For most of the twentieth century mass-entertainment spectator sports have been big business. American sporting contests have been commercialized to varying degrees since their inception, contrary to claims of some critics who yearn for a time when...

Sports in the 1970s was very big business. Television had reshaped the sports industry in the decade before, and now the businessmen went to work to exploit their market. Football, baseball, basketball, boxing, auto racing, golf, and tennis were where...

World War II shaped sports in the 1940s, as it did all of American culture. The sports world did its best to maintain business as usual, but all organized games and contests were disrupted after 7 December 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor,...

Vince Lombardi's motto "Winning is not everything; it is the only thing" defines fans' and players' attitudes toward sports during the 1960s. It was the decade when American cynicism infected athletic competition. The ideal of amateurism, in...

This page indexes the individual year in sports pages. Each year is annotated with a significant event as a reference...