National Football League

"NFL" redirects here. For other uses, see NFL (disambiguation).

For other uses of "National Football League", see National Football League (disambiguation).

National Football League

File:NationalFootballLeague.png
Sport	American football
Founded	1920
No. of teams	32
Country	United States
Most recent champion(s)	Pittsburgh Steelers
Official website	NFL.com

The National Football League (NFL) is the largest professional American football league, consisting of thirty-two teams from American cities and regions. The league's teams are divided into two conferences: the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). Each conference is then further divided into four divisions consisting of four teams each, labeled East, West, North, and South. During the league's regular season, each team plays sixteen games over a seventeen-week period consisting of one bye generally from September to January. At the end of each regular season, six teams from each conference play in the NFL playoffs, a twelve-team single-elimination tournament that culminates with the NFL championship, the Super Bowl. This game is held at a pre-selected site which is usually a city that hosts an NFL team. One week later, selected all-star players from both the AFC and NFC meet in the Pro Bowl, currently held in Hawaii.

Formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (it adopted the name National Football League in 1922), the NFL is one of the major professional sports leagues of North America. It also has by far the highest per-game attendance of any domestic professional sports league in the world; its 2005 attendance of 67,593 per game was over 25,000 higher than the 2005-06 per-game attendance of the league in second place, the Bundesliga in German football (soccer).

The NFL's greatest spurt in popularity came in the 1960s and 1970s after the 1958 NFL Championship Game (which went into overtime); and the emergence of the rival American Football League (AFL) (1960-1969), and the NFL's eventual merger with it in 1970. Prior to the 1960s, the most popular version of American football was played collegiately, with many players opting to play in the Canadian Football League after graduation because they were offered larger sums of money and benefits during that era.

Locations of teams in the NFL

States with AFC team (red), NFC team (blue)

Teams

There are 32 NFL clubs. Unlike MLB, the NBA and the NHL, the league has no teams in Canada largely because of the presence of Canadian football, a similar but different code of football than the American version. There are some speculations that with the merger of Rogers Telecomunication and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the Buffalo Bills or some other team in trouble may move to Toronto.

Most major cities in the United States have one NFL franchise, with the exception of the second largest city, Los Angeles, which does not have one either in the city or its metro area. The NFL is able to utilize the possible relocation of a franchise to Los Angeles as a threat, for example when trying to persuade local governments to contribute to the cost of new stadiums for its other franchises. The Washington Redskins are the most lucrative NFL franchise and is the most lucrative sports team of all U.S. professional sports, valued at approximately $1.3 billion.

American Football Conference
Division	Team	Stadium	City/Area
East	Buffalo Bills	Ralph Wilson Stadium	Orchard Park, New York (Buffalo area)
	Miami Dolphins	Dolphin Stadium	Miami Gardens, Florida (Miami area)
	New England Patriots	Gillette Stadium	Foxborough, Massachusetts (Boston area)
	New York Jets	Giants Stadium	East Rutherford, New Jersey (New York City area)
North	Baltimore Ravens	M&T Bank Stadium	Baltimore, Maryland
	Cincinnati Bengals	Paul Brown Stadium	Cincinnati, Ohio
	Cleveland Browns	Cleveland Browns Stadium	Cleveland, Ohio
	Pittsburgh Steelers	Heinz Field	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
South	Houston Texans	Reliant Stadium	Houston, Texas
	Indianapolis Colts	RCA Dome	Indianapolis, Indiana
	Jacksonville Jaguars	ALLTEL Stadium	Jacksonville, Florida
	Tennessee Titans	LP Field	Nashville, Tennessee
West	Denver Broncos	INVESCO Field at Mile High	Denver, Colorado
	Kansas City Chiefs	Arrowhead Stadium	Kansas City, Missouri
	Oakland Raiders	McAfee Coliseum	Oakland, California
	San Diego Chargers	Qualcomm Stadium	San Diego, California
National Football Conference
Division	Team	Stadium	City/Area
East	Dallas Cowboys	Texas Stadium	Irving, Texas (Dallas area)
	New York Giants	Giants Stadium	East Rutherford, New Jersey (New York City area)
	Philadelphia Eagles	Lincoln Financial Field	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
	Washington Redskins	FedEx Field	Landover, Maryland (Washington, D.C. area)
North	Chicago Bears	Soldier Field	Chicago, Illinois
	Detroit Lions	Ford Field	Detroit, Michigan
	Green Bay Packers	Lambeau Field	Green Bay, Wisconsin
	Minnesota Vikings	Metrodome	Minneapolis, Minnesota
South	Atlanta Falcons	Georgia Dome	Atlanta, Georgia
	Carolina Panthers	Bank of America Stadium	Charlotte, North Carolina
	New Orleans Saints	Louisiana Superdome	New Orleans, Louisiana
	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Raymond James Stadium	Tampa, Florida
West	Arizona Cardinals	University of Phoenix Stadium	Glendale, Arizona (Phoenix area)
	St. Louis Rams	Edward Jones Dome	St. Louis, Missouri
	San Francisco 49ers	Monster Park	San Francisco, California
	Seattle Seahawks	Qwest Field	Seattle, Washington

