The biggest one-day sporting event in 1954 was any of:

— the Kentucky Derby; won by Determined on May 1;

— the Indianapolis 500, won by Bill Vukovich on May 31;

— Rocky Marciano’s two defenses of his heavyweight boxing title against Ezzard Charles on June 17 and September 17;

— or game one of the World Series, on September 29, won by the New York Giants with the help of a spectacular catch by center fielder Willie Mays.

The National Football League champion was the Detroit Lions. But they won their title on December 27, 1953, edging the Cleveland Browns 17-16. The season was only 12 games long; they didn’t play NFL games in January until the mid-1960s; in February until 2001.

There was a full house at Briggs Stadium in Detroit, where the game was played. But the game was broadcast on the DuMont Network, a network that would cease to exist by the end of 1956. The other three networks weren’t interested. 

So, yeah, the idea that more than 100 million Americans will watch today’s 58th Super Bowl – sorry, Super Bowl LVIII – between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers would blow the minds of adult Americans in 1954.

For one thing, the Chiefs – who played in the first Super Bowl in 1967 – didn’t exist. In fact, the American Football League, from which the Chiefs (nee Dallas Texans) emerged, began play in 1960. For another, Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas holds more people than the entire population of the city in 1954.

What else would amaze them? Probably everything.

That the buildup for the game would last two weeks. That major companies would use the ads during the game to make a big splash – so big that some people watch the game for the commercials alone. That CBS will use 165 cameras – on drones, on cranes, in people’s hands on the field – to show the action. 

That billions of dollars will be bet legally on the game and almost every aspect of it. That perhaps you and most of the people you know will spend the day ordering chicken wings, making nachos and guzzling beer. That, in some places, the water pressure will drop just before the halftime show.

That one of the big names in entertainment will curtail their act to about 15 minutes in order to perform for his, her or their largest audience ever at halftime. That the streets of your town will be deserted for 4 hours. That the game is so dramatized that it’s numbered in Roman numerals.

That the total gross receipts of that 1953 game between Detroit and Cleveland, about $359,000, would buy you about one second of a commercial during today’s game.

How the National Football League surpassed other sports to hold such sway over the American public is a matter for another time. How Taylor Swift became part of the 2024 narrative is not my problem.

For now, happy Super Sunday for those who celebrate! (And, tomorrow, happy first day of the baseball season for the rest of us.)