CBS Sports’ NFL pre-game show, THE NFL TODAY turns 40

This
NFL season marks the 40th year of CBS Sports’ NFL pre-game show, THE NFL TODAY.

CBS Sports first broadcast “NFL Today” as a 15-minute, regional sports program
that “presented interviews with National Football League players and coaches,
and news and features about the NFL” on September 13, 1964. Like its
current edition, the show preceded the broadcasts of NFL games on the CBS
Television Network.

Similar to today’s NFL TODAY show, which has a segment during the last 10
minutes of the show called “First to the Field” featuring the current NFL ON
CBS broadcast teams commenting on news and players surrounding their respective
games, 1964’s program originated live and on videotape at the playing fields
where the games were being played and from special television studios at each
stadium. The show was broadcast regionally to the same area carrying the
game that followed. The home team commentators for the CBS Television
Network broadcasts of the games were the broadcasters for “NFL Today.”