Season structure

As of 2006, The NFL season features:

• A 4 game exhibition season (or preseason) running from late July-late August
• A 16 game regular season running from September to December
• A 12-team playoff tournament in January culminating in the Super Bowl in early February.

Exhibition season

Summers see most NFL teams playing four exhibition games (referred to by the NFL as "preseason games;" the league discourages the use of the term "exhibition game") from early August through early September. Two "featured" preseason games, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game and American Bowl, do not count toward the normal allottment of four games, so the four teams playing in those games each end up playing five exhibition games.

The games are useful for new players that are not used to playing in front of very large crowds. Management often uses the games to evaluate newly signed players. Veteran players will generally play only for about a quarter of each game so they can avoid injury.

Still, pro football is popular enough that many fans are still willing to pay full price for exhibition games so that they may guarantee themselves a seat during the season. This is evidenced by the fact that many teams are sold out on a season ticket basis and have large waiting lists where people are willing to pay a one-time or annual fee for the privilege of remaining on the waiting list.

Although several exhibition games are broadcast nationally, most are broadcast by local television stations. Exhibition games are almost exclusively played at night due to hot summer weather, and are frequently scheduled based on local convenience (e.g. games on the west coast tend to start at 7:00 p.m. PT/10:00 p.m. ET).

Exhibition season controversies

Currently, every NFL team requires their season ticket holders to purchase tickets at full price for two preseason games as a requirement to purchase regular season tickets. Complaints regarding this policy have gone all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but have failed to change the policy. A judgment in 1974 stated: "No fewer than five lawsuits have been instituted from Dallas to New England, each claiming that the respective National Football League (NFL) team had violated the Sherman Act by requiring an individual who wishes to purchase a season ticket for all regular season games to buy, in addition, tickets for one or more exhibition or preseason games."

Additionally, some players, coaches, and journalists object to the 4 week preseason schedule. Players have little incentive to play in the preseason, since they do not get payed extra for these games, and thus are essentially playing them "for free". In spite of this, the risk of injury during the preseason is just as great as during the regular season. Nearly every year, marquee players are lost for the season due to injuries in exhibition games. In spite of these objections, owners continue to endorse the four game preseason, as they are an easy source of revenue, and thus are unlikely to go away in the foreseeable future.

Regular season

The NFL season begins the weekend after Labor Day. Each team plays 16 games during a 17-week period. Traditionally, every game is played on Sunday afternoon with the exception of one game each week being played on Sunday night, and another game being played on Monday night, known as Monday Night Football. For the last few weeks of the regular season (after the NCAA football regular season has concluded), the league typically schedules two or three nationally-televised games on Saturday or Thursday evenings.

In addition, the Dallas Cowboys and the Detroit Lions each traditionally host a game on Thanksgiving Day. Starting in 2006, a third game is scheduled during that same day in primetime.

