polo Grounds . Mara was invoking territorial rights to block Topping ' s move . ( Territorial rights , originally defined in the NFL constitution in 1921 , was redefined by 1926 to permit a team to block another team from placing its home field in the same area . ) As a result of this feud and a total payment of $ 100 , 000 the owners of AAFC teams agreed to give Topping , Topping took his Dodgers from the NFL to the AAFC . Some of the owners believed Layden had a conflict of interest in dealing with the AAFC because Ward was seen as his benefactor in 1941 . At a league meeting after Topping ' s departure in 1945 , the rise in player ' s salaries as a result of the competition from the AAFC , Layden ' s perceived unconcerned attitude about the threat of the AAFC , and Topping ' s departure contributed to Layden getting fired on January 11 , 1946 . Bell , who was not well respected in the Pittsburgh at the time , was selected to replace Layden . On January 12 , 1946 , Bell ' s selection to commissioner became official ; Bell had become the second commissioner of the NFL . Bell sold his stake in the Steelers to Rooney and was given a three - year contract by the NFL at $ 20 , 000 per year . At the same meeting , Dan Reeves , owner of the Cleveland Rams , was denied a request by the other NFL owners to move his team to Los Angeles . Reeves threatened to end his relationship with the NFL and get out of the professional football business altogether unless the Rams transfer to Los Angeles was permitted . Bell negotiated a settlement and , as a result , the Los Angeles Rams were created . and the NFL had become the first professional coast - to - coast sports entertainment industry . After the Rams had received approval to move to Los Angeles , the Rams entered into negotiations to lease the Los Angeles Coliseum . The Rams were advised that a precondition to them getting a lease was that they would have to integrate the team with at least one African American ; the Rams agreed to this condition . Subsequently , the Rams signed Kenny Washington on March 21 , 1946 , and racial segregation in the NFL was completely ended . The signing of Washington caused " ' all hell to break loose . . . ' " among the owners of the NFL franchises , albeit no details are provided what that entailed . Filchock - Hapes gambling scandal . The day before the 1946 Championship game , two players for the Giants , Frank Filchock and Merle Hapes , had been accused of being offered bribes to fix the game from Alvin Paris . Mayor William O ' Dwyer had Jack Mara , Wellington Mara , Steve Owen , and Bell informed of the police evidence against the two players . The mayor interviewed the players one at a time . Under questioning , Hapes admitted he was offered a bribe and Filchock denied being offered one . Several hours later , Paris was arrested and confessed to attempting the bribery . Hapes was suspended by Bell , but Filchock was allowed to play in the game . At the NFL meeting the day after the game , Bell became worried he was about to be fired when when the owner ' s asked him to step outside . When he returned he was , he was advised his contract was changed to a five - year pact at $ 30 , 000 per year . During Paris ' s trial weeks later , Filchock testified to being offered the bribe . The NFL ' s concern over the threat of gamblers affecting the outcome of a game dated to at least 1933 . During his tenure as NFL president , Joe Carr let managers and owners know that anyone involved in a betting scam would be permanently banned from the NFL . As NFL commissioner , Layden had once conducted an investigation into a betting scam , without advising the owners , which did not reveal any conspiracy . Bell , however , was proactive in ensuring games were not tampered with by gamblers . He announced plans to get as much legislation written across the country to make it illegal to fix games and then lobbied to do so . His brother , John C . Jr . , the Governor of Pennsylvania , promised to ask the Pennsylvania General Assembly to enact such a law . Bert then wrote the anti - gambling resolution to the league constitution , which was approved by the NFL in January 1947 . As a result , the commissioner ' s office could permanently ban any player for betting on a game or for withholding information on a game being possibly fixed . Subsequently , Filchock and Hapes were suspended indefinitely by Bell . Bert put employees on the NFL payroll to investigate potential betting scams . In July , to prevent gamblers from getting any inside information , he mandated that each team had to publish an injury report , 48 hours prior to each game , listing the players who may not , or could not , play , and Bell did not reveal the names of officials he would assign to games . In 1949 , Pennsylvania became the last state with an NFL franchise to pass a law making it a crime to bribe an athlete . In 1953 , Bell forced one of the owners of the Cleveland Browns to sell all of his shares in the team because he was found to have been betting on Browns ' football games . Although Bert hated to fly , as late as the mid 1950s , Bell visited the training camps of every team , each year , and made it a point to discuss with the danger