Professional gridiron football

2073:

remaining Canadian franchises. The league did lure credible and stable owners for most of the American teams (a contrast from other efforts at U.S. pro football outside the NFL), but lack of respect from the established Canadian teams, poor attendance in most markets, a handful of particularly problematic owners on both the American and Canadian sides of the border, and an inability to secure a television contract because of the league's avoidance of major U.S. markets all led to tens of millions of dollars in financial losses and the end of the American experiment after the 1995 season.

1683:, which ran for 10 seasons, from 2000 to 2009. The current version of the Arena Football League is technically the second league to bear that name; the first collapsed under the weight of bankruptcy after the 2008 season, then was bought by a coalition of its teams and relaunched in 2010 in its current incarnation. From a high of 18 teams in 2011, the second Arena Football League steadily shrunk until bottoming out at four teams in 2018. The league folded a second time after its 2019 season. 122: 2018:(in place on the American side of the border since 1906) was adopted in 1929 after significant pressure from American coaches. The touchdown remained worth five points until 1956 (it changed mainly due to Canadian pro football holding an American TV contract), whereas it had increased to six points in 1912 in the United States. Several relics of the old rules of the game, including goal posts on the goal line, a 110-yard field, more liberal rules for use of the 1250:

conversion and important off-the field elements such as gate and TV revenue-sharing and national TV contracts. The AFL developed the first ever cooperative television plan for professional football, in which the proceeds of the contract were divided equally among member clubs. ABC and the AFL also introduced moving, on-field cameras (as opposed to the fixed midfield cameras of CBS and the NFL), and were the first to have players "miked" during broadcast games.

1763:. The effort effectively killed the CFL's American expansion. The Browns returned, restocked with new players and with new ownership, in 1999. Meanwhile, the Oilers left Houston for Tennessee after the 1996 season; initially beginning what was planned to be a two-year stint in Memphis, disastrous attendance levels prompted the team to cut that experiment short after a single year and move to its permanent home in Nashville in 1998, eventually rebranding as the 238:, which formed in 1987. The AFL is the second longest running professional football league in the United States after the NFL, although its current incarnation is a separate entity from the original, which folded due to bankruptcy in 2008. From its debut until 1997, the Arena Football League operated with a monopoly on the indoor game, due to a broad interpretation that virtually all of the league's rules, collectively known as 493:'s $ 250 contract to play for the same team the next week; the sums were very large by the standards of the day, and like most payment arrangements, both players denied any payment ever took place for much of their lives. For several years afterwards, individual players and sometimes entire teams received compensation to play in "barnstorming" type games without rigid schedules and against a variety of opponents. 25: 2041:, the championship of Canadian football. This is generally recognized as the moment that began the modern era of Canadian professional football. The WIFU and IRFU incrementally merged into one league over the next several years: the two created the Canadian Football Council in 1956, jointly separated from the Canadian Rugby Union (Canada's governing body for football, now known as 1418:(ContFL), which ran from 1965 to 1969. The ACFL lost three of its best teams to the ContFL, but survived. The ContFL and ACFL had different strategies: the ContFL had major-league aspirations, while the ACFL was happy as a developmental league and (like previous leagues run by the Rosentovers) allowed its teams to become farm teams to the AFL and NFL teams (for instance, the 1317:, where college football still dominated. Though it had rebuffed efforts to move or expand, it immediately was put on the defensive by the new AFL, first causing the owners of the proposed Minnesota franchise in that league to renege for an NFL franchise to start in 1961, and immediately establishing the Cowboys in previously rejected Dallas, as competition to Hunt's 2053:

top-level player is no longer there, and the league has banned signing suspended NFL players). It has not been competitive on a team level with the NFL, as evidenced by the fact that in a series of interleague matchups between the IRFU and the NFL in the 1950s and 1960s, the NFL won all six matches. (The Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the best team in the IRFU at the time,

731:, who won two 'extra' games and claimed the championship. In the melee, the league cancelled games and suspended Pottsville's franchise. Through the 1920s, the smaller cities gave up on top-level pro football, while larger cities such as Boston, New York and Philadelphia saw teams take root there. This portion of the NFL's existence saw the admission of the 832:. Marshall introduced the marching band and a team song to Professional Football, along with other promotional efforts. However, he also refused to have black players on his team, and his influence resulted in the entire NFL excluding blacks after 1934. Also joining the NFL around this time was one of the last teams from Pennsylvania's independent era, the 2093:; the Stallions were the only American team to be both an on-field and off-field success and are the only U.S.-based team to ever win the Grey Cup. The Alouettes' situation was largely stable for the first two decades after relaunch before a sudden collapse in the team's finances forced its owner to return the franchise to the league in 2019. The 1558:, the NFL, after over four decades of having its goal posts on the goal line (as Canadian football still does), finally moved its goalposts back to the end line, as is the norm in high school and college football in the United States, in an effort to decrease the number of field goal attempts, and moved the kickoff back to the 35-yard line. 1306:, repeatedly fell one vote short of the supermajority of votes necessary to be elected commissioner. Whereas his predecessors generally put their league offices in the city of the teams they previously represented (the key issue that prevented Leahy from becoming Commissioner, as he was previously an employee of the 1882:

specifically for the network. The 2006 television contract expanded total annual broadcast rights to over US$ 3,000,000,000, and the 2011 renewal of those rights pushed the annual total to nearly US$ 5,000,000,000. Between 2006 and 2022, the networks will have paid the NFL nearly US$ 70,000,000,000—a

1511:

is listed in most on-line records as having been selected for the 1970 Pro Bowl, played after the 1969 professional football season. However, in 1970, there were both an NFL Pro Bowl and an AFL All-Star Game, the AFL event being the final event ever staged under the auspices of the American Football

2052:

The CFL has been, at various times in its history, competitive with the NFL in terms of being able to acquire talent, though the league's self-imposed rule changes have hampered that in recent years (for instance, the marquee player exemption to the salary cap that once allowed CFL teams to sign one

1886:

The labor peace in the NFL came to a halt in 2010, when a group of NFL owners invoked an out clause in the league's collective bargaining agreement with the players' union, subsequently imposing a lockout in 2011. The players' association responded by disbanding and having its players sue the league

1630:

and a vocal opponent of the league's spring football concept, who led a coalition that sought to take the NFL on head-to-head with a fall schedule and later force a merger. This was a major problem for several teams, who were ill-prepared to face the NFL juggernaut, and fans quickly walked away from

1180:

By the start of the 1960s, the NFL was complacent in its dominance of the market for Professional Football fans, and had little incentive to expand that market. The AAFC was history, and the NFL had chosen not to capitalize on the boost it had received from the 1958 Colts-Giants sudden-death game.

955:

team. The league was the first major Professional Football league to complete a double round robin schedule, in which each team played each other twice. The onset of World War II and the resultant draft dried up the source of players for professional football and the new league did not have enough

557:

were commonplace among professional players through the early part of the 20th century, in the hopes that covert professionals would not have themselves outed in a publicly released roster. Very few pro football players played under their given first names (John Brallier was a prominent exception).

432:

had a patent on several of its rules that expired in 2007. Several professional leagues have experimented with rules in an effort to improve the quality of the game or to create a novelty. Nevertheless, the rules of professional football at the outdoor level are nearly identical to those at the high

329:

The Canadian Football League has a special requirement that a minimum of half of each team's roster be composed of persons who were Canadian citizens at the time they first joined the league (prior to 2014, the restrictions were much tighter in that the person also had to be resident in Canada since

278:) have professional football leagues composed primarily of national citizens along with a limited number of American Imports, these leagues are generally of a lower level of play than the Western Hemisphere counterparts and have only recently begun contributing players to the NFL on a regular basis. 262:

Up until the 1970s, semiprofessional and minor football leagues would often develop lower end players into professional prospects. Though there are still numerous teams at the semi-pro level in both the United States and Canada, they have mostly dropped to regional amateur status, and they no longer

2088:

team was founded the same year to replace them, but the Concordes (which renamed themselves the Alouettes in 1986) folded prior to 1987. The current Alouettes arrived in Montréal in 1996, absorbing the two previous Montréal teams' histories but disowning that of the team that formed its basis, the

1380:

Tired of raids on players and escalating salaries, in the mid-1960s, certain NFL owners secretly approached AFL principals, seeking a merger of the two leagues. The merger was agreed to in 1966, with a championship game to be played between the league titlists, and a merged schedule beginning with

321:

The college football development system is a unique feature in the professional football system, stemming from the fact that the game of American football originated at the college level, unlike other sports that were products of independent clubs. Although ostensibly amateurs, college athletes are

1808:

set the tone for broadcast rights to the NFL when it outbid CBS for the right to air NFC games with an unheard-of bid of US$ 395,000,000. This brought total broadcast rights fees for the league to over US$ 1,000,000,000. In 1998, when CBS outbid NBC for the rights to the AFC, the total rights fees

1614:

was the most significant challenger to the NFL since the American Football League, and the last of any significance to date. The USFL's gimmick was to avoid direct head-to-head competition with the NFL and college ball, and play in the spring. Originally intended as a minor league, this ended when

1138:

23–17 in professional football's first sudden-death championship game, and repeated the victory against the same team in the 1959 NFL title game, this time by a score of 31–16. The Colts had folded after the 1950 season and from 1951 through 1959 the NFL had twelve teams, six each in the East and

1125:

added them in 1946, as they were required by their stadium lease to integrate the team. The league had two five-team divisions, each team playing an unwieldy 11-game schedule, with some teams playing more home games than others. They increased to twelve games the following year, partly because of

670:

A year after the Buffalo Prospects won the first Professional Football championship game, teams from the Ohio League organized to form the new American Professional Football Conference; two months later, adding teams from the other regional circuits surrounding Ohio, the league changed its name to

2128:

In the long term, the CFL has shown significantly more stability than the American leagues. The league has, for all but three years of its history, had either eight or nine teams, all based in the same nine markets. The league has resisted expanding beyond its current nine teams and has, to date,

1038:

Paul Brown made many innovations to the game on and off the field, including year-round coaching staffs, precision pass patterns, face masks, and the use of "messenger guards". He was the first coach to film the opposition and break down those game films in a classroom setting, also attributed to

369:

The NFL relies on television for nearly half of its revenue; this is in part because the league only plays one game each week, leaving fewer opportunities for ticket sales than the other professional sports (in turn, however, NFL stadiums have among the highest per-game attendance thanks to large