Currently, each team's 16-game regular season schedule is set using a pre-determined formula:

A sample scheduling grid, with a single team's (the Browns) schedule highlighted. Under this hypothetical schedule, the Browns would play the teams in blue twice and the teams in yellow once, for a total of 16 games

• Each team plays the other three teams in their division twice: once at home, and once on the road (six games).
• Each team plays the four teams from another division within its own conference once on a rotating three-year cycle: two at home, and two on the road (four games).
• Each team plays the four teams from a division in the other conference once on a rotating four-year cycle: two at home, and two on the road (four games).
• Each team plays once against the other teams in its conference that finished in the same place in their own divisions as themselves, not counting the division they were already scheduled to play: one at home, one on the road (two games).

This schedule guarantees that all teams will play in every other team's stadium at least once every eight years. Prior to 2002 (when the league expanded to 32 teams) the league used similar scheduling rubrics, though they were adjusted for the number of teams and divisions. From 1970-1992, and again from 1998-2001, the league did not have equal numbers of teams in every division, which allowed for unbalanced schedules. The only time since the merger that the league has been completely "balanced" has been from 1993-1997 (with 6 divisions of 5 teams each) and since 2002 (with 8 divisions of 4 teams each). Additionally, prior to 2002, teams always played an entire division in the other conference, but not their own; meaning that while an AFC team would be guaranteed to play an NFC team every three years, they could go indefinately without playing every team in their own conference. For example, between 1970 (when the leagues merged) and 2002 (when the current schedule was introduced) the Denver Broncos and the Miami Dolphins played only 6 times; including a stretch (1976-1997) where they met only once in 22 seasons. Under the current system, they are guaranteed to meet at least every third year.

For the 2006 season, the assignments are the following:

Intraconference

• AFC East v. AFC South
• AFC North v. AFC West
• NFC East v. NFC South
• NFC North v. NFC West

Interconference

• AFC East v. NFC North
• AFC North v. NFC South
• AFC South v. NFC East
• AFC West v. NFC West

For the 2007 season, the assignments will be:

Intraconference

• AFC East v. AFC North
• AFC West v. AFC South
• NFC East v. NFC North
• NFC West v. NFC South

Interconference

• AFC East v. NFC East
• AFC North v. NFC West
• AFC South v. NFC South
• AFC West v. NFC North

Regular season games played outside of the U.S.

To date, only one NFL regular season game has been played outside of the U.S., that being the 2005 game between the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers, which was played in Mexico City. In an effort to bring the game to a wider audiance, the league intends to begin playing more games outside of the U.S. beginning in 2007. According to Mark Waller, senior vice president of NFL International, the league intends to schedule a single international game in 2007, though no details have been decided yet as to which teams would play, or what site they would play at. Waller has floated Germany, Mexico, and Canada as possible sites for these games. The longterm plan is to have two international games played every year, on a 16-year rotating schedule that would guarantee that each team would get to play twice over that span: once as the home team and once as the away team.

Regular season history

Number of regular season games
1935-1936	12 games
1937-1942	11 games
1943-1945	10 games
1946	11 games
1947-1960	12 games
1961-1977	14 games
1978-1981	16 games
1982	9 games (strike)
1983-86	16 games
1987	15 games (strike)
1988-present	16 games

In its early years after 1920, the NFL did not have a set schedule, and teams played as few as eight and as many as sixteen games, many against independent professional, college or amateur teams. From 1926 through 1946, they played from eleven to fifteen games per season, depending on the number of teams in the league. From 1947 through 1960, each NFL team played 12 games per season. In 1960, the American Football League began play and introduced a balanced schedule of 14 games per team over a fifteen week season, in which each of the eight teams played each of the other teams twice, with one bye week. Competition from the new league caused the NFL to expand and follow suit with a fourteen-game schedule in 1961. From 1961 through 1977, the NFL schedule consisted of fourteen regular season games played over fourteen weeks. Opening weekend typically was the weekend after Labor Day, or even two weekends after Labor Day. Teams played six, or even seven exhibition games. In 1978, the league changed the schedule to include sixteen regular season games and four exhibition games. From 1978-1989, the sixteen games were played over sixteen weeks.