gamblers posed to the league . However , Bell ' s efforts were not completely successful as some players did bet on their own games . AAFC - NFL merger . The AAFC did not start its first season until the autumn of 1946 . Overall the competition between the NFL and the AAFC , and the simultaneous raising of the NFL team roster limit from 28 to the prewar level of 33 , caused the NFL payrolls to increase by 250 % . The average attendance per game reported by the NFL was larger than the AAFC in 1946 , but the AAFC would surpass the NFL in 1947 , and 1948 . However after the end of 1948 NFL season , the NFL had not shown a league wide profit for three years in a row , and neither had the AAFC . Representatives from both leagues met in Philadelphia at the end of the 1948 NFL season and were unsuccessful to coming to terms on a merger , but they had come close . In 1949 , the AAFC was still signing as many good players as the NFL . The average attendance in the NFL dropped again in the 1949 season to 23 , 196 and the league again did not show a profit . The primary obstacle in a merger was in making Paul Brown ' s requests amenable to the NFL owners . Bell finally gathered enough support from the NFL owners to override objections , and on December 9 , 1949 , the leagues merged . Bell would stay on in his role as commissioner . Three AAFC teams ( the Cleveland Browns , the San Francisco 49ers , and Baltimore Colts ) would be incorporated into the NFL . Throughout the entire process , Brown had felt that Bell treated the AAFC , and the Browns in particular , very fairly . However , Bell ' s handling of the NFL ' s conflict with the AAFC was viewed as a personal triumph . Later that month , his contract was changed again from a five - year to a 10 - year pact at the same salary . Seeking to capitalize on the residual rivalry between the AAFC and the NFL , Bell displayed " exquisite dramatic " and business sense by scheduling the 1949 NFL champion Eagles against the former perennial AAFC champion Browns in the 1950 season opener . NFL schedule . The drawing up of the NFL schedule had been a source of contention in the NFL since the 1932 NFL season . NFL president Joe Carr had taken over the primary duty of scheduling the season in 1933 , and developing a season schedule meant dealing with , depending on sources , teams wanting to play only teams that drew the best crowds at home and when visiting , or stronger teams wanting to play the weaker ones early in the season to pad their win - loss records . But , during Layden ' s tenure , scheduling reverted to a contentious affair decided during an owners ' meeting each year . Layden ' s approach to disagreements between owners was to not get involved and let the owners sort out their differences . The difficulty in coming to an agreement over the NFL schedule convinced the owners to let Bell craft the schedule . An amendment of NFL by - laws on January 16 , 1948 granted Bell sole discretion in developing the NFL schedule as long as he remained NFL commissioner . Bell exercised this right and created the schedules so that , at the start of the season , the weaker teams would play against each other and the stronger teams would play each other . Bell ' s goal was to augment game attendances by keeping the disparity in team standings to a minimum for as long as possible . Bell ' s ability to mediate disputes between owners , such as with the schedule , was vastly superior to that shown by both Carr and Layden . Years later , Rooney believed one of the best things the owners ever did was to let Bell make up the schedule . Television era . The number of television sets in America in 1947 , depending on sources , increased from 26 , 000 to 165 , 000 by the end of the year . Bell was given the authority to approve of any TV announcer . But , each NFL franchise was empowered to independently market its own games on television . In 1948 , Halas then introduced a 75 mile " blackout " radius around Chicago wherein regular season home games would not be televised . However , Halas sold the rights for the Western Conference title game in 1948 for about the same amount as he received for the entire 1947 season . TV production increased by 500 % over 1947 . Also , Bell informed the owners that the 1947 and 1948 attendance records had clearly shown televising games locally had a negative impact on the sale of home tickets . Bell negotiated the first television contract for the NFL in 1949 , when ABC broadcast , on the West Coast only , the 1949 championship game . The decade would close with revenue from radio broadcasts for NFL teams amounting from 3 % to 8 % of their total revenue and it far outpacing the revenue received from televising games . By 1950 , depending on sources , four or eight million TV sets existed in America . The NFL mandated home games had to be locally blacked out for the 1950 NFL season , with the exception of the Los Angeles Rams . As a result of this blackout policy , the U . S . Justice Department opened an investigation into the NFL ' s possible violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act . The Rams saw their attendance dropped off by almost 50 % . The only explanation was televising home games was