Fall Asleep Learning About The National Football League

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast,

Where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster,

And today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled National Football League.

The National Football League,

NFL,

Is a professional American football league composed of 32 teams divided equally between the American Football Conference,

AFC,

And the National Football Conference,

NFC.

The NFL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada,

And the highest professional level of American football in the world.

Each NFL season begins annually,

With a three-week preseason in August,

Followed by the 18-week regular season,

Which runs from early September to early January,

With each team playing 17 games and having one bye week.

Following the conclusion of the regular season,

Seven teams from each conference,

Including four division winners and three wildcard teams,

Advance to the playoffs,

A single-elimination tournament,

Which culminates in the Super Bowl,

Played in early February between the winners of the AFC and NFC championship games.

The NFL was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association,

Before renaming itself to the National Football League for the 1922 season.

After initially determining champions through end-of-season standings,

A playoff system was implemented in 1933 that culminated with the NFL championship game until 1966.

Following an agreement to merge the NFL with the rival American Football League,

AFL,

The Super Bowl was first held in 1967 to determine the champion between the best teams from the two leagues,

And has remained as the final game of each NFL season since the merger was completed in 1970.

The NFL is the wealthiest professional sports league in the world by revenue,

And the sports league with the most valuable teams.

The NFL also has the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world,

And is the most popular sports league in the United States.

The Super Bowl is also among the most-watched sporting events in the world,

With individual games accounting for many of the most-watched television programs in American history,

And all occupying the top five of Nielsen's all-time most-watched U.

S.

Television broadcasts by 2015.

The NFL is headquartered in midtown Manhattan.

The Green Bay Packers hold the most combined NFL championships with 13,

Winning nine titles before the Super Bowl era and four Super Bowls afterwards.

Since the creation of the Super Bowl,

The New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers are tied for the most Super Bowl victories at six each.

The reigning league champions are the Kansas City Chiefs.

On August 20,

1920,

A meeting was held by representatives of the Akron Pros,

Canton Bulldogs,

Cleveland Indians,

And Dayton Triangles at the Jordan and Hupmobile Auto Showroom in Canton,

Ohio.

This meeting resulted in the formation of the American Professional Conference,

A group who,

According to the Canton Evening Repository,

Intended to raise the standard of professional football in every way possible,

To eliminate bidding for players between rival clubs,

And to secure cooperation in the formation of schedules.

A second meeting was held on September 17,

1920,

With representatives from teams within four states—Akron,

Canton,

Cleveland,

And Dayton from Ohio,

The Hammond Pros and Muncie Flyers from Indiana,

The Rochester Jeffersons from New York,

And the Rock Island Independents,

Decatur Stalys,

And Racine Chicago Cardinals from Illinois.

The league was renamed the American Professional Football Association.

The league elected Jim Thorpe as its first president and consisted of 14 teams.

The Buffalo All-Americans,

Chicago Tigers,

Columbus Panhandles,

And Detroit Heralds joined the league during the year.

The Massillon Tigers from Massillon,

Ohio,

Was also at the September 17 meeting,

But did not field a team in 1920.

Only two of these teams—the Decatur Stalys,

Now the Chicago Bears,

And the Chicago Cardinals,

Now the Arizona Cardinals—remain in the NFL.

Although the league did not maintain official standings for its 1920 inaugural season,

And teams played schedules that included non-league opponents,

The APFA awarded the Akron Pros the championship by virtue of their 8-0-3 record.

The first event occurred on September 26,

1920,

When the Rock Island Independents defeated the non-league St.

Paul Ideals 48-0 at Douglas Park.

On October 3,

1920,

The first full week of league play occurred.

The following season resulted in the Chicago Stalys controversially winning the title over the Buffalo All-Americans.

On June 24,

1922,

The APFA changed its name to the National Football League,

NFL.

In 1932,

The season ended with the Chicago Bears,

6-1-6,

And the Portsmouth Spartans,

6-1-4,

Tied for first in the league standings.

At the time,

Teams were ranked on a single table,

And the team with the highest winning percentage—not including ties,

Which were not counted towards the standings—at the end of the season was declared the champion.

The only tiebreaker was that in the event of a tie if two teams played twice in a season.

The result of the second game determined the title,

The source of the 1921 controversy.

This method had been used since the league's creation in 1920,

But no situation had been encountered where two teams were tied for first.

