The New York Giants (9–1–1), the defending champions, played the Western Division champion Green Bay Packers (9–2).[3][4] The teams had met in the previous year's title game in New York City, which the Giants won by six points, but did not play each other in the 1939 regular season.[5] For the title game in Wisconsin, the Packers opened as 8-to-5 gambling favorites to win, with odds said to have tightened to 7-to-5 as gametime approached.[2]
The host Packers scored a touchdown in the first quarter and led 7–0 at halftime.[6] They dominated in the second half to win 27–0 and secure their fifth title—two more than any other franchise.[7][8][9][10] At the time, it was the highest attended sporting event in the Milwaukee area's history.
Location
The game (hosted by the Packers)[11] was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the "Dairy Bowl" stadium, located in the infield of the Milwaukee Mile racetrack).[7][9] The game took place in Milwaukee rather than the team's home city of Green Bay, Wisconsin due to team owner Curly Lambeau's belief that a game in Milwaukee (a larger city more accessible by rail) would generate greater attendance than one in Green Bay. Lambeau's decision paid off, with a sold-out game.[11] The newly-built "Dairy Bowl" football stadium was dedicated at halftime with the breaking of a bottle of milk. On hand were Wisconsin Governor Julius P. Heil and Milwaukee Mayor Daniel Hoan.[12][13]
The NFL had only four game officials in 1939; the back judge was added in 1947, the line judge in 1965, and the side judge in 1978.
Attendance and receipts
The Packers moved the game from Green Bay to the larger metropolitan area of Milwaukee in hopes of increasing attendance. Ultimately, 32,379 paid to watch.[10] At the time, this was the highest attended sporting event in the Milwaukee area.[15] The gross gate receipts of $83,510.35 set a new record.[10]
The title game tickets went on sale at noon on Monday, six days before the game, in both Green Bay and Milwaukee and were nearly sold out in the first 24 hours.[16] Face value prices ranged from $1.10 to $4.40 per seat, the equivalent of $22 to $87 in 2021.[17]
Team shares
The gate was distributed as follows:
The Packers took $23,231.06, with their 33 players each receiving $703.97.
The Giants took $15,487.37, with their 34 players each receiving $455.57.
1– Dates in the list denote the season, not necessarily the calendar year in which the championship game was played. For instance, Super Bowl LIV was played in 2020, but was the championship for the 2019 season.
2– From 1966 to 1969, the first four Super Bowls were "World Championship" games played between two independent professional football leagues, AFL and NFL, and when the league merged in 1970 the Super Bowl became the NFL Championship Game.
3–Italics indicate future games.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