2072:

in 1995), by 1995 the CFL had five U.S. teams, mostly based in the southern and western United States. The league itself was suffering from financial problems at the time, and the general suspicion was that the addition of American teams was mainly a gambit to net expansion revenue for the eight

1750:

received franchises to begin play in 1995. At the same time, Al Davis moved the Raiders back to its original home in Oakland for the 1995 season, while at the same time, the Rams, who had suffered in attendance since the Raiders' arrival, relocated to St. Louis; the concurrent departures of both

246:

successfully defeated the AFL's legal action against it in 1997, opening the possibility for other indoor football leagues to form. Only one significant aspect of the patent, the large rebound nets the AFL has used since its debut to keep balls in play, was fully protected; the patent expired in

2149:

series is a series of one-off games that are played in Atlantic region stadiums; the first, a preseason game, was held at Huskies Stadium in 2003. A follow-up game was scheduled for the same venue for 2006, but was canceled due to the Ottawa Renegades (who were to play in the game) folding. The

779:

In 1933, the league divided into the Eastern and Western divisions, and finally instituted a championship game between the division winners. Each team played from 10 to 13 games per season during this period, and by 1945, the league had two five-team divisions, with each team playing a 10-game

726:

From 1922 through 1932, the NFL still declared as champions the team with the best record. There were no set schedules, and each team did not play the same number of games: some teams played against college or other amateur teams. The confusion reached a peak in 1925, when the aforementioned

1249:

The AFL was similar to the AAFC in that it offered innovations, like a return to the double round robin schedule introduced by the earlier league and had eight teams in two divisions like the AAFC. The AFL also introduced official scoreboard clocks, player names on jerseys, the two-point PAT

2009:

Canadian football had similar origins to its American counterparts. Several Canadian professional teams are older than the oldest existing American teams, because they began as amateur rugby organizations. The Canadian game evolved parallel to the American game, but several years behind: the

1277:

at the end of the 1966 season. Although it lost the first two, by its demise it had beaten two NFL teams proclaimed as "the best in history" to win the final two World Championship games between two Professional Football league champions. The decade ended with the AFL retaining its original

466:; some of the better teams would play against college teams. Eventually, some ostensibly amateur teams would secretly begin paying players a small sum to cover their expenses on an under-the-table basis, or arrange for amateur athletes to receive jobs in a company connected to the team (the 251:), along with several regional professional and semi-pro leagues, are in operation. As of 2011, no professional indoor football league has had any significant presence in Canada (despite an abundance of hockey arenas that are ideal for the game); only one indoor team, the AFL's short-lived 711:), the other regional leagues continued. The New York league continued throughout the 1920s, outlasting many of the teams that it had contributed to the NFL, albeit without championships. Western Pennsylvania's league lasted until 1940. 1924 saw the foundation of eastern Pennsylvania's 657:

caused a severe disruption in professional football, which shut down most teams but allowed those that could continue (including most of the New York squads) to pick up the talent that stayed stateside, effectively ending the Ohio League's decade-long monopoly on pro football talent.

1789:). Originally having its teams spread across several countries including Spain, England, Scotland, the Netherlands and Germany, by the end of the league's run in 2007, only the Netherlands and Germany (the latter of which had five of the league's six teams) were still in the league. 1042:

Although many of its teams outdrew NFL teams, by 1949 the AAFC's costs had risen so steeply that the league agreed to a 'merger' with the NFL. It was more of a 'swallowing' of the AAFC, with only the Browns, 49ers, and Colts being admitted to the established league, even though the

1638:

The USFL's biggest legacy was the fact that it helped develop some of the best quarterbacks in professional football during the 1990s. Many members of the prolific draft classes of 1983 through 1985 played in the USFL and went on to have strong careers in the NFL and CFL, including

1924:. The league returned in 2010 with a new expansion team in Omaha, Nebraska and an eight-game, ten-week schedule. From there, however, the UFL collapsed, cutting both its 2011 and 2012 seasons short after four weeks of play and failing to pay most of its bills in a timely manner. 1394:, who were added as a reward to Louisiana federal legislators for their support of PL 89-800, which permitted the merger. Likewise, the AFL-NFL wars brought two teams to Missouri (one in each league), marking the first time NFL teams had played in the state since the 1930s. 1373:. The AFL's influence on the NFL was evident in several ways: in 1962, the NFL emulated the junior league by arranging its own league-wide national television contract, with CBS; and late in the 'sixties, the NFL began recognizing the wide talent pool the AFL had tapped in 524:

professional circuit) for football in the United States; it, like many of its successors, was not a "league" in the modern sense of a formalized organization, but rather an informal group of teams in free association with each other and any other team willing to play them.

578:

emerged as the biggest, and most controversial, name in professional football. The league didn't draw as many fans as hoped, but promoter Tom O'Rourke considered the league to be the best teams in America. O'Rourke brought a coalition of the two Philadelphia teams to his

1385:

had fashioned a team that, with its ball-control style, would overpower the NFL and carry on to defeat AFL opponents in the first two AFL-NFL Championship Games after the 1966 and 1967 Professional Football seasons. The NFL champions in 1968, the Colts, and in 1969 the

1714:, in which scantily clad women play the game by a modified variant of indoor rules; that league was at least semi-professional for its first two years, but since 2011, it (along with its successor league, the Legends Football League) has played at an amateur level. 532:, a current member of the National Football League. The Cardinals organization, which was originally based on Racine Street in Chicago, has operated near-continuously since 1913, but counts an earlier team that played from 1898 to 1906 as part of its history. The 1390:, were each in turn considered to be "the best team in the history of the NFL." By 1969, the NFL had grown to 16 teams, with four teams directly attributable to the existence of the AFL: the Vikings, Cowboys, and Falcons, added to compete with the AFL, and the 2037:(WIFU). By 1954, the IRFU and WIFU had gone professional (in part thanks to an American television contract from NBC that paid the Big Four more than the one DuMont was offering the NFL), and in that year the ORFU dropped out of competition for the decades-old 1171:

and NBC. CBS began to televise selected NFL regular season games in 1956, but there was no league-wide, national television (the Browns, for instance, held out and syndicated games themselves until the early 1960s when a league-wide contract was imposed).

1047:

drew good crowds and raised funds from citizens to back the franchise. Players from the Bills and the other AAFC teams not 'merged' were distributed among the NFL teams. Motley, Graham, Groza, Hirsch and Tittle all starred in the NFL after the 'merger'.

427:

are more likely to vary from league to league than the high school and college levels. Since interleague play is extremely rare, there is no need for a nationwide standard for all leagues, and each league will adopt and discard rules as they see fit. The

727:

Maroons were hailed as the NFL champions by several newspapers after Pottsville defeated the Chicago Cardinals on December 6, even though there were still two weeks left in the season. This led to other teams scrambling to add extra games, including the

1189:

tried to purchase existing NFL franchises to move to Texas, or to establish new NFL franchises there, they were told that the conservative NFL was not interested. The result was that Hunt and Adams joined with six other businessmen to form the fourth

1722:

The USFL's impact was not limited to players, however. The USFL apparently established Oakland, Baltimore, Jacksonville and Arizona as viable markets for professional football. As such, the St. Louis Cardinals moved to Phoenix, Arizona to become the

286:

Professional football is considered the highest level of competition in gridiron football. Whereas most of the other major sports leagues draw their players from the minor leagues, the NFL currently draws almost all of its players directly from

1502:

All of the American Football League records and statistics were accepted by the merged league as equivalent to pre-merger NFL records and statistics. Thus, a yard gained in the AFL in 1960 is as valid as a yard gained in the NFL in 1960.

365:

Broadcasting is an integral part of professional football. Not only does it provide the sport with exposure to an audience wider than just the audience attending at the stadium, but it can also provide revenue in the form of rights fees.

223:

second to the NFL in prominence and pay grade. Despite the much lower level of pay, the CFL has greater popularity in Canada because of its long history in the country, the NFL's limited presence in Canada, and a general environment of

626:, coupled with a lack of competitive games and increasing price tags, effectively ruined the Ohio League by 1907. Professional football took a step back as the Ohio League relied more on local, cut-rate talent, such as player-promoter 1903:

began play in 2009 with an abbreviated "Premiere Season" that featured four teams, two on each coast, in a six-week schedule. The UFL, which mostly featured former NFL players, marked the first professional fall league other than the

910:

played his only year of Professional Football with the Rams. Before this AFL's second year, the Rams jumped to the NFL and were replaced by the first Professional Football team to actually play its home games on the West Coast, the

1410:, which was run by the same people (the Rosentover family) as the previous American Association of the 1930s. When the UFL folded, and the Newark Bears of the ACFL unsuccessfully applied to join the AFL, two new leagues formed: the 995:(AAFC). It attracted some of the nation's best football players and posed a serious challenge to the NFL. Like the pre-war AFL, it used a double round robin schedule. The league was dominated by a franchise owned and coached by 1758:

It was not until after the 1995 season, after Baltimore's CFL team won the Grey Cup, that Baltimore got a second look, this time from Art Modell, who took the core of his Cleveland Browns team to Baltimore to found the expansion

462:. These clubs began playing football in the late 1870s, approximately ten years after the game took form in American colleges. Amateur club football established itself as a somewhat lower quality alternative to the more popular 1130:, the NFL was humbled by having the Browns, a team from what it had ridiculed as an inferior league, win its championship. The Browns went on to be NFL champions in three of their first six years in the league. In 1958, the 1574:

to the NFL. To accommodate the larger league, the schedule expanded from 14 games to 16 games in 1978. The playoff field was likewise expanded to ten teams, then again to twelve teams in 1990, where it remained until 2020.

1281:

The legacy of the American Football League is that virtually every aspect of today's wildly popular professional football, on and off the field, can be traced to innovations developed by the AFL and adopted by the NFL.

