"This book tells the story of the rivalry between two US cities that sought to shed minor league images by attracting big league sports teams. KC and Oakland landed competing teams in the upstart American Football League in 1960, and the cities' sports rivalry intensified in 1967 when Oakland lured away KC's major league baseball team and KC received an expansion franchise as consolation. Over the decade that followed, football's Chiefs and Raiders and baseball's A's and Royals fought fierce battles. At the same time, their home cities experienced bitter divisions over race and labor relations during one of the most tumultuous periods in US history. Local newspapers joined business and political leaders in their respective cities in actively recruiting sports franchises and advocating construction of expensive new sports facilities. At the same time, they and other media reported on the many challenges to the prevailing social order during the '60s and '70s. In sports, those challenges included the revolt of the black athlete and an emerging labor consciousness among pro athletes even as sports grew into a national TV spectacle. Beyond sports, cities faced riots, strikes, declining public schools, and white flight to the suburbs. By 1977 the two cities had changed significantly from what they had been a decade previously. This book tells the story of those changes through extensive archival research and critical readings of media texts, showing how media highlight the tension between big league sports franchises serving on the one hand as instruments of political and economic elites and on the other hand as boosters of civic pride and identity"--Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Striving for the big leagues -- Chiefs vs. Raiders, part I -- A's vs. Royals, part I -- Chiefs vs. Raiders, part II -- A's vs. Royals, part II -- "Triumph and tragedy".