The NPSL kicked off on Sunday, April 16 with a full slate of five matches attended by a total of 46,547 fans. The largest crowd of the day was found in Philadelphia, where 14,163 cheered the hometown Spartans to a 2–0 victory over the Toronto Falcons. The most notable game however, was Baltimore's 1–0 home victory over Atlanta in front of a crowd of just 8,434. It was televised by
CBS which had signed a two-year contract to broadcast a game every Sunday afternoon live and in color.
Play-by-play voice
Jack Whitaker was joined by the former
Northern Ireland international
Danny Blanchflower as a
pundit. Blanchflower was not impressed with the standard of play and did not hesitate to say so. The NPSL was also criticised after Pittsburgh's 2–1 triumph over Toronto in the Falcons' home opener on Sunday, May 14. Of the twenty-one fouls that afternoon, eleven were called to allow CBS to insert
commercials into its telecast. Referee Peter Rhodes also admitted that he had forced players to fake injuries to serve the same purpose. This raised many questions about whether the
television networks and its
sponsors were having too much influence over televised sporting events. The NPSL did however attract some notable players including three former
Aston Villa players
Phil Woosnam,
Vic Crowe and
Peter McParland who, together with another veteran of the
English League,
Ron Newman, all turned out for the
Atlanta Chiefs. Two ex-
Real Madrid players,
Juan Santisteban and
Yanko Daucik, also turned out for the
Baltimore Bays and
Toronto Falcons respectively. Santisteban made the NPSL All-Star team and Daucik finished as the league's top scorer. The Oakland Clippers laid claim to the regular season title boasting both the best record and the most total points in either division. In the NPSL Finals the Western Division champion Clippers defeated the Bays, winners of the Eastern Division for the NPSL Championship by virtue of a 4–2 aggregate.
Dennis Viollet gave Baltimore a 1–0 win on Sunday, September 3, before a home crowd of 16,619. Six days later, in the second leg at Oakland, Dragan Đukić scored a
hat trick as the Clippers won 4–1 in front of 9,037. On the same day as the second leg of the NPSL final, the St. Louis Stars defeated Philadelphia, 2–1, in a battle of division runner-ups held in St. Louis before a crowd of 9,565. The victory gave the Stars a berth in the Commissioner's Cup versus Oakland. On September 18, the Clippers completed the NPSL
treble, by defeating the Stars for the Commissioner's Cup in front of 8,415 fans at
Busch Memorial Stadium by the score of 6–3. ==1967 regular season==