561:

The next step in pro football stemmed from an unusual source: baseball. Teams from each championship city (Pittsburgh and Philadelphia), three in all, received support from baseball teams in their cities and formed the

326:), room and board for their time. As a result of the college system, first-time players (rookies) enter professional football older, more mature and more prepared for the professional game than players in other sports. 386:; each competing league had its own broadcaster, both of which kept the rights to their respective conference after the merger, while additional networks were sold showcase packages of once-a-week games held at night. 548:

began pressuring and threatening college teams with the loss of amateur status if they did so. Over the course of the first few years of the 20th Century, college and professional football began to diverge, until the

374:, both of which are also weekly events) and because the expense of the game (it has the largest rosters of any professional sport) makes the cost highly prohibitive. The NFL has sold broadcast rights to each of the 1578:

The NFL began experiencing problems in the 1980s. Labor stoppages in 1982 (which led to the NFL season being cut in half) and 1987 (resulting in the league using replacement players for three games), combined with

151:. In common usage, it refers to former and existing major football leagues in either country. Currently, there are multiple professional football leagues in North America: the two longest-running leagues are the 1978:

wiped out most sporting activity in the United States in March 2020, cutting the XFL's season short halfway through, which eventually led to the league filing for bankruptcy and selling to a consortium led by

2383:"Comparison of Injuries in American Collegiate Football and Club Rugby: A Prospective Cohort Study - Nienke W. Willigenburg, James R. Borchers, Richard Quincy, Christopher C. Kaeding, Timothy E. Hewett, 2016" 2181:, a proposed law that would have codified the CFL's monopoly on football and outlawed any other professional league from playing in the dominion. (In each case, Bassett instead backed a U.S.-based team, the 517: 201: 938:

was founded as a minor league. It played for five seasons, suspending operations for World War II, and returned under the "American Football League" name in 1946 before sputtering to a collapse in 1950.

1126:

the success of the rival AAFC's 14-game format. After the AAFC folded, the NFL added three of its teams, for a total of thirteen, but maintained the 14-game format. The first year after admitting the

870:

Although the NFL as a whole continued to play through World War II, the schedule was reduced, rosters were seriously impacted, and the Steelers were forced to merge operations with other NFL teams in

474:" football in 1890, before football had gone professional); in most cases, the practice was within the rules of amateurism at the time. Many of the early semi-professional and professional teams were 2121:

intellectual property and based the Redblacks' logo and colors on those of the Rough Riders, he chose the name RedBlacks in June 2013, mainly to avoid a trademark dispute with the similarly named

1631:

these lame-duck franchises when it became clear the USFL was done with spring football. The USFL pinned its hopes on an anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL; though the USFL won the case, it was a

662:

tours between the circuits, along with the continuing bidding wars, led to the regional circuits forming connections and laying the groundwork for the first truly national professional league.

1679:, in 1987. The AFL began its 24th season in 2011, and is currently the United States' second longest running professional football league ever, after the NFL. The AFL also had a minor league, 1230:

and other small colleges, a source the NFL virtually ignored. This led to a higher percentage of minority players, as well as several firsts, such as the first black number one draft choice (

1507:

selections and appearances are equivalent to NFL 'Pro Bowl' choices. They are equivalent, but, however, not identical, and this has caused errors in reporting by some sources. For example,

400:

Other leagues have found it much more difficult to find an outlet on American television, much less one that pays a rights fee large enough to make it worthwhile. One of the reasons for the

618:. Ohio pioneered the concept of playing games on Sundays to avoid competition with college football games; this was illegal in Pennsylvania (as well as New York City) due to still-existing 1381:

the 1970 season, when existing TV contracts could be re-worked. The decade was dominated in the NFL by the Packers, who won four NFL titles, and by the mid-to late 1960s their head coach

931:, outdrew the NFL's Redskins in 1936, causing George Preston Marshall to move the team to Washington. However, the league as a whole could not compete, and folded after the 1937 season. 1253:

But the American Football League was different from the AAFC in its overall competitive balance. While the Browns-dominated AAFC had had the same champion every year, six out of the

1752: 1690:, particularly after the AFL lost a lawsuit over the extent of its patents in 1998. As of 2020, all of the leagues who play the indoor game play regionally, either in the midwest ( 1598:, a league based in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, which ran for two seasons. After its suspension, two American teams jumped to the Canadian Football League, though only one (the 404:'s failure was its having to pay for television coverage instead of being paid for the rights to it, along with its use of networks that were not widely available. Similarly, the 2101:

were named as Ottawa's next CFL team from 2002 to 2005, but that team also folded. In both the Rough Riders and Renegades cases, the team failures came during, or shortly after,

2535: 1333:

who have appeared in five Super Bowls, winning two, while the Falcons were losers in their two appearances. Star NFL players during this period included the Browns' fullback

1516:

was MVP of the January 1970 AFL All-Star Game. The January 1970 NFL Pro Bowl was a different game, featuring only NFL players. Similar errors are made when players like the

1675:", the sport was played on a much shorter 50-yard field and was built heavily on a high-scoring offensive game. After two test games, he launched a professional league, the 1543:

collected petition signatures to attempt to show a similar high level of support, but never got as far as Memphis. Neither city has ever gotten an NFL franchise (though the

1310:

and was planning to move league offices to the West Coast), Rozelle instead agreed to establish a permanent office in New York City, where the league remains to this day.

553:

formed in 1906, giving college football a separate sanctioning body. The stigma of being a professional athlete, and the threat it was to one's amateur status, meant that

510: 1781:

The NFL revived the World League in 1995, this time headquartered solely in Europe, eventually changing the name of the league to the NFL Europe League (known as either

1539:

made an unsuccessful bid to join the NFL, even going as far as taking deposits for season tickets and going to court to file a lawsuit to attempt to force this, and the

679:

in New York City (Buffalo won) in December 1920. The league did not have a championship game or playoff, setting its championship with a vote of the league owners. The

357:

players from other countries (particularly those who are retired from competition in their home countries) to play in the league, almost always as kickers and punters.

623: 2442:

Makovicka, J. L.; Patel, K. A.; Deckey, D. G.; Hassebrock, J. D.; Chung, A. S.; Tummala, S. V.; Hydrick, T. C.; Gulbrandsen, M.; Hartigan, D. E.; Chhabra, A. (2019).

968: 334:

feeds players to the CFL to meet these quotas, much as the NCAA does in the United States. The remaining half of the roster may be filled by either Canadians or by

42: 2240: 409: 2745: 378:, who pay large annual fees on top of the cost of production for the rights to air the game. The networks make back much of their money through advertising and 1278:

franchises, plus two expansion teams, and those ten teams represented the first time a major sports league had merged with another without losing a franchise.

1059:

were officially a new franchise launched in 1953, though tracing their history through a series of teams dating back to 1919, before the formation of the NFL.

2603: 1943:, which is non-professional. Numerous other professional leagues attempted to launch in the late 2000s and early 2010s but never materialized, including the 1374: 1227: 976: 1958:

In 2018, the two leading figures behind the original XFL announced their re-entry into the professional football market with rival leagues: former NBC head

1524:

are cited as having "fifteen years of NFL experience." In fact, Otto had ten years of AFL experience and five years of NFL experience, or fifteen years of

828:, Marshall's team, now called the Redskins, was driven out of Boston in 1936 by a competing league, and he moved his franchise to Washington, D.C. as the 637:

to a contract. During the late 1910s, the Ohio League not only had to compete among its own teams for talent, but also against leagues in Chicago and the

2304: 960: 672: 243: 3330: 1313:

The 1960 NFL had ten teams, only two south of Washington, D.C. and/or west of Chicago (the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers), and none in the

314:. Under current regulations, players must be at least three years removed from high school graduation to qualify to play in the NFL. Because of these 2141:

in 1984 provided a stadium with sufficient capacity was built by then; however, no such stadium was ever built (the only outdoor stadium in Halifax,

2528: 2117:, thus becoming the third Ottawa CFL team and returning the league back to the traditional nine teams. Although Hunt owns the rights to the former 3345: 1504: 1466:

In 1970, the NFL realigned into two conferences, with the Browns, Steelers and Colts joining the ten former American Football League teams in the

1411: 1063: 983:

compact with the NFL. The PCPFL folded in 1948 after years of declining attendance and the arrival of the NFL in its flagship Los Angeles market.

720: 580: 2158:, which is much closer to the CFL's capacity guidelines; three games were played in the regular season series, with a fourth slated for 2019 as 2034: 1975: 1742:, Charlotte and Jacksonville), all of which were in cities that had hosted professional football before. The "Carolina Cougars" (later renamed 1261:) played in at least one post-season game. In addition to traditional eastern cities, it placed teams in Texas, in the West with the Broncos, 3433: 3428: 3423: 1731: 780:

regular season schedule. In 1936, to select and assign graduating college players to particular Pro teams, the first Professional Football '

89: 1322: 2030: 1988: 1139:

West conferences. The league during this period featured not only star players absorbed from the AAFC 'merger' but others such as halfback

61: 1442:), but folded after 1969, and plans to take on the CFL head-to-head were abandoned. The ACFL also produced some significant talent (e.g. 2579: 2564: 2521: 2245: 2129:

never moved a Canadian team from one city to another. One particular market that has been a persistent topic of discussion has been the

1535:

successfully lured several NFL stars to its upstart league, but collapsed midway through the 1975 season due to financial problems. The

588: 3294: 2574: 2159: 1936: 1156: 506: 68: 1727:

in 1988, while the Houston Oilers very nearly moved to Jacksonville in 1987 before deciding to stay, for the short term, in Houston.

1583:

winning a lawsuit to allow his team, the Raiders, to move from Oakland to Los Angeles against league wishes, forced NFL Commissioner

1039:

him. While the NFL was still segregated, the AAFC's Browns became the first modern Professional Football team to sign black players.

247:

2007, although no other professional indoor league has adopted rebound nets since. As of 2011, two national leagues (the AFL and the

2838: 1932: 1595: 1131: 1056: 963:, the first professional league on the West Coast. The PCPFL was notable for its continuous operation through World War II (it even 688: 614:, drawing much of the top professional football talent in America from Pennsylvania to Ohio, including Wallace, who signed with the 108: 2342: 1859:, a one-off game in Mexico City, was the first regular-season game held outside the United States in 2005; it was followed by the 3325: 2898: 2833: 2225: 1302:

was named his replacement after a contentious, eight-day, 23-ballot stalemated election in which the league's favored candidate,

972: 916: 186: 75: 2665: 2262: 2004: 1948: 1640: 992: 964: 948: 935: 891: 760: 703:. While the Ohio League mostly ceased to exist after the foundation of the NFL (other than a few independent teams such as the 602:

led directly to the end of the first NFL. From there, professional football's focus moved north and west, as teams such as the

563: 225: 1325:

to St. Louis, Missouri in 1960. Later, it impeded the AFL's planned expansion to Atlanta by offering that city's investor the

445:). Indoor football's rules are closely based on outdoor football but are heavily altered to compensate for the smaller field. 259:

had operations in Canada from 2011 to 2014, but that league dropped to amateur level by the time the LFL entered the country.