The league quickly determined that a playoff game between Chicago and Portsmouth was needed to decide the league's championship.

The teams were originally scheduled to play the playoff game,

Officially a regular season game that would count towards the regular season standings at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

But a combination of heavy snow and extreme cold forced the game to be moved indoors to Chicago Stadium.

Which did not have a regulation-sized football field.

Playing with altered rules to accommodate the smaller playing field,

The Bears won the game 9-0,

And thus won the championship.

Fan interest in the de facto championship game led the NFL,

Beginning in 1933,

To split into two divisions,

With a championship game to be played between the division champions.

The NFL was also the largest professional football league in the United States.

It nevertheless faced numerous rival professional leagues throughout the 1930s and 1940s.

Rival leagues included at least three separate American football leagues and the All-America Football Conference,

AAFC,

On top of various region leagues of varying caliber.

Three NFL teams traced their histories to these rival leagues.

The Los Angeles Rams,

Who came from a 1936 iteration of the American Football League,

And the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers,

Both from the AAFC.

By the 1950s,

The NFL had an effective monopoly on professional football in the United States.

Its only competition in North America was the professional Canadian football circuit,

Which formally became the Canadian Football League,

CFL,

In 1958.

With Canadian football being a different football code than the American game,

The CFL established a niche market in Canada and still survives as an independent league.

A new professional league,

The 4th American Football League,

AFL,

Began to play in 1960.

The upstart AFL began to challenge the established NFL in popularity,

Gaining lucrative television contracts and engaging in a bidding war with the NFL for free agents and draft picks.

The two leagues announced a merger on June 8,

1966,

To take full effect in 1970.

In the meantime,

The leagues would hold a common draft and championship game.

The game,

The Super Bowl,

Was held four times before the merger,

With the NFL winning Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II and the AFL winning Super Bowl III and Super Bowl IV.

After the league merged,

It was reorganized into two conferences,

The National Football Conference,

NFC,

Consisting of most of the pre-merger NFL teams,

And the American Football Conference,

AFC,

Consisting of all the AFL teams as well as three pre-merger NFL teams.

Today,

The NFL is the most popular sports league in North America,

With much of the league's growth and popularity attributable to former commissioner Pete Rizal,

Who led the league from 1960 to 1989.

Overall,

Annual attendance increased from 3 million at the beginning of his tenure to 17 million by the end of his tenure,

And 400 million global viewers watched 1989's Super Bowl XXIII.

The NFL established NFL Properties in 1963.

The league's licensing wing,

NFL Properties,

Earns the league billions of dollars annually.

Rizal's tenure also marked the creation of NFL Charities and a national partnership with United Way.

Paul Tagliabue was elected as commissioner to succeed Rizal.

His 17-year tenure,

Which ended in 2006,

Was marked by large increases in television contracts and the addition of four expansion teams,

As well as the introduction of league initiatives to increase the number of minorities in league and team management roles.

The league's current commissioner,

Roger Goodall,

Has focused on reducing the number of illegal hits and making the sport safer,

Mainly through fining or suspending players who break rules.

These actions are among many the NFL is taking to reduce concussions and improve player safety.

From 1920 to 1934,

The NFL did not have a set number of games for teams to play,

Instead setting a minimum.

The league mandated a 12-game regular season for each team beginning in 1935,

Later shortening this to 11 games in 1937 and 10 games in 1943,

Mainly due to World War II.

After the war ended,

The number of games returned to 11 games in 1946,

And later back to 12 in 1947.

The NFL went to a 14-game schedule in 1961,

Which it retained until switching to a 16-game schedule in 1978.

In March 2021,

The NFL officially adopted a 17-game schedule after gaining the agreement of the National Football League Players Association.

Having an odd number of games in the schedule will give half the teams 9 games as the home team,

While half the teams have only 8 home games.

To minimize the perceived benefit on competition of having more home games,

The extra home game will be rotated between the two conferences each year.

This is because playoff berths are allocated at the conference level,

So all teams within the conference will have played the same number of home games.

The NFL operated in a two-conference system from 1933 to 1966.

The champions of each conference would meet in the NFL championship game.

If two teams tied for the conference lead,

They would meet in a one-game playoff to determine the conference champion.

In 1967,

The NFL expanded from 15 teams to 16 teams.

