Cowboys Legend Names Dak Replacement

The 1968 “Heidi Game” between the NY Jets and Oakland Raiders is widely considered the biggest blunder in sports broadcasting history. At the time, NFL/AFL games rarely exceeded two and a half hours. NBC had a three-hour window and assumed the game would end by 7:00 p.m. ET. 

Timex, the movie's sponsor, had paid roughly $700,000 and contractually required the film to start precisely on time. As the game ran long, NBC executives actually decided to let it finish. However, so many fans were calling the network, some demanding the game stay on, others asking if Heidi would start on time, that the NBC switchboards short-circuited. 

Execs couldn't get through to the control room to cancel the switch, and the technician followed the original orders to cut to the movie. With 65 seconds left, the Jets led 32–29. Viewers in the Eastern and Central time zones saw the game end and the movie begin.

In those final seconds, the Raiders scored two touchdowns in just nine seconds to win 43–32. It was an epic comeback that millions of fans missed. To "fix" the mistake, NBC displayed the final score at the bottom of the screen during a climactic scene in Heidi, which only further enraged fans who had been waiting for the result.