In 1990, the NFL introduced a bye-week to the schedule. Each team would play sixteen regular season games over seventeen weeks. One week during the season, on a rotating basis, each team would have the weekend off. As a result, opening weekend was moved up to Labor Day weekend. In 1993, the league adjusted the schedule to include two bye weeks per team, and the sixteen games were played over eighteen weeks. In 1994, the schedule was changed back to seventeen weeks.

In 1999, the NFL moved the first week of the season one week later due to the conflict with January 1, 2000. The Year 2000 problem sparked travel concerns for the final week of the season, and playoffs. By moving the season a week later, the NFL hoped to prevent teams traveling complications. Also, with New Year's landing on a Saturday, the NFL didn't want wild card playoff games competing with college bowl games on that day, thus making the decision to move the season back a week easier.

In 2001, the NFL decided to move opening week to the weekend after Labor Day. Television ratings seemed to be sagging due to the holiday, and the stadium crowds were apparently lacking due to vacationing fans and higher average temperatures of early September. In addition, it would leave the three-day holiday weekend alone to the opening weekend of college football, preventing conflicts, and maximizing exposure. In 2002, the NFL began scheduling a Thursday night special opening game, which would be nationally televised. Festivities and a pre-game concert would kick off the season.

Since the 2002 season, the league has scheduled a nationally televised regular season game on the Thursday night prior to the first Sunday of NFL games to kick off the season. The first one, featuring the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants, was held on September 5 2002 largely to celebrate New York City's resilience in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks . Since 2004, the NFL has indicated that the opening game will normally be hosted by the defending Super Bowl champions as the official start of their title defense.

During the 1994 and 2005 seasons when Christmas fell on a Sunday, the NFL flipped their normal schedule for that weekend, having the normal slate (less the Sunday night contest) of Sunday games on Saturday (Christmas Eve day).

• For most years, there has been an open weekend between the Conference Championship games and the Super Bowl. In the 1990 season, there was no bye, as the league was still adjusting the schedule from adding the bye week during the season. In the 1993 season, there was no bye week since the regular season consisted of eighteen weekends. In the 1999 season, the bye week was removed to accommodate the schedule being moved ahead one week. In the 2001 season, the bye week disappeared when the league moved opening weekend a week later. As a result, Super Bowl XXXVI had to be delayed after the league postponed the second week's games following the September 11 attacks. By the 2003 season, the bye week was restored. In the 1982 strike-shortened season, a postseason tournament replaced the traditional playoff format. The Super Bowl bye week was removed to accommodate the longer, expanded playoffs.

Playoffs

Further information: NFL Playoffs

At the conclusion of the regular season, six teams from each conference qualify for the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament, which culminates in the Super Bowl:

• The four division champions from each conference (the team in each division with the best regular season won-lost-tied record), which are seeded one through four based on their regular season won-lost-tied record.
• Two wild card qualifiers (those non-division champions with the conference's best won-lost-tied percentages), which are seeded five and six.

Playoff structure

The NFL Playoffs. Each of the 4 division winners is seeded 1-4 based on their W-L-T records. The two wildcard teams (labeled Wild Card 1 and 2) are seeded 5th and 6th (with the better of the two having seed 5) regardless of their records compared to the 4 division winners.

The third- and the sixth-seeded teams, and the fourth and the fifth seeds face each other, respectively, during the first round of the playoffs, dubbed the Wild Card Round. The first and the second seeds from each conference receive a bye in the first round. These games are always played at the home stadiums of the divisional winners.

In the Divisional Round, the top two seeds face the winners from the Wild Card Round. These games are always played at the home stadiums of the first two seeds.

The two surviving teams from the Divisional Playoff games meet in the NFC Championship and the AFC Championship games, with the winners of those contests going on to face each other in the Super Bowl. These games are played at the home stadiums of the best surviving seed.