3143: 2883: 2660: 2165:

Canada has historically been sheltered from the rival leagues that the NFL faced for most of its first century of existence.

2049:, its first separate from Football Canada, as its starting point. (The ORFU eventually faded out of existence in the 1970s.) 1888: 1407: 920: 486: 331: 46: 1024: 1003:, a team that would win the league's championship every year of its existence. The Browns featured players such as fullback 1167:. Television coverage of the league was spotty, with some teams starting in 1950 to have individual arrangements with the 178:

is also a strong league that has a long history since 1971. The NFL has existed continuously since being so named in 1922.

57: 3392: 3340: 3173: 3168: 2828: 2785: 2613: 2134: 1963: 1931:

began play as a four-team league on June 30, 2011, with an eight-week schedule, and played three abbreviated seasons. The

1900: 1792:

Strained relations between the NFL and its players' union quieted down significantly in the 1990s, and the development of

1611: 1492: 1403: 719:, who, after one year (and winning the league title), jumped to the NFL. The Anthracite League remanifested itself as the 401: 375: 1226:, the league offered a more risk-oriented on-field approach that appealed to fans. The AFL also actively recruited from 1181:

It was content with a 12-team league playing a 12-game schedule and featured "ball-control" football. When Texas oilmen

389:

In Canada, where the threat of competing sports leagues is far less, the CFL opts instead for an exclusive contract with

3315: 3273: 3269: 3265: 2993: 2823: 2740: 2569: 2026: 2000: 1944: 1548: 1471: 1467: 653:, introduced the playoff tournament to professional football; Buffalo won the last contest in 1919. World War I and the 638: 498: 1891:, was lost due to the lockout. The current collective bargaining agreement, which has no opt-outs, lasts through 2021. 675:(APFA). In an effort to expand beyond the midwest, the league staged a showcase game between Canton and Buffalo at the 3372: 3284: 2976: 1887:

for antitrust violations. The two sides came to an agreement in late July 2011, after one preseason game, that year's

1707: 1668: 1648: 1415: 1111: 952: 928: 748: 405: 300: 2169:, a Canadian multimedia heir, was at the center of two attempts to bring the rival leagues to Canada, first with the 544:

While the practice of professional and semi-pro teams playing college and amateur teams was common in the 1890s, the

490: 2444:"Lower Back Injuries in National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Players: A 5-Season Epidemiological Study" 1774:, which the NFL adopted in 1994, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' color scheme, which was loosely based on that of the 3382: 2684: 2650: 756: 2057:

win one game against an American pro team in 1961, but it was an American Football League team, not an NFL team.)

163:

since the late 1970s, with competitive leagues all over Europe hiring American imports to strengthen rosters. The

35: 3148: 3138: 3082: 2645: 2382: 2197: 1695: 752: 354: 1081:

The 49ers have remained in the NFL and San Francisco since their admission to the league. They moved within the

3163: 3044: 3039: 3031: 2959: 2954: 2853: 2843: 2122: 1905: 1860: 1825: 1805: 1687: 1194:(1960–1969). The league started out by signing half of the NFL's 1960 first-round draft choices including the 1191: 903: 764: 700: 383: 308: 271: 256: 231: 220: 216: 164: 156: 152: 130: 1474:. The AFL's official scoreboard clock and jersey-back player names were adopted by the merged league, but the 1406:

lasted from 1961 to 1964 and was concentrated in the midwest. However, in 1962 it was quickly eclipsed by the

533: 397:

exclusive contract began in 2008; previously, like the NFL, it split its broadcasts up between two providers.

3367: 2848: 2755: 2689: 2586: 1966:

to begin play in 2019; it collapsed amid financial shortfalls and disputes partway through its lone season.

1879: 1711: 1094: 895: 841: 736: 424: 370:

stadium capacities, figures only exceeded or matched by some of the major college football teams and by the

82: 505:

would become the first man to directly bankroll a football team himself when he assumed "ownership" of the

3397: 3049: 2065: 1829: 1691: 1599: 1314: 1082: 924: 856: 610:

went on buying sprees in an effort to defeat local teams. Massillon's buying spree led to the rise of the

607: 592: 545: 393:, available only by subscription to a cable or satellite service, to carry all of the league's games. The 379: 304: 275: 248: 168: 2305:"The making of Patrick Mahomes, the highest-paid man in sports history | NFL News | Sky Sports" 771:

of the Yankees, but the league folded after just one year, with the Yankees being absorbed into the NFL.

3387: 3234: 3112: 2368:"BU Researchers Find CTE in 99% of Former NFL Players Studied | The Brink | Boston University" 2178: 1928: 1909: 1703: 1699: 1676: 1532: 1487: 1455: 1346: 1266: 785: 599: 554: 429: 235: 633:

Another bidding war was sparked in 1915, when a revived Bulldogs signed multi-sport athletic superstar

322:

compensated with five years of free undergraduate college education (more than enough time to pursue a

3377: 3203: 3090: 2888: 2696: 2221: 2193: 1952: 1868: 1771: 1747: 1571: 1475: 1044: 912: 836:; they became the Pittsburgh Pirates when they joined the NFL in 1933, later renaming themselves the 650: 502: 350: 323: 296: 292: 2491: 1074:. The controversy was ultimately settled by granting Cleveland a new franchise, which began play in 971:

that had been blacklisted from the NFL since the 1930s. Along with the American Association and the

470:

of San Francisco, California is believed to have done the latter, thus creating the designation of "

3402: 3208: 2706: 2655: 2151: 2118: 2114: 2094: 2090: 1913: 1856: 1735: 1627: 1366: 1318: 1307: 1148: 1086: 1016: 860: 837: 829: 797: 732: 708: 1863:, an annual game held in London in the last week of October since 2007. In an unrelated move, the 1402:

Concurrently with the AFL and NFL rivalry, several minor leagues thrived in this era as well. The

1106:

Following five years of what the league perceived to be weak leadership on behalf of commissioner

3352: 3100: 3095: 2625: 2410: 2208:

According to 2017 study on brains of deceased gridiron football players, 99% of tested brains of

2146: 2138: 2130: 2102: 2085: 2069: 1848:

were added to the league in 2002 to replace the Oilers, bringing the league to an even 32 teams.

1739: 1540: 1513: 1391: 1215: 1207: 1028: 716: 659: 482: 415:

Virtually all professional football teams broadcast at least some of their games on local radio.

390: 1871:, playing an annual December game in Canada, in 2008. The Toronto series will run through 2012. 800:. However, Berwanger chose not to play Professional Football. The league was dominated by the 121: 2428: 864: 318:, players who do not play college football have very few options for breaking into the league. 3362: 3198: 3077: 3021: 2903: 2797: 2730: 2620: 2598: 2559: 2544: 2473: 2402: 2186: 2174: 1940: 1810: 1801: 1775: 1743: 1724: 1451: 1387: 1338: 1235: 1152: 805: 728: 712: 654: 571: 566:, the first all-professional league. The league hoped to draw fans by featuring stars such as 536:

is the oldest semi-professional club that is still in operation, tracing its history to 1896.

529: 471: 438: 371: 315: 182: 148: 145: 141: 1800:

led to peaceful relations between the two entities for over a decade. This was helped by new

863:. There were two fixed monochrome iconoscope cameras and a single play-by-play commentator, 3244: 3183: 3107: 3072: 2802: 2713: 2635: 2463: 2455: 2394: 2217: 2182: 2170: 2106: 2098: 1764: 1760: 1567: 1544: 1536: 1419: 1295: 1127: 1122: 1067: 1000: 899: 767:

left the seven-year-old league to join the AFL. The major attraction of the new league was

646: 603: 463: 288: 267: 252: 175: 2145:, only seated less than half of what CFL rules mandate and has since been demolished). The 1257:

AFL teams won at least one AFL championship, and all but one (the lone exception being the

481:

The first record of an American football player receiving "pay for play" came in 1892 with

3357: 3016: 2934: 2919: 2723: 2367: 2166: 2142: 2046: 2042: 1632: 1616: 1555: 1517: 1479: 1326: 1262: 1144: 1135: 1075: 1071: 809: 684: 615: 2025:

Canadian football was, prior to the 1950s, dominated by three amateur organizations: the

2381:

Willigenburg, N. W.; Borchers, J. R.; Quincy, R.; Kaeding, C. C.; Hewett, T. E. (2016).

1878:. Beginning in 2006, at the end of the previous broadcast contract, the NFL launched an 3239: 3229: 3213: 3178: 2944: 2939: 2858: 2608: 2593: 2468: 2443: 2084:

have been in flux for the past three decades. The original Alouettes folded in 1982; a

2011: 1984: 1845: 1672: 1588: 1458:

sapped the ACFL of most of its talent, and forced it to fold prior to the 1974 season.

1443: 1435: 1382: 1370: 1330: 1303: 1258: 1243: 1195: 1090: 879: 789: 584: 575: 458:

Professional football evolved from amateur "club" football, played by general interest

239: 192:

in the world, with the highest salaries reaching tens of millions of dollars per year.

126: 3417: 3320: 3310: 3193: 3158: 3153: 2718: 2640: 1967: 1864: 1849: 1832:

played only two weeks in 2000. The short-lived, highly publicized and widely derided

1454:) and lasted longer, through 1971, with a return season in 1973. The attempted major 1447: 1423: 1358: 1239: 1231: 1219: 1168: 1160: 1140: 1004: 991:

A year after World War II, another new Professional Football league was formed – the

825: 821: 817: 801: 793: 704: 642: 627: 494: 209: 2414: 2318: 3289: 3249: 3188: 3122: 3117: 3006: 2929: 2924: 2701: 2015: 1959: 1821: 1786: 1652: 1623: 1622:

The groundwork for what eventually led to the demise of the USFL was set mainly by

1584: 1350: 1299: 1254: 1199: 1107: 1032: 1020: 980: 852: 833: 676: 567: 467: 442: 408:

only had one of its games televised nationally in its five-year existence, and the

205: 204:, football has comparatively few levels of play and does not have a well-developed 299:

to play. The source for the vast majority of professional football players is the

583:

and immediately labeled them the favorite for the tournament, bestowing the team

382:

fees. The use of multiple broadcasters dated to before the NFL's merger with the

3335: 3011: 2981: 2284: 2257: 2081: 2045:) in 1958, and began inter-union play in 1961. The CFL currently recognizes the 1980: 1875: 1793: 1656: 1427: 1354: 1211: 1164: 1008: 907: 813: 611: 459: 433:

school and college levels, with some minor exceptions (such as the locations of

346: 24: 3279: 3064: 2893: 2775: 2770: 1971: 1833: 1797: 1782: 1426:). The ContFL arguably had better talent that went on to NFL and CFL stardom ( 1342: 1274: 1203: 1182: 996: 768: 680: 634: 475: 434: 394: 2513: 2459: 2398: 1809:

doubled to over US$ 2,000,000,000. This is in addition to the rights fee for

3054: 2971: 2964: 2878: 2790: 2110: 2019: 1644: 1508: 1439: 1431: 1362: 1334: 1291: 1223: 1186: 1115: 1012: 875: 781: 311: 263:

develop professional prospects, in part due to the rise of indoor football.

