National Football League
The premier barnstorming exhibition professional baseball league playing Banana Ball.
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New York City houses the NFL's headquarters, and the league generates more revenue than any other professional sports league globally.[1][2]
Making and release
A meeting on August 20, 1920, at an auto showroom in Canton, Ohio, resulted in the formation of the American Professional Football Conference.[3] A second meeting on September 17, 1920, with representatives from teams in four states, renamed the league the American Professional Football Association and elected Jim Thorpe as its first president.[4] Only two of the original teams, the Decatur Staleys and the Chicago Cardinals, remain in the NFL today.[5] A playoff system was implemented in 1933 after a tie for first place in 1932 led to a de facto championship game played indoors at Chicago Stadium.[6][7]
The upstart American Football League began play in 1960, challenging the NFL in popularity and engaging in a bidding war for players.[8] The league currently operates a 17-game regular season after officially adopting that schedule in March 2021.[9] Based on their win-loss record, the Akron Pros were declared champions by the APFA for the 1920 season.[10] The APFA officially became the National Football League on June 24, 1922.[10]
A merger agreement between the NFL and the AFL was announced on June 8, 1966, with full integration scheduled for 1970; a shared championship game, the Super Bowl, occurred four times prior to the merger.[8]
What the cited sources add
According to an ESPN article by Gulizia, the NFL's roots trace to northeast Ohio, where football was an activity organized by athletic clubs sponsored by employers.[11] The same source notes that from 1920 to 1930, 46 organizations came and went, reflecting companies trying to establish teams without financial stability.[11] Gulizia reports that the league's expansion west can be attributed to the 1925 Red Grange tour with the Chicago Bears.[11] The ESPN article states that the AFL-NFL merger carried pro football into a stabilizing period through the 1970s and 1980s.[11]
Gulizia also notes that the league began hosting international regular-season games in 2005.[11]
References
- Wikipedia, "National Football League" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "NFL.com Official Site of the National Football League", NFL (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "National Football League" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gulizia, "How the NFL took over America in 100 years", ESPN.com, August 14, 2019; Garcia, "Premier League revenues hit record high $6.4 billion", CNNMoney, April 29, 2018; Fischer, "Sources: NFL revenue passes $23B in latest FY", Sports Business Journal, April 10, 2025; Badenhausen, "The World's 50 Most Valuable Sports Teams 2019", Forbes, July 22, 2019; "NFL is world's best attended pro sports league", ABS-CBN News, January 6, 2013; "Pro Football is Still America's Favorite Sport", Harris Interactive, January 26, 2016; Harris, en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "National Football League" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "NFL founded in Canton – Pro Football Hall of Fame Official Site", profootballhof.com; "Happy Birthday NFL?", The Coffin Corner, 1980 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "National Football League" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Timeline Detail | Pro Football Hall of Fame Official Site"; Battista, "Remembering the NFL's humble origins on its 100th birthday", NFL.com, September 16, 2020; "Happy Birthday NFL?", The Coffin Corner, 1980 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "National Football League" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "National Football League (NFL)" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "National Football League" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Past Standings", National Football League, p. 26 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "National Football League" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Carroll, "The 60-Yard Circus", Professional Football Researchers Association (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "National Football League" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cross, "Off-the-field competition yields game-changing merger", CNNSI, January 22, 2001; "History: 1961–1970", NFL.com (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "National Football League" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "NFL Regular Season Games Played per Season", Pro Football Hall of Fame; "NFL season to feature 17 regular-season games per team", NFL.com, March 30, 2021 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "National Football League" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Past Standings", National Football League, p. 27; "NFL founded in Canton – Pro Football Hall of Fame Official Site", profootballhof.com; "St. Paul Ideals at Rock Island Independents – September 26th, 1920 – Pro-Football-Reference.com", Pro-Football-Reference.com; "1920 APFA Standings & Team Stats – Pro-Football-Reference.com", Pro-Football-Reference.com; "1920 Rock Island Independents Schedule & Game Results – Pro-Football-Reference.com", Pro-Football-Reference.com; Snyder, "Buffalo: A city cursed with bad sports luck", The Ob en.wikipedia.org
- Gulizia, "How the NFL took over America in 100 years", ESPN.com, August 14, 2019. facts only, no text reused. espn.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article National Football League (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: National Football League (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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