This fall the Big Three title is back at Soldiers Field, after an absence longer than most memories. Accompanying the success of Lloyd Jordan's proteges is a revolution in policy. Last year the man who wanted to follow Harvard football needed only a radio. This fall, pending recision by the faculty committee on athletics, he will need a television set.

Every 1950 Game Telecast

It is not likely that the change is an HAA move to appeal to the upper income brackets. Nor does the growing number of television sets explain the problem. A long and confusing series of statements and counterstatements, involving the University's well known "advice of legal council," the Corporation's reluctance to be told where and when to do anything, and the intricacies of national-television programming lie behind the change.

Television left Soldiers Field in 1951, when scheduling difficulties forced the cancellation of two broadcasts. In 1950, every University game has been televised. Before arrangements could be made for 1952, the NCAA adopted its famous "game of the week" plan, and Harvard teams went off the screen.

The "game of the week" plan involved the selection of one game each week, to be televised across the country, and the elimination of other collegiate football telecasts. The plan was approved overwhelming, despite Harvard's opposition.

The University then issued a statement opposing the plan for two reasons: "The University must reserve to itself the right to decide whether and when to telecast Harvard football games," and "Legal council has questioned the legality of the NCAA program," under the Sherman anti-trust law.

Legal Minds Divide

The courts have never faced the issue. The best legal minds in the country divided on the subject, and after some deliberation Princeton decided the NCAA program was clean. The Supreme Court has ruled that professional baseball is not subject to the anti-trust law because it is not a business. But professional baseball is not collegiate football.

But the University's decision to televise this fall was not apparently the result of revised legal opinion. The new NCAA ruling provided for regional telecasts, what the University called "a material improvement." But it is still nationally controlled television, and the University has not indicated that it believes the program any more legal than in 1952. The most satisfactory explanation of the new policy is that the University has decided to live with the program because there was not prospect for change.

But the policy change was not based on legal factors. Legal or illegal, the University feels that it can not take part in a national program. In 1953 such a possibility was definitely rejected. Why then did the 1955 CBS offer meet success?

CBS Enters Picture

Very possibly the method of negotiation led to the policy change. Until this year, television programming had been done through the NCAA. Under the new ruling, while the national "game of the week" remained, regional broadcasts on two of five dates were allowed. The Eastern Collegiate Athletic Council arranged a regional schedule, which was bought by NBC, which had also bought the NCAA national package. But along with the NBC series, CBS also scheduled regional broadcasts, and this summer contacted the University.

Approval Contingent

Such an arrangement involved the NCAA only indirectly, and received University approval, contingent on approval of the other team involved. Brown granted this approval, as Harvard did with Dartmouth.

Under a direct arrangement of this sort, Harvard preserved its right to "decide whether and when," and was not committed to the NCAA program. Apparently, it also got less money for the concession than NBC offers.