The terms "Wild Card Playoffs" and "Divisional Playoffs" originated from the playoff format that was used before 1990. During that time, three division winners and two wild card teams from each conference qualified for the playoffs. Only the wild card teams played during the first round, while all of the division winners received a bye, automatically advancing to the second round.

One inequity in the current system is that a divisional winner could host a playoff game against a wild card team that earned a better regular season record. For example, the Jacksonville Jaguars finished the 2005 regular season with a 12-4 record, but only qualified as a wild card team and therefore had to face the New England Patriots, the AFC East division champions with a 10-6 record, at the Patriots' home field, Gillette Stadium.

Since the 2002 expansion to 8 divisions, there have been calls to expand the playoffs to 14 or even 16 teams. Proponents of expansion note the increased revenue that could be gained from 2 or even 4 more playoff games. They also note that the 12-team playoff system was implemented when the league only had 28 teams. With expansion to 32 teams, there has been an effective loss of access to the playoff structure. The opposition to such a move notes that an expansion of the playoffs would "water down" the field by giving access to lower-calibur teams. One can point to the NBA Playoffs and the NHL Playoffs where 16 teams qualify for the post season, and there is often decreased emphasis on regular season performance.

Playoff and Championship History

The NFL's method for determining its champions has changed over the years.

Early years

From the leagues founding in 1920 until 1932, there was no scheduled championship game. From 1920-1923, the championship was awarded to a team by a vote of team owners at the annual owners meeting. From 1924-1932, the team having the best winning percentage was awarded the championship. As each team played a different number of games, simply counting wins and losses would have been insufficient. Additionally, tie games were counted as 0 wins and 0 losses in the standings (under modern rules, ties count as 1/2 win and 1/2 loss).

The 1932 playoff game

In 1932, two teams, The Chicago Bears (6-1-6) and the Portsmouth Spartans (6-1-4) were tied at the end of the season with identical winning percentage of .857. (a third team, the Green Bay Packers had more wins(10), but a lower winning percentage (.769) as calculated under the rules of the day). An additional game was therefore needed to determine a champion. It was agreed that the game would be played in Chicago at Wrigley Field, but winter weather and fear of a low turnout forced the game to be moved indoors to Chicago Stadium. The game was played under modified rules on a shortened 80-yard field, and the Bears won with a final score of 9-0. As a result of the game the Bears had the better winning percentage (.875) and won the league title. The loss gave the Spartans a final winning percentage of .750, and moved them back to place behind the Packers. While there is no consensus that this game was a real "championship" game, or even a playoff game, it generated enough interest to lead to the creation of the official NFL Championship Game in 1933.>

Before the Super Bowl

Given the interest of the impromptu "championship game", and the desire of the league to create a more equitible means of determining a champion, the league divided into two divisions beginning in 1933. From 1933-1966, the winners of each division played in the NFL Championship Game. Following the 1967 expansion to 16 teams, and until the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger the NFL was divided into 4 divisions in 2 conferences. The division winners would play a playoff game to determine the conference representative in the NFL Championship Game. Thus, 1967 was the first year there was a proper "playoff" qualifying tournament to determine the teams to play for the Championship.

Since it would eventually merge with the NFL, the AFL playoff history bears some explanation. From 1960-1967 seasons, the AFL used the two-divisional format identical to the NFL to determine its champion. For the 1968 season, a tie in the Western Division created the need for a special playoff game. For the 1969 season, a second round was added whereby the each division winner played the second place team from the other division. The winners of this game met in the AFL Championship Game. In the only year of this format, the AFL Champion Kansas City Chiefs were actually the second place team in the Western division. Thus they were the first non-division winner to win a Super Bowl (the Chiefs would go on to win Super Bowl IV that season).

The Super Bowl Era

The Super Bowl began as an interleague championship game between the AFL and NFL. This compromise was the result of pressures the upstart AFL was placing on the older NFL. The success of the junior league would eventually lead to a full merger of the two leagues.