2477: 2406: 1329:' NFL franchise. Ironically, the Falcons' replacement in the AFL were the 1883:

total greater than the resale value of all thirty-two NFL teams combined.

2949: 2818: 2780: 2508: 2038: 1987:. The Spring League then rebranded itself as a second incarnation of the 1855:

Also during this era, the league began expanding its influence overseas.

1580: 1521: 871: 715:, the last regional "major league." The Anthracite League was won by the 630:, and its Pennsylvania counterpart also steered clear of major spending. 619: 1667:

Immediately after the USFL suspended operations in 1986, USFL executive

763:

in competition with the NFL. Because of the 1925 shenanigans, the NFL's

497:

became the first open professional after accepting $ 10 to play for the

2155: 2061: 1921: 1814: 1485:

The AFL–NFL merger also led to the creation of a weekly showcase game:

739:

who was to exert major positive and negative influences on the league.

189: 2231:

Other common injuries include, injuries of legs, arms and lower back.

3001: 2289: 2196:(which is likely too small to accommodate any professional game) and 2077: 478:

consisting mostly of employees of the companies that sponsored them.

160: 2150:

series was revived as a regular season game in 2010, but instead at

1852:

took over as commissioner from the retiring Paul Tagliabue in 2006.

1273:. The league forced a merger with its rival, and made possible the 1114:

fame), league officials appointed Philadelphia Eagles owner-founder

255:(2000 to 2002), has ever played its games in Canada. The all-female 2343:"How will expanded NFL playoffs work? Here's what you need to know" 2068:(who jumped more or less intact from the WLAF and would become the 1974:

in 2020 to somewhat greater success and reception before a massive

1730:

In 1993, the NFL began exploring expansion, eyeing five proposals (

894:

of six teams was formed to challenge the NFL. It included another

851:

broadcast the first-ever televised Professional Football game from

1917: 1820:

Several short-lived professional leagues arose in the wake of the

1270: 412:

blamed its failure on an inability to secure television coverage.

172: 120: 202:

major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada

2630: 1751:

teams from southern California began a 21-year stretch in which

1496: 1377:, and it, too, started scouting and signing from those schools. 898:

team, as well as the Cleveland Rams, the predecessor to today's

574:

touring Pennsylvania and New York. It was during this time that

550: 215:

In North America, the top level of professional football is the

2517: 1970:

reacquired the XFL intellectual property rights and launched a

1450:

and the first female professional football player, placeholder

2213: 2209: 1935:, an explicitly minor league operating on a sort of "extended 1686:

The success of arena football led to a revival of interest in

1680: 848: 18: 2192:

Professional football has yet to be played in two provinces:

1615:

several deep pocketed owners began luring top talent such as

1031:, which began play in Baltimore in 1953) fielded quarterback 501:; Latrobe became the first all-professional club soon after. 441:, and the number of feet required to be in-bounds to catch a 342:; these are typically American players who play in the CFL). 2177:. In both cases, Canadian Parliament threatened to pass the 1414:(PFLA), which ran from 1965 to 1967, and the more prominent 489:

against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, with the second being

234:

has also developed in the United States, beginning with the

1991:

in the 2022 offseason, returning to a professional format.

1817:

satellite television service, that began in the mid-1990s.

1651:(who was actually drafted several years earlier, in 1978), 1242:, Chiefs; and the first modern black starting quarterback ( 1202:, and never slowed down. With future Hall of Fame Coaches 159:(CFL) in Canada. American football leagues have existed in 1939:" approach, played two seasons before being replaced with 951:

was made in 1940, with five franchises, including a third

171:

top division are known as the best leagues in Europe. The

16:

Professional leagues of gridiron football in North America

1671:

began work on a brand new variant of football. Known as "

1121:

After twelve years without black players in the NFL, the

598:

An agreement between the baseball leagues to form modern

2125:. The revived Ottawa franchise has also been a success. 842:

a complicated franchise swap and abortive merger attempt

2189:, respectively). The Act was never passed or made law. 345:

The NFL has, over the course of its history, recruited

528:

The oldest existing professional football club is the

2022:, and only three downs, remain in the Canadian game. 666:

American Professional Football Association: 1920–1921

622:, but eventually became the professional standard. A 2105:

had purchased the respective team. In 2014, the new

1874:

In 2003, the NFL launched its own in-house network,

1321:. The NFL also expanded its footprint by moving the 3303: 3258: 3222: 3131: 3063: 3030: 2992: 2912: 2871: 2811: 2763: 2754: 2674: 2552: 291:. College football, in turn, recruits players from 49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. 2216:players, 64% of semi-professional players, 91% of 1710:). One unusual variant of indoor football was the 511:Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit 509:in either 1898 or 1899. Throughout the 1890s, the 1078:, that took the Browns name and official lineage. 747:In 1926, teams from nine cities ranging from the 1785:or, in its last season, as NFL Europa, to avoid 1265:and the Chargers, and eventually in the Midwest 723:, an explicitly minor league, in 1926 and 1927. 1055:The Colts lasted only one year in the NFL; the 2241:List of American and Canadian football leagues 915:, who had several stars including quarterback 641:. New York, with future NFL teams such as the 2529: 2509:Professional Football Researchers Association 2133:. The CFL approved an Atlantic franchise for 1635:, as the jury only awarded damages of US$ 3. 1051:Of the three AAFC teams that joined the NFL: 759:(actually based in Chicago) formed the first 8: 1495:beginning with the 1970 season, it moved to 977:Association of Professional Football Leagues 882:were forced to suspend operations in 1943. 2760: 2536: 2522: 2514: 2113:) began play at a drastically refurbished 1912:in the mid-1970s. All UFL games aired on 1176:Fourth American Football League: 1960–1969 987:All-America Football Conference: 1946–1949 961:Pacific Coast Professional Football League 886:Second American Football League: 1936–1937 824:(Packers). Even with the stellar fullback 699:In 1922, the APFA changed its name to the 673:American Professional Football Association 136:In the United States and Canada, the term 2467: 1895:Alternate leagues: 2009–2015, 2019–future 1836:played one season in the winter of 2001. 943:Third American Football League: 1940–1941 485:$ 500 contract to play in a game for the 109:Learn how and when to remove this message 2285:"The World's Highest-Paid Athletes 2020" 1606:United States Football League: 1983–1985 1470:and the remaining NFL teams forming the 2429:"The Common Types of Football Injuries" 2387:The American Journal of Sports Medicine 2276: 1908:to play in the United States since the 1813:, a package offered exclusively to the 1412:Professional Football League of America 1290:After the sudden death of commissioner 1062:The Browns remained in Cleveland until 721:Eastern League of Professional Football 2448:Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine 2035:Western Interprovincial Football Union 1995:Canadian professional football history 1840:National Football League: 2002–present 1753:the league had no teams in Los Angeles 1375:small and predominantly black colleges 454:The first professional football player 295:, with most potential stars receiving 129:in 2016, the championship game of the 2173:in the WFL, then with a USFL team in 2064:in 1993. Initially starting with the 683:had the best record in 1920, and the 242:, were covered under its patent; the 7: 2031:Interprovincial Rugby Football Union 1770:Also borrowed from the USFL was the 906:(1960–1969) coach and Hall of Famer 855:, an October 22 contest between the 743:First American Football League: 1926 305:five conferences with automatic bids 47:adding citations to reliable sources 2246:List of professional sports leagues 2160:another Atlantic Schooners proposal 1828:played one season in 1999, and the 1718:National Football League: 1995–2001 1562:National Football League: 1976–1994 1462:National Football League: 1970–1975 1286:National Football League: 1960–1969 1102:National Football League: 1946–1959 775:National Football League: 1933–1945 695:National Football League: 1922–1932 244:Professional Indoor Football League 140:includes the professional forms of 796:was selected first overall by the 687:were the 1921 "champions", albeit 507:Duquesne Country and Athletic Club 449:U.S. professional football history 14: 1933:Fall Experimental Football League 1596:World League of American Football 2666:Rules of gridiron football codes 1708:America West Football Conference 1663:Arena Football League: 1987–2019 1619:to the USFL with high salaries. 1594:The NFL backed the minor-league 1208:Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs 975:, the PCPFL were members of the 965:spun off a second league in 1944 564:National Football League of 1902 212:, either official or otherwise. 58:"Professional gridiron football" 23: 2263:Pro Football: Its Ups and Downs 2162:is seeking to join the league. 2033:(IRFU, or "Big Four"), and the 2005:professional football in Canada 1949:United National Gridiron League 993:All-America Football Conference 226:Canadian cultural protectionism 34:needs additional citations for 2224:players had various stages of 2014:were adopted in 1905, and the 1889:Pro Football Hall of Fame Game 1880:eight-game late-season package 1422:were a farm team to the AFL's 1408:Atlantic Coast Football League 967:) and for its open embrace of 812:, with stars like quarterback 487:Allegheny Athletic Association 460:athletic clubs or associations 425:rules of professional football 332:Canadian Interuniversity Sport 1: 1989:United States Football League 1964:Alliance of American Football 1612:United States Football League 1602:) would play in that league. 1218:) as well as others like the 1159:; and the Colts' quarterback 959:Also forming in 1940 was the 410:American Football Association 3434:Professional sports by sport 3429:History of Canadian football 3424:History of American football 2604:American–Canadian comparison 2323:www.watertownredandblack.com 2027:Ontario Rugby Football Union 2001:History of Canadian football 1945:All American Football League 1472:National Football Conference 1468:American Football Conference 1228:predominantly black colleges 639:New York Pro Football League 499:Latrobe Athletic Association 303:, with most coming from the 1591:was named his replacement. 1566:In 1976, the NFL added the 1416:Continental Football League 1234:, Chiefs); the first black 1066:to Baltimore, becoming the 406:Continental Football League 301:Division I Bowl Subdivision 3450: 1998: 1491:. Originally broadcast on 624:fabricated betting scandal 591:New York was upset by the 155:(NFL) in the U.S, and the 2198:Newfoundland and Labrador 1972:second version of the XFL 1696:Champions Indoor Football 1118:as commissioner in 1946. 534:Watertown Red & Black 376:major television networks 355:Australian rules football 3164:Total quarterback rating 2460:10.1177/2325967119852625 2399:10.1177/0363546515622389 2123:Saskatchewan Roughriders 2060:The league attempted an 1906:National Football League 1861:NFL International Series 1826:Regional Football League 1806:Fox Broadcasting Company 1712:Lingerie Football League 1398:Minor Leagues: 1961–1973 1192:American Football League 1064:their controversial move 1027:(not related to today's 1021:Elroy 'Crazylegs' Hirsch 949:American Football League 947:Still another try at an 904:American Football League 892:American Football League 765:Rock Island Independents 761:American Football League 701:National Football League 581:World Series of Football 555:pseudonyms and nicknames 540:Early leagues: 1902–1919 384:American Football League 309:College Football Playoff 272:Austrian Football League 257:Lingerie Football League 221:Canadian Football League 217:National Football League 165:Austrian Football League 157:Canadian Football League 153:National Football League 131:Canadian Football League 2076:The two teams based in 1824:in the late 1990s. The 956:resources to continue. 816:(Bears); and fullbacks 737:George Preston Marshall 689:not without controversy 3050:Fourth down conversion 2266:. J. B. Lyon Co. 1934. 2066:Sacramento Gold Miners 1920:; every game was also 1901:United Football League 1830:Spring Football League 1692:Indoor Football League 1512:League. Hadl, of the 1478:was not adopted until 1404:United Football League 1315:Southern United States 1057:second Baltimore Colts 792:-winning running back 608:Franklin Athletic Club 593:Syracuse Athletic Club 546:Amateur Athletic Union 402:United Football League 380:retransmission consent 276:German Football League 249:Indoor Football League 200:Compared to the other 185:players are among the 169:German Football League 133: 3388:Touchdown celebration 3113:Running out the clock 2179:Canadian Football Act 1929:Stars Football League 1910:World Football League 1704:American Arena League 1700:National Arena League 1677:Arena Football League 1669:James F. "Jim" Foster 1549:one season in Memphis 1533:World Football League 1526:Professional Football 1488:Monday Night Football 1456:World Football League 1216:LA/San Diego Chargers 786:University of Chicago 600:Major League Baseball 430:Arena Football League 330:childhood). As such, 297:athletic scholarships 236:Arena Football League 138:professional football 124: 3378:Running up the score 3204:Yards from scrimmage 2889:Two-point conversion 2884:One-point conversion 2222:high school football 2220:players, and 21% of 2194:Prince Edward Island 2097:folded in 1996; the 1976:coronavirus pandemic 1953:A-11 Football League 1869:Bills Toronto Series 1802:television contracts 1772:two-point conversion 1748:Jacksonville Jaguars 1600:Sacramento franchise 1572:Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1476:two-point conversion 1369:' and the Redskins' 936:American Association 927:, with all-star end 913:Los Angeles Bulldogs 757:Los Angeles Wildcats 651:Rochester Jeffersons 606:and the short-lived 595:in the first round. 