Instead of just evening out the conferences by adding the expansion New Orleans Saints to the seven-member Western Conference,

The NFL realigned the conferences and split each into two four-team divisions.

The four division champions would meet in the NFL playoffs,

A two-round playoff.

The NFL also operated the playoff bowl,

Officially the Burt Bell Benefit Bowl,

From 1960 to 1969.

Effectively a third-place game pitting the two conference runners-up against each other,

The league considers playoff bowls to have been exhibitions rather than playoff games.

The league discontinued the playoff bowl in 1970 due to its perception as a game for losers.

Following the addition of the former AFL teams into the NFL in 1970,

The NFL split into two conferences with three divisions each.

The expanded league,

Now with 26 teams,

Would also feature an expanded eight-team playoff,

The participants being the three division champions from each conference,

As well as one wildcard team,

The team with the best win percentage that did not win its division from each conference.

In 1978,

The league added a second wildcard team from each conference,

Bringing the total number of playoff teams to 10,

And a further two wildcard teams were added in 1990 to bring the total to 12.

When the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002,

The league realigned,

Changing the division structure from three divisions,

Changing the division structure from three divisions in each conference,

To four divisions in each conference.

As each division champion gets a playoff bid,

The number of wildcard teams from each conference dropped from three to two.

The playoffs expanded again in 2020,

Adding two more wildcard teams to bring the total to 14 playoff teams.

The NFL consists of 32 teams divided into two conferences of 16 games each.

Each conference is divided into four divisions of four teams each.

During the regular season,

Each team is allowed a maximum of 55 players on its roster.

Only 48 of these may be active or eligible to play on game days.

Each team can also have a 16-player practice squad separate from its main roster.

Each NFL club is granted a franchise,

The league's authorization for the team to operate in its home city.

This franchise covers home territory,

The 75 miles surrounding the city limits,

Or if a team is within 100 miles of another league city,

Half the distance between the two cities,

And home marketing area,

Home territory plus the rest of the state the club operates in,

As well as the area the team operates its training camp in for the duration of the camp.

Each NFL member has the exclusive right to host professional football games inside its home territory and the exclusive right to advertise,

Promote,

And host events in its home marketing area.

There are a couple of exceptions to this rule,

Mostly relating to teams with close proximity to each other,

Teams that operate in the same city,

E.

G.

New York City and Los Angeles,

Or the same state,

E.

G.

California,

Florida,

And Texas,

Share the rights to the city's home territory and the state's home marketing area,

Respectively.

According to Forbes,

The Dallas Cowboys,

At approximately $8 billion,

Are the most valuable NFL franchise and the most valuable sports team in the world.

26 of the 32 NFL teams rank among the top 50 most valuable sports teams in the world,

And 16 of the NFL's owners are listed in the Forbes 400,

The most of any sports league or organization.

At the corporate level,

The National Football League considers itself a trade association made up of and financed by its 32 member teams.

Up until 2015,

The league was an unincorporated non-profit 501c6 association.

Section 501c6 of the Internal Revenue Code provides an exemption from federal income taxation for business leagues,

Chambers of commerce,

Real estate boards,

Boards of trade,

Or professional football leagues,

Whether or not administering a pension fund for football players,

Not organized for profit,

And no part of the net earnings of which in yours to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.

In contrast,

Each individual team,

With the exception of the non-profit Green Bay Packers,

Is subject to tax because they make a profit.

In 2015,

The NFL gave up its tax-exempt status following public criticism.

In a letter to the club owners,

Commissioner Roger Goodell labeled it a distraction,

Saying the effects of the tax-exempt status of the league office have been mischaracterized repeatedly in recent years.

Every dollar of income generated through television rights fees,

Licensing agreements,

Sponsorships,

Ticket sales,

And other means is earned by the 32 clubs and is taxable there.

This will remain the case even when the league office and management council file returns as taxable entities,

And the change in filing status will make no material difference to our business.

As a result,

The league office might owe around $10 million in income taxes,

But it is no longer required to disclose the salaries of its executive officers.

The league has three defined officers,

The Commissioner,

Secretary,

And Treasurer.

Each conference has one defined officer,

The President,

Which is essentially an honorary position with few powers and mostly ceremonial duties,

Including awarding the conference championship trophy.