From the 1966 season to the 1969 season (Super Bowls I-IV) the game featured the champions of the AFL and NFL. Since the 1970 season, the game has featured the winners of the National Football Conference(NFC) and the American Football Conference(AFC).

When the leagues merged in 1970, the new NFL (with 26 teams) reorganized into two conferences of three divisions each. From the 1970 season to the 1977 season, four teams from each conference(for a total of eight teams) qualified for the playoffs each year. These four teams included the three division champions, and a fourth Wild Card team. The top seeded division winner would play the wild card team, and the remaining two division winners would play at the home stadium of the better seed.

Following expansion in the 1978 season to 28 teams, the league added one more wild card team for each conference. The two wild card teams would play the week before the division winners. The winner of this game would play the top seeded division winner as was done from 1970-1977. This ten-team playoff format was used through the 1989 season. Under this system, the Oakland Raiders became the first Wild Card team to win a Super Bowl following the 1980 season.

During the strike-shortened 1982 season only nine regular season games were played, and a modified playoff format was instituted. Divisional play was ignored, and the top eight teams from each conference (based on W-L-T record) were advanced to the playoffs. This was the only year that teams with losing records qualified for the playoffs, the 4-5 Cleveland Browns and the 4-5 Detroit Lions.

For the 1990 season, a third wild card team for each conference was added, expanding the playoffs to twelve teams. The lowest-seeded division winner was then "demoted" to the wild card week. From 1990 until the 1993 expansion, the NFL had two 4-team divisions, thus for that time period it was techinically possible for an entire division to make the playoffs. This never did happen. This format continued until the 2002 expansion and reorganization into eight divisions. The modern system (see above) dates from that year.

Breaking ties

Often, teams will finish a season with identical records. It becomes necessary, therefore, to devise means to break these ties, either to determine which teams will qualify for the playoffs, or to determine seeding in the playoff tournament. The rules below are applied in order until the tie is broken. If three teams are tied for one playoff spot, the rules are applied only until the first team qualifies. If multiple playoff spots are at stake, the rules are applied in order until the first team qualifies, then the process is started again for the remaining teams.

1. Head-to-head (team with the best record in all games played between the teams tied)
2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division. (for determining Division Champion only)
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
4. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games (only applicable with a minimum of 4 common opponents)
5. Strength of victory (points scored minus poinst allowed calculated over the whole season)
6. Strength of schedule (cumulative W-L-T records of all opponents)
7. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed. (That is, the "strength of victory" for all opponents from the same conference)
8. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed (That is, the "strength of victory" for all opponents)
9. Best net points in common games
10. Best net points in all games
11. Best net touchdowns in all games
12. Coin flip

The tiebreaking rules have changed over the years, with the most recent changes being made in 2002; record vs. common opponents and most of the other criteria involving wins and losses were moved up higher in the tiebreaking list, while those involving compiled stats such as points for and against were moved to the bottom.

A completely different set of tiebreaking rules are used to determine the order in which teams pick in the NFL draft (see below).

Tiebreaking tutorial

The Bears, Cowboys, and Rams all have 10-6 records, and none is their division champion. Since there are two availible wildcard spots, we apply these rules. Lets say the Bears beat the Cowboys, the Cowboys beat the Rams, and the Rams beat the Bears. The first criterion cannot apply (since there is no clearcut head-to-head winner). Since this is a wild-card tiebreaker, we skip criterion 2. Lets say they all had identical 8-4 records in the NFC, so criterion 3 is not sufficient. Finally, we see that the Bears had a 3-1 record versus common opponents (criterion 4), while the Rams had a 2-2 record, and the Cowboys a 1-3 record. This would cause the Bears and Cowboys to advance, since:

• The Bears qualified on the common-opponents rule
• The Cowboys and Rams tie is broken seperately, so we return to the head-to-head rule, meaning the Cowboys advance. The fact that the Rams had a better record against common opponents is irrelevant because this is a lower criterion.