detrimental to attendance . A league - wide drop in attendance from broadcasting home games would be a financial disaster for the NFL . Nevertheless , at league meetings in early 1951 , Bell pushed through a motion that teams could still televise their home games if they and the visiting team both agreed . Also , Bell ' s salary was increased to $ 40 , 000 a year for the remainder of his contract . However , prior to the start of the 1951 NFL season , Bell reimposed the blackout rule . In October , the Justice Department filed suit against the NFL over its blackout rules . Bell told the " Chicago Tribune " , " You can ' t give fans a game for free on TV and also expect them to go to the ballpark " . Nevertheless , the suit was ordered to trial for January 1952 . After the season concluded , Bell gained control over the setting of television policy for all teams in the NFL . In May 1953 , Bell negotiated a deal with DuMont Television Network granting them the rights to nationally broadcast certain regular season games . < ref name = " Schenectady 5 / 14 / 1953 " > < / ref > < ref name = " Pittsburgh Post - Gazette 05 / 14 / 1953 " > < / ref > The revenue from this contract was split equally amongst all the teams and amounted to about $ 50 , 000 for each team . In November , the Justice Department ' s case against the NFL ' s television policy was decided . The judge ' s decision permitted the blackout policy but forbid Bell , or the NFL franchises collectively , from negotiating a TV contract ; The judge wrote not allowing the blackout policy would result in all the teams in the NFL becoming bankrupt . This decision , however , was subject to a possible reversal by a superior court ; nevertheless , Bell was ecstatic . Bell ' s focus , with respect to television , was to showcase the NFL ' s best assets — the players . As a result , Bell mandated an all - star game , the Pro Bowl , be played at the end of each season . But in the early 1950s , play sometimes denigrated to borderline " assault and battery " with players trying to take out opposing teams star players , with at least one team putting a bounty on another team ' s quarterback . Bell responded in an interview to charges the NFL had dirty players by saying , " ' . . . I have never seen a maliciously dirty football player in my life and I don ' t believe there are any maliciously dirty players in the National Football League . ' " Nevertheless , Bell mandated broadcasts would have to follow a strict rule of conduct . TV announcers would not be permitted to criticize the game , and neither fights , nor injuries , could be televised . Bell said announcers were " ' salesman for professional football ' " and " ' we are selling football ' " and " ' we do not want kids believing that engaging in fights is the way to play football . ' " Bell was criticized frequently for censoring TV broadcasts , a charge he dismissed as not pertinent because he was advertising a product on TV and was not impeding the print media . When CBS and NBC took over the rights to broadcast NFL games in 1956 , Bell made it a point to advise the franchises to avoid denigrating the games or the officials of the games — on , or off the field . He wrote that the new relationship with CBS and NBC would give " ' . . . us our greatest opportunity to sell the National Football League and professional football . Everyone must do all in his power to present to the public the greatest games in football combined with the finest sportsmanship . ' " In 1933 , Tim Mara originally advocated an overtime period to remove tie games as a possible result to NFL games . But , it was not until 1947 that a sudden - death overtime was approved in the NFL , for playoff games only . For the 1958 season , the durations of timeouts was increased from 60 to 90 seconds and Bell created a new rule which instructed referees to call a few " TV timeouts " during a game — a change which brought criticism from sportswriters . The 1958 NFL Championship Game became the first NFL championship game decided in overtime . The game was believed to be the greatest football ever played by some contemporaries in the media . The game further increased football ' s marketability to television advertising , that had begun after the Giants had won the 1956 NFL Championship Game , and the drama associated with the sudden - death overtime was the catalyst . Years later , after witnessing Bell openly crying after the game , Raymond Berry attributed it Bell ' s immediate understanding of the impact the game would have on the popularity of the sport . NFLPA . The original cause for the players to begin to unionize was having to play exhibition games and not receive any pay . In 1943 , Roy Zimmerman ' s refusal to play an exhibition game , without compensation , resulted in his trade from the Redskins to Philadelphia . With the pending arrival of the AAFC in 1946 , the NFL created a rule to ban players for five years from NFL - associated employment if they left the NFL to join the AAFC . Bill Radovich played for the Detroit Lions in 1945 and then left the NFL and played for the Los Angeles Dons in the AAFC . Subsequently , Radovich was blacklisted by the NFL and was prevented from gaining employment with