A law signed by President John F. Kennedy prevents the NFL from playing games on Saturday during college football season

Sportico

With the potential of the entire college football season being canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the NFL is reportedly eyeing playing games on Saturdays. The move would especially help Fox, which lost 80% of its college football inventory with the Pac-12 and Big Ten's fall football season cancelations. But according to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 that Kennedy signed, the NFL is prohibited from scheduling games within 75 miles of a college football contest played “on any Saturday during the period beginning on the second Saturday in September and ending on the second Saturday in December.” To then-NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, "the non-compete clause was a minor concession, a tiny sacrifice made for the benefit of the greater good," says Anthony Crupi. "(Long story short, the ’61 law effectively legitimized the commissioner’s new pooled-rights deal with CBS, which in turn became the working model for the NFL’s eventual hegemonic stranglehold over network television.)." Crupi adds: "Conceivably, should college football throw in the towel on the fall, the NFL would no longer be beholden to the protective prohibition. In the absence of any college games, the pros could snap up as many vacant Saturday time slots as they saw fit."