Boston Patriots
Vs.
Detroit Lions
August 25, 1969
MONTREAL IS COOL TO U.S. FOOTBALL
Only 8,212 Fans Appear as Lions Beat Patriots, 22-9
By WILLIAM N. WALLACE
Special to The New York Times
MONTREAL, Aug. 25- Big league American football, as represented by the Detroit Lions and the Boston Patriots was presented in Montreal for the first lime tonight and got an indifferent reception.
The Lions and Patriots played a preseason game at Jarry Park, the compact stadium where the Montreal Expos have drawn over one million fans in their first major league baseball season.
The Lions won, 22-9, with Errol Mann kicking five field goals.
The game was a dull one, with unproductive offenses, indifferent quarterbacking, one touchdown and eight field goals. The result left the National League ahead in its interleague preseason games with the American, 13 victories to seven with one tie.
The Lions used Greg Landry and Greg Barton at quarterback, holding out their regular. Bill Munson. Boston played Mike Taliaferro for three periods, Tom Sherman for one. The Patriots' total gain for the first half was 4 yards.
The crowd numbered 8,212, less than one-third of capacity, and the smallest ever to see an A.F.L.-N.F.L. interleague game. The Expos baseball club took a financial beating, having paid the teams $40,000 guarantees plus travel expenses. These figures were a disappointment but not a discouragement to Gerry Snyder, this city's dynamic civic promoter who was instrumental in bringing big league baseball here.
Snyder wants an American or National League football franchise for Montreal but has several elements going against him. One is the presence of the Montreal Alouettes, the local entry in the Canadian League
Although the Alouettes have not had a winning team in years, they are a habit and they are "ours." There is an emerging nationalism in Canada, a nation that no longer accepts everything from the States as being better merely because it has a label reading, Made in U.S.A.
Tonight's attraction was nothing special, the Lions and Patriots having little local appeal. They were just American teams dropping in to play for a dollar just as they will drop in later this summer on Tampa and Jacksonville. Neither the Lions nor the Pats draw well playing preseason games at home.
The New York Giants will play Pittsburgh here on Sept 11 and may do better. The Giants have long had a television following in Eastern Canada. American pro football has tried Canada without much success. A pair of preseason games in Toronto in 1960 were a bust and the minor league Continental League franchises here and in Toronto failed to last two seasons three years ago.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| Lions | 6 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 22 |
| Patriots | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
DET- FG Mann 14
DET- FG Mann 12
Second Quarter
DET- FG Mann 27
BOS- FG Cappelletti 37
Third Quarter
BOS- FG Cappelletti 31
DET- FG Mann 12
Fourth Quarter
DET- Farr 2 run (Mann kick)
DET- FG Mann 28
BOS- FG Cappelletti 36
Att- 8,212
