NFL Teams That Will Never Live Down Their Embarrassing Mistakes

Football 2/14/18

The NFL Plays On After JFK Is Assassinated

Pete Rozelle did not cancel football after JFK was assassinated

Nate Fine/NFL/Getty Images

Reaching back into the history books for this one, the NFL choosing to play games the Sunday after JFK was assassinated in 1963 is pretty shocking. Most major sports postpone games after a national tragedy. Usually, the restart of sports in America signifies the country coming back together, like the Mets playing baseball in New York again after 9/11. The Sunday insensitivity by the league after JFK was assassinated felt like more of a “life goes on” moment than anything else. The story goes then-Commissioner Pete Rozelle called United States Press Secretary Pierre Salinger, who advised Rozelle to play games that Sunday. Rozelle would say after witnessing eerily silent stadiums that playing football that day was one of the worst decisions he ever made.

While this may be the most insensitive decision the NFL ever made, it’s not the only time they should have canceled games.