1970 in football

American football

 * Super Bowl IV – Kansas City Chiefs won 23–7 over the Minnesota Vikings
 * Cotton Bowl (1969 season):
 * The Texas Longhorns won 21-17 over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to win the college football national championship
 * 16 June – death of Brian Piccolo, Chicago Bears player
 * 15 August - Patricia Palinkas becomes the first woman to play in a professional football game for the Orlando Panthers in the Atlantic Coast Football League.
 * 3 September – death of Vince Lombardi, Green Bay Packers coach; subsequently, his name is given to the Super Bowl trophy and the Rotary Lombardi Award
 * 2 October - The Wichita State University football team plane crash claims approximately half the football team when one of two planes crashes on the way to a game at Utah State University.
 * 14 November – A plane carrying most of the Marshall University team crashes just short of landing near Huntington, West Virginia, killing all 75 aboard, including 37 players.