General Discussion

More visible and you could see the spin. They were available prior to the 1974 World Cup in Germany but gained its fame there. This and the 1972 Berlin Olympics were Germany’s post WWII coming out re-emergence. The ‘72 games were tragic but the Cup was widely praised (especially after ‘72).

This was the first World Cup televised in the US. The conventional wisdom was that being able to see the spin of the ball added enjoyment and interest.

ABC carried it I think. American TV didn’t know what to do with a continuous game with no break for a full 45 minutes. They actually cut away from the game for commercials. If there was a score they’d cut away from live action to show it with the new “instant replay”.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adidas_Telstar