Bert Bell

In the 1950s, Bell faced the impact of the new medium of television with broad new policies. In 1952, he suggested that television coverage of home games be blacked out within 75 miles of that city's stadium. This would persuade residents to purchase stadium tickets rather than expect to watch the game at home for free. The ban was upheld by a federal court, and the blackout stayed in effect until 1973. Today, a blackout is lifted if a game is sold out 72 hours before kickoff.

In another move, so that televised games could air at least one commercial break per game's half, Bell created the automatic time out with two minutes to play in each half—the two-minute warning. He also invented suddendeath overtime and suggested televising night games. By 1958, Bell's innovative policies on television had propelled football to become America's most popular sport.

Bell left his mark on football through other achievements. He confronted angry team owners when he formally recognized the NFL Players Association as the organization's legitimate bargaining agent. Bell also created the "option" clause in a player's contract and ended the practice of stronger teams loading their schedules with weaker teams to guarantee wins. Bell also coined the phrase, "On any given Sunday, any team can beat any other team."

As befitting such a lover of football, Bell died at a game. At the age of 64, he suffered a fatal heart attack on October 11, 1959 while watching a football game at Philadelphia's Franklin Field. The two teams playing were the team he founded, the Eagles, and the team he co-owned, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In the same year of Bell's death, the Maxwell Club of Philadelphia in 1959 created the Bert Bell Trophy to recognize its most valuable players. The football community also honored Bell in 1963 by choosing him as the first person to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In 1998, the Pennsylvania Museum Commission erected the Bert Bell Historic Marker in front of Mapes Store on Haverford Avenue in Narberth, Pennsylvania, and in December 2001, the cable channel HBO aired The Game of Their Lives focusing on Bert Bell and his contributions to football.

As a team owner and the second NFL commissioner, Bert Bell dedicated his life to the game he loved so much. Many of his contributions to the development of American football have lasted through the decades. Never afraid of being unpopular and generating criticism, he always strove to make the institution of football the best it could be.