The National Football League is considered one of the finest all-around sports leagues in the world. It dominates the American television airways on Sundays from September to December. Games are played in modern, state of the art stadiums, including some games each year played in European venues. The players are paid many millions of dollars per year to play. But it wasn’t always like this—during the pioneer years of the sport things were much different.
Startup Years: In the early Twentieth Century, the game of football came under fire from the press and Congress for the number of serious injuries and deaths that had occurred mainly at the college level. With the formation of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), most of these problems went away with rule changes and organizational changes that set the tone for regulating the game. The pro game was dawdling in the background during those days with very little order, inconsistent rules, and no organization to speak of. Players were lucky to get paid $50 per game. Teams came and went; conferences were set up and then disappeared. In certain leagues, the championship winner had to be determined in a conference room. It looked like chaos was ruling until August 20, 1920, when seven pro teams met in an automobile showroom in Canton, Ohio, and formed the American Professional Football Conference, that later was renamed the National Football League (NFL). With a governing body in place, revenue sharing helped stabilize pro teams by keeping them solvent, rules became consistent, scheduling conflicts were eliminated, and methods of handling disputes equitably evolved. From the start, the NFL was the largest of any pro football governing body, but that did not eliminate other pro football organizations from cropping up. As many as three separate leagues with the name “American Football League” were formed along with the All-American Football Conference. Regional leagues also appeared, but never lasted largely owing to misconceptions about the massive cost of operating a professional football team. In the wake of the chaos, the popularity of the NFL began to grow.
Merger With the AFL: The fourth attempt to form rival league named the “American Football League” took place in 1960. The rivalry sizzled for a few years as the new league reached into marketing areas that the NFL had not yet penetrated. After several years of competing against each other for venues, players, marketing territories, and fans, the two leagues merged. The AFL dropped a few of its unprofitable franchises and became the American Football Conference of the new NFL. The existing NFL teams at the time of the merger then became the National Football Conference with a few of the teams crossing over to the AFC to balance the numbers. The old NFL had a championship game, but as a part of the merger, the game was christened the “Super Bowl”, and included a playoff bracket to determine the participants. Through skillful marketing and promotion, the Super Bowl telecast traditionally became one of the most watched television programs each year—being the most watched program thirty-seven times since 1983.
Growth Under Commissioner Pete Rozelle: From 1960 to 1989, the NFL had Pete Rozelle, the former General Manager of the Los Angeles Rams, as its commissioner. It was during this time that the NFL became North America’s most popular sports league. Attendance at games grew from about three million a year to seventeen million at the end of his term. Games were televised nationally instead of regionally, and the sport continued to grow with fans on the East Coast becoming enamored with teams that played in the West. New franchises joined in places like Miami, Dallas, Denver, Seattle, New Orleans, Atlanta, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Charlotte. Existing franchises for various sundry reasons relocated to other newer marketing areas such as Indianapolis, Nashville, Phoenix, and Las Vegas.
Team Relocations and or Name Changes: There have been numerous relocations and name changes for NFL franchises, many dating back to the earlier days of the league as a leftover from the chaotic pre-NFL days. Nearly half of today’s franchises come into this category
Arizona Cardinals: Formerly the Morgan Athletic Club, renamed to Normals in 1899, renamed to Racine Cardinals (after a street in Chicago) in 1901, renamed the Chicago Cardinals in 1920, Moved to St. Louis in 1960, moved to Phoenix in 1988.
Baltimore Ravens: Formerly Cleveland Browns, moved to Baltimore in 1996 and renamed the Ravens.
Chicago Bears: Formerly Decatur (Illinois) Staleys, moved to Chicago in 1921, renamed the Bears in 1922.
Detroit Lions: Formerly Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans, moved to Detroit in 1934 and renamed the Lions.
Indianapolis Colts: Formerly the Baltimore Colts, moved to Indianapolis in 1984.
Kansas City Chiefs: Formerly Dallas Texans, moved to Kansas City in 1963 and renamed the Chiefs.
Oakland Raiders: Moved to Los Angeles in 1982, back to Oakland in 1994, and to Las Vegas in 2020.
Los Angeles Chargers: Moved to San Diego in 1961, moved back to Los Angeles in 2017.
Los Angeles Rams: Formerly Cleveland Rams, moved to Los Angeles in 1946, moved to Anaheim in 1980, moved to St. Louis in 1995, moved back to Los Angeles in 2016.
New England Patriots: Formerly Boston Patriots, became the New England Patriots and moved to Foxboro, Massachusetts, in 1971.
New York Jets: Formerly New York Titans, renamed the Jets in 1963.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Originally the J.P. Rooneys located in Pittsburgh, renamed the Pirates in 1933, renamed the Steelers in 1940.
Tennessee Titans: Formerly the Houston Oilers, moved to Nashville, Tennessee and renamed the Titans in 1997.
Washington Commanders: Formerly the Boston Braves, renamed the Washington Redskins in 1932, renamed the Washington Football Team in 2020, renamed the Commanders in 2022.
Super Bowl Facts: The Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots have won the most Super Bowls with six. The Dallas Cowboys and San Franscisco 49ers have won the next most with five each.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Baltimore Ravens are the only NFL franchises to have won multiple Super Bowls without also losing at least one.
The Minnesota Vikings, Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Chargers, Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals, and Tennessee Titans, have all been to the Super Bowl at least once but have never won it. The Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Cleveland Browns have never been to the Super Bowl.
Other Trivia: The Green Bay Packers are the only team that is publicly held as a community-owned, non-profit organization. There are 537,460 stockholders and a board of directors. The name “Packers” became the team’s name after the Indian Packing Company donated enough money for uniforms and equipment in the first season.
The Arizona Cardinals are the only team to have remained in the NFL for the entirety of its existence.
Founded in 1966, the Atlanta Falcons are the oldest major professional sports team in America that has never won a championship.
The New Orleans Saints, founded in 1967, went 20 seasons from their founding and entrance into the league without a winning record in any one season. They won their first playoff game in 2000.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the only team to continue to play in a conference other than the one they joined. The team joined the NFL in 1976 in the AFC, and switched to the NFC the next season.
Conclusions: This author has seen every NFL team play except the Jacksonville Jaguars, Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans, and the Cleveland Browns. Further, he attended Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles.
Sources:
dayinhistory.org, The Birth of the NFL: The Dawn of Professional Football, August 20, 2024.
Wikipedia, National Football League.
Profootballhof.com.