a team from the Pacific Coast League . Unable to land a job in the NFL or the Pacific Coast League , Radovich filed suit against the NFL seeking damages . The case weighed very heavily on Bell as it worked its way through the judicial system . Bert and the owners were by John C . that a colleague of his thought the case was not winnable , albeit he personally thought it was " ' 50 - 50 ' " . Depending on sources , the first concrete steps toward unionization of the players began when two players from the Browns approached Creighton Miller . In Radovich v . National Football League , the Supreme Court ruled in 1957 in favor of Radovich . Furthermore , the court declared the NFL was subject to antitrust laws . The implications from the Court ' s ruling were that the legality of the draft and of the NFL ' s reserve clause was dubious . Furthermore , the Court delineated a disparity in American professional sports which the Court said was " unrealistic , inconsistent , or illogical " ; professional baseball was exempt from antitrust laws , but other professional sports were not . The Court suggested it was Congress ' s responsibility to legislate uniformity across all of professional sports . Congress immediately scheduled hearings on the ramifications of the ruling . Bell pressed a case in the media for the NFL being legislatively granted an exemption from antitrust regulations . Bell registered himself as a Congressional lobbyist and then claimed to the media that the NFL was a sport and not a business . The House Judiciary subcommittee met in July 1957 . The chairman of the subcommittee , Representative Emanuel Celler of New York , argued that the NFL draft was illegal and should be abolished . Red Grange testified before the committee and rejected Celler ' s assertions and said that the draft was essential and attested to having never heard of any college football players complain about the draft system . Representatives of the NFLPA appeared before Congress and explained that the draft and the reserve clause were anti - labor . At the time , a large portion of the American population was in unions . Members of Congress were unmoved by Bell ' s arguments , and it appeared as if Congress was going to revoke the NFL ' s implementation of the draft . Faced with Congress becoming more intimately involved with the running of the NFL , Bell formally recognized the NFLPA and declared he would negotiate with the NFLPA . His decision was heralded in the media as a " master stroke " in thwarting Congressional legal maneuvers . < ref name = " Milwaukee Sentinel 8 / 2 / 1957 " > < / ref > However , Bell was speaking only for himself , with no formal consent from the owners . At an ensuing NFL meeting , Rooney explained that the owners had to recognize the NFLPA or else Bell would have to be removed as commissioner . In order for the owners to formally recognize the NFLPA , they had to agree in a vote that required a supermajority . Finally , Bell was able to take Carroll Rosenbloom , owner of the Baltimore Colts , privately aside and persuaded him to vote for recognizing the NFLPA . The ensuing vote passed and the owners agreed to the requests from the NFLPA . Family life and death . Broadway actress Frances Upton , a devout Roman Catholic , and Bell secretly married on January 4 , 1934 . They had three children , sons Bert , Jr . ( born February 19 , 1936 ) , John " Upton " , ( born October 13 , 1937 ) , and daughter Jane Upton ( born February 1 , 1942 ) . Sometime after his father ' s death in 1935 , Bell and his family moved into his father ' s estate in Radnor , Pennsylvania , which had been bequeathed equally to Bert and his brother . Bell ' s desire to maintain ownership of the Eagles amidst its financial losses from 1936 to 1938 eventually led him to convince his brother to sell their father ' s estate sometime around 1938 . Bell and his family moved into a hotel , which was either previously owned by his father or presently owned by his father ' s estate , in Center City , Philadelphia . The Bells then lived in various rental properties in Philadelphia and Narberth , Pennsylvania until sometime around the summer of 1950 . They then moved into a home he bought in Narberth , where he would live the rest of his life . This transient lifestyle was due to necessity , as Bell was not financially secure enough to afford a home . As part - owner or owner of an NFL team , Bell never had an African American player on any of his teams . His son , Bert , Jr . , adamantly believed his father was not a racist . He recounted an incident when Emlen Tunnell ' s brother approached Bell inquiring about Emlen becoming an NFL player , and Bell subsequently called the Giants on Tunnell ' s behalf ; consequently , Tunnell integrated the Giants before the start of the 1948 NFL season . The death of Tim Mara in February 1959 unsettled Bell , who suffered a heart attack that month . Bell converted to Catholicism in the summer of 1959 because of the lifelong urging of his wife , Mara ' s death , and his enduring friendship with Rooney , a practicing Catholic . In 1958 , Bell had been advised by his doctor to avoid going to football games , to which he responded , " I ' d rather die watching football