Television schedule

Further information: NFL on television

The television rights to the NFL are the most lucrative and expensive rights not only of any American sport, but of any American entertainment property. With the fragmentation of audiences due to the increased specialization of broadcast and cable TV networks, sports remain one of the few entertainment properties that not only can guarantee a large and diversified audience, but an audience that will watch in real time.

Since the 1960's, NFL broadcasts have ranked consistently as among the most-watched programs on American television. Networks have purchased a share of the broadcasting rights to the NFL as a means of raising the entire network's profile.

Early on it was decided by NFL owners to sell the rights to all league games collectively, as opposed to each team selling their rights individually. Because television revenue is shared equally between the teams, the NFL can be viewed as a cooperative organization owned by its members (team owners).

Under the current television contracts, which began during the 2006 season, regular season games are broadcast on 5 networks: CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN, and The NFL Network.

Regional games

With these current contacts, the regional Sunday day-games are broadcast on CBS and FOX. CBS has broadcast rights to all regional AFC intraconference games, and FOX has all rights to regional NFC intraconference games. Interconference games are given to the network that is the normal broadcast partner for the away team, thus each network gets access to each stadium in the league. Three games are broadcast in any one market each week, with one network getting a "double header" each week (the 1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT and 4:15 p.m. ET/1:15 p.m. PT games) while the other network broadcasting either the 1:00 p.m. ET or the 4:00 p.m. ET game. The double-header network alternates each week for the first 16 weeks, with both networks having a double-header in week 17.

National Games

National broadcasts of marquee matchups usually occur on Sunday and Monday nights, and later in the season (after the completion of the NCAA football season) on Thursday and Saturday nights as well. NBC has broadcast rights to Sunday Night games. These are broadcast under a special "flexible schedule" that allows Sunday games (from weeks 10-15 and week 17)to be moved from the normal start time of 1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT, 4:00 p.m. ET/1:00 p.m. PT, or 4:15 p.m. ET/1:15 p.m. PT. to the primetime slot, and possibly move one or more 1:00 p.m. ET slotted games to the 4:00 p.m. ET slots. This is to have the best game of each week broadcast on national over-the-air television. During the last week of the season, the league could also re-schedule games as late as six days before the contests so that all of the television networks will be able to broadcast a game that has playoff implications. NBC also has broadcast rights to the opening Thursday Night game, which replaces a game taken away when the league omits a Sunday night game during the opening weekend of the World Series. Monday Night Football has been moved from longtime partner ABC to ESPN (though it should be noted that both are affiliates of Disney). Additionally, the recently created NFL Network will broadcast eight Thursday and Saturday night games for the league starting with a newly-created third Thanksgiving Day game.

NFL Sunday Ticket

Also, satellite broadcast company DirectTV, offers NFL Sunday Ticket, a subscription based package that allows the entire slate of Sunday daytime regional games to be watched.

Radio Schedule

Each NFL team has its own radio network and employs its announcers. Nationally, the NFL is heard on the Westwood One Radio Network and on Sports USA Radio. Westwood One carries Sunday and Monday Night Football, all Thursday games, two Sunday afternoon contests and all post-season games, including the Pro Bowl. Sports USA Radio broadcasts two Sunday afternoon games every Sunday during the regular season.

The NFL also has a contract with Sirius Satellite Radio, which provides news, analysis, commentary and game coverage for all games.

Player contracts and compensation

NFL players are all members of a union called the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA). The NFLPA negotiates the general minimum contract for all players in the league. This contract is called the Collective Bargaining Agreement(CBA), and it is the central document that governs the negotiation of individual player contracts for all of the leagues players. The current CBA has been in place since 1993, and ammended in 1998. The NFL has not had any labor-related work stoppages since the 1987 season, which is much longer than Major League Baseball, the NBA or the NHL. The current CBA expires at the end of the 2006 season.

