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- Football Facts Infographics.
- American Football Evolved from Soccer and Rugby. The original game of American Football looked like a mix of soccer and rugby. It involves an oval-shaped ball called a football.
- The First Football Game Was Played in 1869 Between Rutgers and Princeton. Football facts tell us the first football game was played in 1869 between Rutgers and Princeton in New Jersey.
- Football Is the Most Popular Game in the United States. Football might have a short season of just 17 weeks, but that doesn’t stop people from watching in droves, tailgating at arenas and cheering for their favorite teams.
- Today, American football is played in public schools, colleges and the pro circuit where it is a big money earner. Players play the game on a 360-foot by 160-foot field.
- Until 1943, NFL players didn’t need to wear helmets. Due to changing safety standards within contact sports, it was decided that football players had to wear protective gear when playing and practicing.
- College and professional games last 60 minutes, divided into four quarters of 15 minutes. The plays have frequent stops, so a game might last 2.5 to 3 hours or more.
- The first football games were arranged between amateur clubs and college athletic departments, both of which were anxious to get the best players. Athletic clubs began the practice of “rewarding” their best players with gifts and “illegal” remuneration.
- American Football grew out of English sports such as rugby and soccer and became popular on American college campuses in the late 1800s.
- In 1876, a coach named Walter Camp, who is considered the “Father of American Football,” helped produce the first rules of American football. Among important changes were the introduction of line scrimmages and down-and-distance rules.
- The American Professional Football Association was formed in 1920; two years later it changed its name to the National Football League (NFL), which would ultimately become the major league of American football.
- The most watched television event in the United States is the Super Bowl.
Jan 24, 2024 · American Football, a sport deeply rooted in history, holds a special place in the nation’s heart. In this deep-dive of American football history. Learn who invented American Football, how it grew and what makes it popular today!
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- Overview
- History
- Super Bowl results
National Football League (NFL), major U.S. professional gridiron football organization, founded in 1920 in Canton, Ohio, as the American Professional Football Association. Its first president was Jim Thorpe, an outstanding American athlete who was also a player in the league. The present name was adopted in 1922.
The league began play in 1920 and comprised five teams from Ohio (Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Tigers, Columbus Panhandlers, and Dayton Triangles), four teams from Illinois (Chicago Tigers, Decatur Staleys, Racine Cardinals [the Cardinals were based in Chicago but took the name of a local street], and Rock Island Independents), two from Indiana (Hammond Pros and Muncie Flyers), two from New York (Buffalo All-Americans and Rochester Jeffersons), and the Detroit Heralds from Michigan. Of these original franchises, only two remain: the Cardinals left Chicago for St. Louis after the 1959 season and relocated to Arizona in 1988; the Decatur Staleys moved to Chicago in 1921 and a year later changed their name to the Bears.
Britannica Quiz
Sports Firsts Through the Ages Quiz
The NFL survived many years of instability and competition from rival organizations to became the strongest American professional football league. The most serious challenge to its leading role came from the American Football League (AFL) in the 1960s. The NFL and AFL completed a merger in 1970, creating a 26-team circuit under the name of the older NFL. Since then the league has expanded four times, adding six new franchises.
For a more complete history of football and the NFL, see football, gridiron.
The league’s 32 teams are aligned as follows:
Super Bowl results are provided in the table.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Week 16 12/27/2020. How do you rate an NFL team across decades of play? One method is Elo, a simple measure of strength based on game-by-game results. We calculated Elo ratings for every game in...
Arizona Cardinals. Los Angeles Rams. San Francisco 49ers. Seattle Seahawks. Take a look at NFL teams’ histories, key facts, statistics and more.