The Commissioner is elected by the affirmative vote of two-thirds,

Or 18,

Whichever is greater,

Of the members of the league,

While the President of each conference is elected by an affirmative vote of three-fourths,

Or 10 of the conference members.

The Commissioner appoints the Secretary and Treasurer and has broad authority in disputes between clubs,

Players,

Coaches,

And employees.

He is the principal executive officer of the NFL and also has authority in hiring league employees,

Negotiating television contracts,

Disciplining individuals that own part or all of an NFL team,

Clubs,

Or employed individuals of an NFL club,

If they have violated league bylaws or committed conduct detrimental to the welfare of the league or professional football.

The Commissioner can,

In the event of misconduct by a party associated with the league,

Suspend individuals,

Hand down a fine of up to $500,

000,

Cancel contracts with the league,

And award or strip teams of draft picks.

In extreme cases,

The Commissioners can offer recommendations to the NFL's Executive Committee up to and including the cancellation or forfeiture of a club's franchise or any other action he deems necessary.

The Commissioner can also issue sanctions up to and including a lifetime ban from the league if an individual connected to the NFL has bet on games or failed to notify the league of conspiracies or plans to bet on or fix games.

The current Commissioner of the National Football League is Roger Goodell,

Who was elected in 2006 after Paul Tagliabue,

The previous Commissioner,

Retired.

The NFL season format consists of a three-week preseason,

An 18-week regular season each team plays 17 games,

And a 14-team single-elimination playoff culminating in the Super Bowl,

The league's championship game.

The NFL preseason begins with the Pro Football Hall of Fame game played at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton.

Each NFL team is required to schedule three preseason games.

NFC teams must play at least two of these at home in odd-numbered years,

And AFC teams must play at least two at home in even-numbered years.

However,

The teams involved in the Hall of Fame game,

As well as any team that played in an American Bowl game,

Play four preseason games.

Preseason games are exhibition matches and do not count towards regular season totals.

Because the preseason does not count towards standings,

Teams generally do not focus on winning games.

Instead,

They are used by coaches to evaluate their teams and by players to show their performance,

Both to their current team and to other teams if they get cut.

The quality of preseason games has been criticized by some fans,

Who dislike having to pay full price for exhibition games,

As well as by some players and coaches,

Who dislike the risk of injury the games have,

While others have felt the preseason is a necessary part of the NFL season.

Currently,

The 14 opponents each team faces over the 17-game regular season schedule are set using a predetermined formula.

The league runs an 18-week,

272-game regular season.

Since 2021,

The season has begun the week after Labor Day,

The first Monday in September,

And concluded the week after New Year.

The opening game of the season is normally a home game on a Thursday for the league's defending champion.

Most NFL games are played on Sundays,

With a Monday night game typically held at least once a week and Thursday night games occurring on most weeks as well.

NFL games are not normally played on Fridays or Saturdays until late in the regular season,

As federal law prohibits professional football leagues from competing with college or high school football.

Because high school and college teams typically play games on Friday and Saturday respectively,

The NFL cannot hold games on those days until the Friday before the third Saturday in December.

While Saturday games late in the season are common,

The league rarely holds Friday games,

The most recent one being on Christmas Day in 2020.

NFL games are rarely scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday,

And those days have only been used three times since 1948.

In 2010,

When a Sunday game was rescheduled to Tuesday due to a blizzard.

In 2012,

When the kickoff game was moved from Thursday to Wednesday to avoid conflict with the Democratic National Convention.

And in 2020,

When the game was postponed from Sunday to Tuesday due to players testing positive for COVID-19.

NFL regular season matchups are determined according to a scheduling formula.

Within a division,

All four teams play 14 out of their 17 games against common opponents,

Or each other.

Two games,

Home and away,

Are played against the other three teams in the division,

While one game is held against all the members of a division from the NFC,

And a division from the AFC is determined by a rotating cycle.

Three years for the conference the team is in,

And four years in the conference they are not in.

Two of the other games are intra-conference games,

Determined by the standings of the previous year.

For example,

If a team finishes first in its division,

It will play two other first-place teams in its conference,

While a team that finishes last would play two other last-place teams in the conference.

The final game is an inter-conference based on a rotating cycle,

And determined by previous season's standings.

In total,

Each team plays 17 games and has one bye week where it does not play a game.

