NFL at 100: Giants took root in 1925

Chicago's Red Grange, left, about to make a pass against the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds on Dec. 6, 1925. Photo Credit: Bettmann Archive/Bettmann

There was no live sports broadcasting when the NFL was founded – not even on radio. But from the start, the men behind the business of pro football understood the importance of being in the biggest media market.

In 1920, the inaugural season for the American Professional Football Association, Jim Thorpe’s Canton Bulldogs visited the Polo Grounds to face the Buffalo All-Americans to show off to the big city – and its newspapermen.

In 1921, Charles Brickley, a former Harvard star, brought a team he had formed in 1919 called the “Giants” into…