than in my bed with my boots off . " As late as the 1958 season , the Eagles held complimentary box seats for Bell and guests to watch games at Franklin Field . However , Bell would customarily buy his own ticket to home games and sit among the fans . Sitting behind the Franklin Field end zone with fans during the fourth quarter of an Eagles game against the Steelers on October 11 , 1959 , Bell suffered a heart attack and died later that day at age sixty - four . Bell ' s funeral on October 14 , 1959 , at Narberth ' s St . Margaret Roman Catholic Church brought hundreds of admirers . Monsignor Cornelius P . Brennan delivered the eulogy . Dignitaries and many close friends attended the mass . Dominic Olejniczak , president of the Packers , and the 11 owners of the NFL were honorary pallbearers . Bell was interred at Cavalry Cemetery in West Conshohocken , Pennsylvania . Legacy and honors . On September 7 , 1963 , Bell was in the first enshrinement class for the Professional Football Hall of Fame . He was inducted into the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000 , the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame charter class of 2004 , and Haverford ' s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010 . The Maxwell Football Club , which Bell founded in 1937 , has presented the best NFL player of the year with the Bert Bell Award since 1959 . The Bert Bell Benefit Bowl was played annually from 1960 through 1969 . Commissioners of sports were , idealistically , designed to be completely neutral in mediating disputes between players and owners , but in reality they tended to back the owners over the players . Bell , however , was contemporaneously seen as ensuring the owners treated the players fairly . " The NFL ' s strict policing of gambling " , which Bell originated , " continues to this day . " Bell was criticized as being too strict with his blackout policy when he refused to let sold - out games to be televised locally , claiming it would be considered dishonest to the paying customers . Despite Bell ' s achievements and acclaim , at league meetings to determine Bell ' s successor , Bell ' s " good friend " , Carol Rosenbloom , and Halas were adamant in rejecting any candidate who was viewed as maintaining the status quo with respect to NFL policies . Before his passing , Bell had told his son , Bert Jr . , that he thought the best man qualified to replace him was Paul Brown . Rooney was offered the position of commissioner but he replied that he was not so foolish as to take over Bell ' s position . Pete Rozelle was eventually elected the third NFL commissioner . Among the many floral arrangements placed at Bell ' s funeral ceremony was one presented by members of the NFLPA . The first NFL players ' pension plan , the Bert Bell National Football League Retirement Plan , was approved on May 24 , 1962 . < ref name = " Post - Gazette 5 / 25 / 1962 " > < / ref > After negotiating a pension plan in 1959 , little progress was made between the NFLPA and the NFL . Rozelle was not as willing a participant as entering into negotiations with the NFLPA as Bell had willing to be when Bell recognized the NFLPA before Congress in 1958 . The NFLPA did not formally become a union until registering with the U . S . Department of Labor in 1968 . Bell ' s rationale for creating the NFL draft , to make the league more competitive , was " hailed by contemporaries and sports historians as a move that made the NFL more " popular and was " . . the single greatest contributor to the NFL ' s prosperity . . . " in the NFL ' s first eighty - four years . Its implementation did not , however , show immediate results as perennial losers , such as the Eagles and Cardinals , standings ' did not improve until 1947 . Bell ' s version of the draft not only limited players salaries , but it all also " penalized " players by forcing them to play for the worst teams and it was eventually ruled , years after his passing , as being unconstitutional . Bell ' s balancing of television broadcast against protecting game attendance during the 1950s had left professional football as the " healthiest professional sport in America " at the time of his passing . and he was the " . . . leading protagonist in pro football ' s evolution into America ' s major sport . " Bell had understood that the NFL needed a cooperative television contract with revenue - sharing but he was never able to overcome the obstacles to achieve it . His thoughts on TV revenue - sharing would eventually , through his advice to Bob Howsam , find its way to Rozelle , who successfully lobbied to get the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 passed to legalize revenue sharing , which had been formerly illegal . This allowed Rozelle to implement league - wide sharing of TV revenue for all NFL games starting with the 1962 NFL season . This revenue - sharing would assist small - market teams , such as the Green Bay Packers , by giving them the financial resources to obtain the talent necessary to give them the potential to win a game against any large - market team . Bell had often said , " On any given Sunday , any team in our league can beat any other team . " See also . History of American football