585:home-field advantage 503:William Chase Temple 491:Ben "Sport" Donnelly 483:Pudge Heffelfinger's 351:association football 293:high school football 43:improve this article 3209:All-purpose yardage 2152:New Moncton Stadium 2115:Frank Clair Stadium 2095:Ottawa Rough Riders 2091:Baltimore Stallions 1628:New Jersey Generals 1531:In 1974, the rival 1367:Philadelphia Eagles 1361:; Cowboys receiver 1308:San Francisco 49ers 1269:and the deep South 1149:Philadelphia Eagles 1017:San Francisco 49ers 861:Philadelphia Eagles 830:Washington Redskins 798:Philadelphia Eagles 709:Portsmouth Spartans 520:(and, in fact, the 2492:"reverehealth.com" 2147:Touchdown Atlantic 2139:Atlantic Schooners 2131:maritime provinces 2103:Bernard Glieberman 2086:Montreal Concordes 2070:San Antonio Texans 2062:American expansion 1541:Birmingham Vulcans 1514:San Diego Chargers 1392:New Orleans Saints 1029:Indianapolis Colts 934:Also in 1936, the 890:In 1936, a second 717:Pottsville Maroons 282:Player development 134: 3411: 3410: 3199:Yards after catch 3022:Turnover on downs 2867: 2866: 2798:Line of scrimmage 2545:Gridiron football 2187:Tampa Bay Bandits 2175:Hamilton, Ontario 1941:The Spring League 1811:NFL Sunday Ticket 1776:Tampa Bay Bandits 1744:Carolina Panthers 1725:Arizona Cardinals 1587:into retirement. 1505:AFL All-Star Game 1452:Patricia Palinkas 1388:Minnesota Vikings 1339:Green Bay Packers 1323:Chicago Cardinals 1236:middle linebacker 1163:and running back 1153:Norm Van Brocklin 1019:had running back 806:Green Bay Packers 784:' was held. The 729:Chicago Cardinals 713:Anthracite League 655:1918 flu pandemic 643:Buffalo Prospects 572:Christy Mathewson 530:Arizona Cardinals 513:would act as the 437:, procedures for 372:NASCAR Sprint Cup 324:bachelor's degree 316:barriers to entry 183:American football 149:gridiron football 125:Teams during the 119: 118: 111: 93: 3441: 3245:Three-cone drill 3108:Clock management 2803:Field goal range 2761: 2538: 2531: 2524: 2515: 2496: 2495: 2488: 2482: 2481: 2471: 2439: 2433: 2432: 2425: 2419: 2418: 2378: 2372: 2371: 2364: 2358: 2357: 2355: 2354: 2339: 2333: 2332: 2330: 2329: 2315: 2309: 2308: 2301: 2295: 2294: 2281: 2218:college football 2212:players, 88% of 2183:Memphis Southmen 2171:Toronto Northmen 2107:Ottawa Redblacks 2099:Ottawa Renegades 1962:attached to the 1857:Fútbol Americano 1765:Tennessee Titans 1761:Baltimore Ravens 1706:) or northwest ( 1568:Seattle Seahawks 1545:Tennessee Oilers 1537:Memphis Southmen 1420:Hartford Knights 1298:general manager 1296:Los Angeles Rams 1128:Cleveland Browns 1123:Los Angeles Rams 1085:media market to 1068:Baltimore Ravens 1001:Cleveland Browns 953:New York Yankees 925:Boston Shamrocks 900:Los Angeles Rams 896:New York Yankees 857:Brooklyn Dodgers 749:New York Yankees 707:and the pre-NFL 647:Tonawanda Kardex 604:Massillon Tigers 464:college football 289:college football 253:Toronto Phantoms 114: 107: 103: 100: 94: 92: 51: 27: 19: 3449: 3448: 3444: 3443: 3442: 3440: 3439: 3438: 3414: 3413: 3412: 3407: 3358:Gatorade shower 3299: 3254: 3218: 3174:Receiving yards 3127: 3059: 3026: 2988: 2935:Incomplete pass 2908: 2863: 2807: 2750: 2670: 2651:Street/Backyard 2548: 2542: 2505: 2500: 2499: 2490: 2489: 2485: 2441: 2440: 2436: 2427: 2426: 2422: 2380: 2379: 2375: 2370:. 26 July 2017. 2366: 2365: 2361: 2352: 2350: 2341: 2340: 2336: 2327: 2325: 2317: 2316: 2312: 2303: 2302: 2298: 2283: 2282: 2278: 2273: 2254: 2252:Further reading 2237: 2206: 2167:John F. Bassett 2143:Huskies Stadium 2043:Football Canada 2007: 1997: 1897: 1842: 1720: 1688:indoor football 1665: 1633:Pyrrhic victory 1626:, owner of the 1617:Herschel Walker 1608: 1564: 1547:did later play 1518:Oakland Raiders 1464: 1400: 1288: 1263:Oakland Raiders 1178: 1145:New York Giants 1136:New York Giants 1132:Baltimore Colts 1104: 1025:Baltimore Colts 989: 945: 888: 810:New York Giants 777: 745: 697: 685:Chicago Staleys 668: 616:Canton Bulldogs 542: 456: 451: 421: 363: 284: 232:Indoor football 198: 115: 104: 98: 95: 52: 50: 40: 28: 17: 12: 11: 5: 3447: 3445: 3437: 3436: 3431: 3426: 3416: 3415: 3409: 3408: 3406: 3405: 3400: 3395: 3390: 3385: 3380: 3375: 3370: 3365: 3360: 3355: 3350: 3349: 3348: 3338: 3333: 3328: 3323: 3318: 3313: 3307: 3305: 3301: 3300: 3298: 3297: 3295:Instant replay 3292: 3287: 3282: 3277: 3262: 3260: 3256: 3255: 3253: 3252: 3247: 3242: 3240:Oklahoma drill 3237: 3232: 3230:Practice squad 3226: 3224: 3220: 3219: 3217: 3216: 3214:Touchdown pass 3211: 3206: 3201: 3196: 3191: 3186: 3181: 3179:Pass deflected 3176: 3171: 3166: 3161: 3156: 3151: 3146: 3141: 3135: 3133: 3129: 3128: 3126: 3125: 3120: 3115: 3110: 3105: 3104: 3103: 3098: 3093: 3087:Time warnings 3085: 3080: 3075: 3069: 3067: 3061: 3060: 3058: 3057: 3052: 3047: 3042: 3036: 3034: 3028: 3027: 3025: 3024: 3019: 3017:"Peanut Punch" 3014: 3009: 3004: 2998: 2996: 2990: 2989: 2987: 2986: 2985: 2984: 2974: 2969: 2968: 2967: 2957: 2952: 2947: 2945:Hail Mary pass 2942: 2940:Drop-back pass 2937: 2932: 2927: 2922: 2916: 2914: 2910: 2909: 2907: 2906: 2904:Single (rouge) 2901: 2896: 2891: 2886: 2881: 2875: 2873: 2869: 2868: 2865: 2864: 2862: 2861: 2856: 2851: 2846: 2841: 2836: 2831: 2826: 2821: 2815: 2813: 2809: 2808: 2806: 2805: 2800: 2795: 2794: 2793: 2788: 2783: 2778: 2767: 2765: 2758: 2752: 2751: 2749: 2748: 2743: 2738: 2733: 2728: 2727: 2726: 2721: 2711: 2710: 2709: 2707:Junior varsity 2704: 2694: 2693: 2692: 2687: 2678: 2676: 2675:Levels of play 2672: 2671: 2669: 2668: 2663: 2658: 2653: 2648: 2643: 2638: 2633: 2628: 2623: 2618: 2617: 2616: 2611: 2609:Burnside rules 2606: 2596: 2591: 2590: 2589: 2584: 2583: 2582: 2577: 2567: 2556: 2554: 2550: 2549: 2543: 2541: 2540: 2533: 2526: 2518: 2512: 2511: 2504: 2503:External links 2501: 2498: 2497: 2483: 2434: 2420: 2373: 2359: 2334: 2310: 2296: 2275: 2274: 2272: 2269: 2268: 2267: 2253: 2250: 2249: 2248: 2243: 2236: 2233: 2205: 2202: 2012:Burnside Rules 1996: 1993: 1985:Dwayne Johnson 1896: 1893: 1846:Houston Texans 1841: 1838: 1719: 1716: 1698:), southeast ( 1673:arena football 1664: 1661: 1607: 1604: 1589:Paul Tagliabue 1563: 1560: 1463: 1460: 1444:Marvin Hubbard 1436:Johnnie Walton 1399: 1396: 1383:Vince Lombardi 1371:Charley Taylor 1341:' quarterback 1331:Miami Dolphins 1304:Marshall Leahy 1287: 1284: 1259:Denver Broncos 1255:Original Eight 1244:Marlin Briscoe 1196:Houston Oilers 1177: 1174: 1169:Dumont Network 1157:Tommy McDonald 1151:' quarterback 1103: 1100: 1099: 1098: 1091:Silicon Valley 1079: 1060: 1007:, quarterback 988: 985: 944: 941: 887: 884: 880:Cleveland Rams 790:Heisman Trophy 776: 773: 744: 741: 696: 693: 667: 664: 628:George Parratt 587:and naming it 576:Blondy Wallace 541: 538: 455: 452: 450: 447: 420: 417: 362: 359: 336:internationals 283: 280: 270:) and Europe ( 266:Though Japan ( 240:arena football 197: 194: 127:104th Grey Cup 117: 116: 31: 29: 22: 15: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 3446: 3435: 3432: 3430: 3427: 3425: 3422: 3421: 3419: 3404: 3401: 3399: 3396: 3394: 3391: 3389: 3386: 3384: 3381: 3379: 3376: 3374: 3371: 3369: 3366: 3364: 3361: 3359: 3356: 3354: 3351: 3347: 3344: 3343: 3342: 3339: 3337: 3334: 3332: 3329: 3327: 3324: 3322: 3321:Coaching tree 3319: 3317: 3314: 3312: 3309: 3308: 3306: 3302: 3296: 3293: 3291: 3288: 3286: 3283: 3281: 3278: 3275: 3271: 3267: 3264: 3263: 3261: 3257: 3251: 3248: 3246: 3243: 3241: 3238: 3236: 3233: 3231: 3228: 3227: 3225: 3221: 3215: 3212: 3210: 3207: 3205: 3202: 3200: 3197: 3195: 3194:Total offense 3192: 3190: 3187: 3185: 3182: 3180: 3177: 3175: 3172: 3170: 3167: 3165: 3162: 3160: 3159:Passer rating 3157: 3155: 3154:Passing yards 3152: 3150: 3149:Rushing yards 3147: 3145: 3142: 3140: 3137: 3136: 3134: 3130: 3124: 3121: 3119: 3116: 3114: 3111: 3109: 3106: 3102: 3099: 3097: 3094: 3092: 3089: 3088: 3086: 3084: 3081: 3079: 3076: 3074: 3071: 3070: 3068: 3066: 3062: 3056: 3053: 3051: 3048: 3046: 3045:Three-and-out 3043: 3041: 3038: 3037: 3035: 3033: 3029: 3023: 3020: 3018: 3015: 3013: 3010: 3008: 3005: 3003: 3000: 2999: 2997: 2995: 2991: 2983: 2980: 2979: 2978: 2975: 2973: 2970: 2966: 2963: 2962: 2961: 2958: 2956: 2953: 2951: 2948: 2946: 2943: 2941: 2938: 2936: 2933: 2931: 2928: 2926: 2923: 2921: 2918: 2917: 2915: 2913:Ball handling 2911: 2905: 2902: 2900: 2897: 2895: 2892: 2890: 2887: 2885: 2882: 2880: 2877: 2876: 2874: 2870: 2860: 2857: 2855: 2852: 2850: 2847: 2845: 2842: 2840: 2839:Coffin corner 2837: 2835: 2832: 2830: 2827: 2825: 2822: 2820: 2817: 2816: 2814: 2810: 2804: 2801: 2799: 2796: 2792: 2789: 2787: 2784: 2782: 2779: 2777: 2774: 2773: 2772: 2769: 2768: 2766: 2762: 2759: 2757: 2753: 2747: 2746:International 2744: 2742: 2739: 2737: 2734: 2732: 2729: 2725: 2722: 2720: 2717: 2716: 2715: 2712: 2708: 2705: 2703: 2700: 2699: 2698: 2695: 2691: 2688: 2686: 2683: 2682: 2681:Youth/midget 2680: 2679: 2677: 2673: 2667: 2664: 2662: 2659: 2657: 2654: 2652: 2649: 2647: 2644: 2642: 2639: 2637: 2634: 2632: 2629: 2627: 2624: 2622: 2619: 2615: 2612: 2610: 2607: 2605: 2602: 2601: 2600: 2597: 2595: 2592: 2588: 2585: 2581: 2578: 2576: 2573: 2572: 2571: 2568: 2566: 2563: 2562: 2561: 2558: 2557: 2555: 2551: 2546: 2539: 2534: 2532: 2527: 2525: 2520: 2519: 2516: 2510: 2507: 2506: 2502: 2493: 2487: 2484: 2479: 2475: 2470: 2465: 2461: 2457: 2453: 2449: 2445: 2438: 2435: 2430: 2424: 2421: 2416: 2412: 2408: 2404: 2400: 2396: 2393:(3): 753–60. 