Although a team's home and away opponents are known by the end of the previous year's regular season,

The exact dates and times for NFL games are not determined until much later because the league has to account for,

Among other things,

The Major League Baseball postseason and local events that could pose a scheduling conflict with NFL games.

During the 2010 season,

Over 500,

000 potential schedules were created by computers,

5,

000 of which were considered playable schedules,

And were reviewed by the NFL's scheduling team.

After arriving at what they felt was the best schedule out of the group,

Nearly 50 more potential schedules were developed to try to ensure that the chosen schedule would be the best possible one.

Following the conclusion of the regular season,

The NFL playoffs,

A 14-team single-elimination tournament,

Is then held.

Seven teams are selected from each conference.

The winners of each of the four divisions,

As well as three wildcard teams,

The three remaining teams with the best overall record,

With tiebreakers in the event of two or more teams having the same record.

These teams are seeded according to overall record and tiebreakers,

With the division champions always ranking higher than the wildcard teams.

The top team,

Seeded one from each conference,

Are awarded a bye week,

While the remaining six teams,

Seeded two through seven from each conference,

Compete in the first round of the playoffs,

The wildcard round,

With the two-seed competing against the seven-seed,

The three-seed competing against the six-seed,

And the four-seed competing against the five-seed.

The winners of the wildcard round advance to the division round,

Which matches the lower-seeded team against the one-seed and the two remaining teams against each other.

The winners of those games then compete in the conference championships,

With the higher-remaining seed hosting the lower-remaining seed.

The AFC and NFC championships then compete in the Super Bowl to determine the league champion.

The only other postseason event hosted by the NFL is the Pro Bowl,

The league's all-star game.

Since 2009,

The Pro Bowl has been held the week before the Super Bowl.

In previous years,

The game was held the week following the Super Bowl,

But in an effort to boost ratings,

The game was moved to the week before.

Because of this,

Players from the teams participating in the Super Bowl are exempt from participating in the game.

The Pro Bowl is not considered as competitive as a regular season game,

Because the biggest concern of teams is to avoid injuries to the players.

The National Football League has used three different trophies to honor its champion over its existence.

The first trophy,

The Brunswick Bulk Colander Cup,

Was donated to the NFL in 1920 by the Brunswick Bulk Colander Corporation.

The trophy,

The appearance of which is only known by its description as a silver-loving cup,

Was intended to be a traveling trophy and not to become permanent until a team had won at least three titles.

The league awarded it to the Akron Pros,

Champions of the inaugural 1920 season.

However,

The trophy was discontinued and its current whereabouts are unknown.

A second trophy,

The Ed Thorpe Memorial Trophy,

Was issued by the NFL from 1934 to 1967.

The trophy's namesake,

Ed Thorpe,

Was a referee in the league and a friend to many early league owners.

Upon his death in 1934,

The league created the trophy to honor him.

In addition to the main trophy,

Which would be in the possession of the current league champion,

The league issued a smaller replica trophy to each champion,

Who would maintain permanent control over it.

The current location of the Ed Thorpe Memorial Trophy,

Long thought to be lost,

Is believed to be possessed by the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame.

The current trophy of the NFL is the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

The Super Bowl trophy was officially renamed in 1970 after Vince Lombardi,

Who,

As head coach,

Led the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowls.

Unlike the previous trophies,

A new Vince Lombardi trophy is issued to each year's champion,

Who maintains permanent control of it.

Lombardi trophies are made by Tiffany & Co.

Out of sterling silver and are worth anywhere from $25,

000 to $300,

000.

Additionally,

Each player on the winning team,

As well as coaches and personnel,

Are awarded Super Bowl rings to commemorate their victory.

The winning team chooses the company that makes the rings.

Each ring design varies,

With the NFL mandating certain ring specifications,

Which have a degree of room for deviation,

In addition to requiring the Super Bowl logo be on at least one side of the ring.

The losing team are also awarded rings,

Which must be no more than half as valuable as the winner's rings,

But those are almost never worn.

The conference champions receive trophies for their achievement.

The champions of the NFC receive the George Hallis Trophy,

Named after Chicago Bears founder George Hallis,

Who is also considered one of the co-founders of the NFL.

The AFC champions receive the Lamar Hunt Trophy,

Named after Lamar Hunt,

The founder of the Kansas City Chiefs and the principal founder of the American Football League.

Players on the winning team also receive a conference championship ring.