2392: 2388: 2384: 2377: 2374: 2369: 2363: 2360: 2348: 2344: 2338: 2335: 2324: 2320: 2314: 2311: 2306: 2300: 2297: 2292: 2291: 2286: 2280: 2277: 2270: 2265: 2264: 2259: 2256: 2255: 2251: 2247: 2244: 2242: 2239: 2238: 2234: 2232: 2229: 2227: 2223: 2219: 2215: 2211: 2203: 2201: 2199: 2195: 2190: 2188: 2184: 2180: 2176: 2172: 2168: 2163: 2161: 2157: 2153: 2148: 2144: 2140: 2137:known as the 2136: 2132: 2126: 2124: 2120: 2116: 2112: 2108: 2104: 2100: 2096: 2092: 2087: 2083: 2079: 2074: 2071: 2067: 2063: 2058: 2056: 2050: 2048: 2044: 2040: 2036: 2032: 2028: 2023: 2021: 2017: 2013: 2006: 2002: 1994: 1992: 1990: 1986: 1982: 1977: 1973: 1969: 1968:Vince McMahon 1965: 1961: 1956: 1954: 1950: 1946: 1942: 1938: 1934: 1930: 1925: 1923: 1919: 1915: 1911: 1907: 1902: 1894: 1892: 1890: 1884: 1881: 1877: 1872: 1870: 1866: 1865:Buffalo Bills 1862: 1858: 1853: 1851: 1850:Roger Goodell 1847: 1839: 1837: 1835: 1831: 1827: 1823: 1818: 1816: 1812: 1807: 1803: 1799: 1796:as well as a 1795: 1790: 1788: 1784: 1779: 1777: 1773: 1768: 1766: 1762: 1756: 1754: 1749: 1745: 1741: 1737: 1733: 1728: 1726: 1717: 1715: 1713: 1709: 1705: 1701: 1697: 1693: 1689: 1684: 1682: 1678: 1674: 1670: 1662: 1660: 1658: 1654: 1650: 1649:Doug Williams 1646: 1642: 1636: 1634: 1629: 1625: 1620: 1618: 1613: 1605: 1603: 1601: 1597: 1592: 1590: 1586: 1582: 1576: 1573: 1569: 1561: 1559: 1557: 1552: 1550: 1546: 1542: 1538: 1534: 1529: 1527: 1523: 1519: 1515: 1510: 1506: 1500: 1498: 1494: 1490: 1489: 1483: 1481: 1477: 1473: 1469: 1461: 1459: 1457: 1453: 1449: 1445: 1441: 1437: 1433: 1429: 1425: 1424:Buffalo Bills 1421: 1417: 1413: 1409: 1405: 1397: 1395: 1393: 1389: 1384: 1378: 1376: 1372: 1368: 1364: 1360: 1359:Chicago Bears 1356: 1352: 1349:and halfback 1348: 1344: 1340: 1336: 1332: 1328: 1324: 1320: 1319:Dallas Texans 1316: 1311: 1309: 1305: 1301: 1297: 1293: 1285: 1283: 1279: 1276: 1272: 1268: 1264: 1260: 1256: 1251: 1247: 1245: 1241: 1240:Willie Lanier 1237: 1233: 1232:Buck Buchanan 1229: 1225: 1221: 1220:Buffalo Bills 1217: 1213: 1209: 1205: 1201: 1197: 1193: 1188: 1184: 1175: 1173: 1170: 1166: 1162: 1161:Johnny Unitas 1158: 1155:and receiver 1154: 1150: 1146: 1142: 1141:Frank Gifford 1137: 1134:defeated the 1133: 1129: 1124: 1119: 1117: 1113: 1112:Four Horsemen 1109: 1101: 1096: 1093:community of 1092: 1088: 1087:a new stadium 1084: 1080: 1077: 1073: 1069: 1065: 1061: 1058: 1054: 1053: 1052: 1049: 1046: 1045:Buffalo Bills 1040: 1036: 1034: 1030: 1026: 1022: 1018: 1014: 1010: 1006: 1005:Marion Motley 1002: 998: 994: 986: 984: 982: 978: 974: 970: 966: 962: 957: 954: 950: 942: 940: 937: 932: 930: 926: 922: 918: 914: 909: 905: 901: 897: 893: 885: 883: 881: 877: 873: 868: 866: 862: 858: 854: 850: 845: 843: 839: 835: 831: 827: 826:Cliff Battles 823: 822:Clarke Hinkle 820:(Giants) and 819: 818:Tuffy Leemans 815: 811: 807: 803: 802:Chicago Bears 799: 795: 794:Jay Berwanger 791: 787: 783: 774: 772: 770: 766: 762: 758: 754: 753:Chicago Bulls 750: 742: 740: 738: 734: 733:Boston Braves 730: 724: 722: 718: 714: 710: 706: 705:Ironton Tanks 702: 694: 692: 690: 686: 682: 678: 674: 665: 663: 661: 656: 652: 648: 644: 640: 636: 631: 629: 625: 621: 617: 613: 609: 605: 601: 596: 594: 590: 586: 582: 577: 573: 569: 565: 559: 556: 552: 547: 539: 537: 535: 531: 526: 523: 519: 516: 512: 508: 504: 500: 496: 495:John Brallier 492: 488: 484: 479: 477: 473: 469: 465: 461: 453: 448: 446: 444: 440: 436: 431: 426: 418: 416: 413: 411: 407: 403: 398: 396: 392: 387: 385: 381: 377: 373: 367: 360: 358: 356: 352: 348: 343: 341: 337: 333: 327: 325: 319: 317: 313: 310: 306: 302: 298: 294: 290: 281: 279: 277: 273: 269: 264: 260: 258: 254: 250: 245: 241: 237: 233: 229: 227: 222: 218: 213: 211: 207: 203: 195: 193: 191: 188: 184: 179: 177: 174: 170: 166: 162: 158: 154: 150: 147: 143: 139: 132: 128: 123: 113: 110: 102: 91: 88: 84: 81: 77: 74: 70: 67: 63: 60: – 59: 55: 54:Find sources: 48: 44: 38: 37: 32:This article 30: 26: 21: 20: 3398:Trading card 3290:Penalty flag 3250:Film session 3189:Return yards 3123:Garbage time 3118:Untimed play 3007:Interception 2925:Forward pass 2834:Neutral zone 2736:Professional 2735: 2486: 2451: 2447: 2437: 2423: 2390: 2386: 2376: 2362: 2351:. Retrieved 2349:. 2020-03-31 2346: 2337: 2326:. Retrieved 2322: 2313: 2299: 2288: 2279: 2261: 2258:March, Harry 2230: 2207: 2191: 2164: 2127: 2119:Rough Riders 2075: 2059: 2054: 2051: 2029:(ORFU), the 2024: 2016:forward pass 2008: 1960:Dick Ebersol 1957: 1926: 1898: 1885: 1873: 1867:began their 1854: 1843: 1822:dot-com boom 1819: 1791: 1787:RAS syndrome 1780: 1769: 1757: 1729: 1721: 1685: 1666: 1653:Bobby Hebert 1637: 1624:Donald Trump 1621: 1609: 1593: 1585:Pete Rozelle 1577: 1565: 1553: 1530: 1528:experience. 1525: 1501: 1486: 1484: 1465: 1448:Jim Corcoran 1401: 1379: 1351:Paul Hornung 1312: 1300:Pete Rozelle 1289: 1280: 1252: 1248: 1246:, Broncos). 1200:Billy Cannon 1179: 1120: 1108:Elmer Layden 1105: 1050: 1041: 1037: 1033:Y. A. Tittle 1015:, while the 990: 981:minor league 979:, the first 973:Dixie League 969:black talent 958: 946: 933: 929:Bill Fleming 917:Harry Newman 889: 878:, while the 869: 853:Ebbets Field 846: 778: 746: 725: 698: 677:Polo Grounds 669: 660:Barnstorming 632: 597: 568:Rube Waddell 560: 543: 527: 521: 518:major league 514: 480: 468:Olympic Club 457: 443:forward pass 422: 414: 399: 388: 368: 364: 361:Broadcasting 344: 339: 335: 328: 320: 285: 265: 261: 230: 214: 206:minor league 199: 196:Organization 187:highest paid 180: 137: 135: 105: 96: 86: 79: 72: 65: 53: 41:Please help 36:verification 33: 3403:Twelfth man 3336:Football IQ 3326:Concussions 3259:Officiating 3012:Muffed punt 2982:Onside kick 2697:High school 2047:1958 season 1981:Dany Garcia 1876:NFL Network 1804:: in 1994, 1794:free agency 1657:Doug Flutie 1641:Steve Young 1428:Ken Stabler 1355:Gale Sayers 1353:; halfback 1345:, fullback 1267:Kansas City 1212:Sid Gillman 1165:Lenny Moore 1095:Santa Clara 1072:1996 season 1011:and kicker 1009:Otto Graham 908:Sid Gillman 840:as part of 814:Sid Luckman 782:entry draft 735:, owned by 612:Ohio League 589:"New York." 476:works teams 347:rugby union 219:, with the 3418:Categories 3341:Formations 3280:Chain crew 3235:Two-a-days 3144:Completion 3132:Statistics 3065:Play clock 3040:First down 2894:Field goal 2776:Hash marks 2771:Yard lines 2685:Pop Warner 2661:Wheelchair 2656:Powderpuff 2353:2022-10-12 2328:2020-08-12 2271:References 2109:(owned by 1999:See also: 1798:salary cap 1783:NFL Europe 1347:Jim Taylor 1343:Bart Starr 1275:Super Bowl 1204:Hank Stram 1183:Lamar Hunt 1070:, for the 997:Paul Brown 921:Bill Moore 902:. Future 769:Red Grange 681:Akron Pros 635:Jim Thorpe 435:hash marks 395:CFL on TSN 338:(formerly 312:bowl games 208:system or 99:April 2019 69:newspapers 3393:Tuck rule 3373:Positions 3353:Letterman 3331:Equipment 3169:Reception 3055:Dead ball 2994:Turnovers 2972:Drop kick 2965:Touchback 2879:Touchdown 2829:Dead zone 2791:Sidelines 2786:Goal line 2319:"History" 2111:Jeff Hunt 2020:drop kick 1937:preseason 1736:St. Louis 1732:Baltimore 1645:Jim Kelly 1509:John Hadl 1499:in 2006. 1440:Sam Wyche 1432:Don Jonas 1363:Bob Hayes 1335:Jim Brown 1294:in 1959, 1292:Bert Bell 1224:Lou Saban 1187:Bud Adams 1116:Bert Bell 1013:Lou Groza 865:Skip Walz 847:In 1939, 844:in 1940. 620:blue laws 307:into the 181:The best 3383:Strategy 3363:Overtime 3316:Blocking 3274:Canadian 3270:American 3266:Official 3223:Practice 2950:Hand-off 2824:Red zone 2819:End zone 2781:End line 2731:Semi-pro 2614:Glossary 2599:Canadian 2565:Glossary 2560:American 2547:concepts 2478:31245431 2415:21829142 2407:26786902 2347:ESPN.com 2235:See also 2204:Injuries 2082:Montréal 2039:Grey Cup 1581:Al Davis 1570:and the 1554:Also in 1522:Jim Otto 1097:in 2014. 1083:Bay Area 1023:and the 919:and end 859:and the 838:Steelers 515:de facto 472:semi-pro 439:overtime 268:X-League 190:athletes 176:X-League 146:Canadian 142:American 3304:Related 3285:Penalty 3073:Timeout 2977:Kickoff 2930:Lateral 2872:Scoring 2741:Women's 2714:College 2702:Varsity 2570:History 2469:6582304 2156:Moncton 2135:Halifax 1922:webcast 1815:DirecTV 1740:Memphis 1357:of the 1327:Falcons 1147:); the 1089:in the 834:Rooneys 755:to the 751:to the 340:imports 210:pyramid 83:scholar 3101:1 min. 3096:2 min. 3091:3 min. 3002:Fumble 2899:Safety 2859:Pocket 2812:Spaces 2724:Sprint 2580:Modern 2476: 2466: 2413: 2405: 2290:Forbes 2078:Ottawa 1947:, the 1914:Versus 1746:) and 1365:; the 1337:; the 1210:) and 999:: the 923:. The 808:, and 649:, and 161:Europe 85: 78: 71: 64: 56: 3368:Plays 3139:Carry 3083:Spike 3078:Kneel 3032:Downs 2764:Lines 2756:Field 2646:Touch 2636:6-man 2631:7-man 2626:8-man 2621:9-man 2594:Arena 2587:Rules 2575:Early 2553:Codes 2454:(6). 2411:S2CID 1918:HDnet 1271:Miami 419:Rules 173:Japan 90:JSTOR 76:books 3346:List 3311:Ball 3184:Sack 2960:Punt 2955:Rush 2920:Snap 2854:Hole 2844:Flat 2719:Club 2641:Flag 2474:PMID 2403:PMID 2185:and 2080:and 2003:and 1983:and 1951:and 1927:The 1916:and 1899:The 1844:The 1702:and 1694:and 1655:and 1610:The 1556:1974 1497:ESPN 1480:1994 1438:and 1185:and 1110:(of 1076:1999 876:1944 874:and 872:1943 671:the 570:and 551:NCAA 522:only 423:The 353:and 274:and 167:and 144:and 62:news 2849:Gap 2690:AYF 2464:PMC 2456:doi 2395:doi 2226:CTE 2214:CFL 2210:NFL 2154:in 2055:did 1834:XFL 1681:AF2 1551:). 1493:ABC 849:NBC 788:'s 391:TSN 45:by 3420:: 3272:, 2472:. 2462:. 2450:. 2446:. 2409:. 2401:. 2391:44 2389:. 2385:. 2345:. 2321:. 2287:. 2260:. 2228:. 2200:. 1955:. 1778:. 1767:. 1755:. 1738:, 1734:, 1659:. 1647:, 1643:, 1520:' 1482:. 1446:, 1434:, 1430:, 1238:, 1222:' 1198:' 1035:. 867:. 804:, 691:. 645:, 349:, 228:. 3276:) 3268:( 2537:e 2530:t 2523:v 2494:. 2480:. 2458:: 2452:7 2431:. 2417:. 2397:: 2356:. 2331:. 2307:. 2293:. 1214:( 1206:( 1143:( 112:) 106:( 101:) 97:( 87:· 80:· 73:· 66:· 39:.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.

Knowledge (XXG)

Professional gridiron football

Index