Among the items covered in the CBA are:

• The league minimum salary
• The salary cap
• The annual collegiate draft
• Rules regarding "free agency"
• Waiver rules

Salaries

A players salary, as defined by the CBA, includes any "compensation in money, property, investments, loans or anything else of value to which an NFL player" excluding such benefits as insurance and pension. A salary can includes an annual pay and a one-time "signing bonus" which is paid in full when the player signs their contract. For the purposes of the salary cap (see below) the signing bonus is pro-rated over the life of the contract rather then to the year in which the signing bonus is paid.

Players are tiered into three different levels with regards to their rights to negotiate for contracts:

• Players that have been drafted (see below), and have not yet played in their first year, may only negotiate with the team that drafted them. If terms cannot be agreed upon, the players only recourse is to refuse to play ("sit out") until terms can be reached. Players often use the threat of sitting out as a means to force the hands of the teams that drafted them. For example, John Elway was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in 1983 but refused to play for them. The Colts traded his rights to the Denver Broncos and Elway agreed to play.
• Players that have played 3 or less full seasons in the league, and whose contract has expired are considered "Restricted Free Agents" (see below). They have limited rights to negotiate with any club.
• Players that have played 4 or more full seasons in the league, and whose contract has expired, are considered "Unrestricted Free Agents"(see below) and have unlimited rights to negotiate with any club. Teams may name a single player in any given year as a "Franchise Player"(see below), which eliminates much of that players negotiation rights. This is a limited right of the team, however, and affects only a small handful of players each year.

The draft

Further information: NFL Draft

Every year during the offseason, each NFL franchise seeks to fill its position needs by adding new players through a process known literally as "the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", which is more commonly known as the NFL Draft. The NFL Draft is a highly organized and formal process (currently consisting of seven rounds) that takes place over two days in a weekend in late April, in which all NFL teams participate.

The team with the worst record in the previous year gets first pick of each round in the draft (that is, the team is the first to select a player from a pool of all eligible college players in the country), while the winner of the Super Bowl has the last pick in every round. The idea is that weak teams can thereby become strengthened over time, in the specialties where they need strengthening. If two or more teams have the same win/loss record, then their opponents' win/loss record is used as the tiebreaker; the team with the lowest opponents' winning percentage gets the higher pick. Draft picks continue, in the order from the weakest team to the strongest team, and once all teams have picked one player, they all pick again starting with the weakest team.

The overwhelming majority of players selected in the draft are NCAA football players, although a few athletes have been drafted by teams through the years who had not played college football, or who had excelled in other sports such as track, wrestling, basketball, baseball or soccer. In order for a college athlete to be eligible to be drafted, three years must have elapsed since his high school graduation.

Draft picks are frequently traded in advance for players and other draft picks. For example, before the draft occurs, Team A might trade its first-round draft pick plus a certain player (who already plays for Team A) to Team B in exchange for another particular player who already plays for Team B.

Typically players who are drafted do not immediately become starters, although there are exceptions.

Further information: List of NFL first overall draft choices

Free agency

Further information: Free Agent § NFL Usage

Free agency in the NFL began with a limited free agency system known as "Plan B Free Agency", and was in effect for four seasons between 1989 and 1992. Beginning with the 1993 season, "Plan A Free Agency" went into effect, which is the system which remains in the NFL today.

• Restricted Free Agent: a player who is eligible for free agency, although his current team has the chance to retain rights to this player by matching the highest offer any other NFL franchise(s) might make to that player
• Unrestricted Free Agent: a player who is eligible for free agency, where his current team has no guaranteed right to match outside offers to that player
• Franchise Tag: a designation given to a player by a franchise that guarantees that player a contract the average of the five highest-paid players of that same position in the entire league in return for retaining rights to that player for one year. An NFL franchise may only designate one player a year as having the franchise tag, and may designate the same player for consecutive years. This has caused some tension between some NFL franchise designees and their respective teams due to the fact that a player designated as a franchise player precludes that player from pursuing large signing bonuses that are common in unrestricted free agency.

Salaries and the salary cap

The minimum salary for an NFL player is $260,000 in his first year, and rises after that based on the number of years in service. Exhibition game minimum is $10,000. These numbers are set by contract between the NFL and the players' union, the National Football League Players' Association. These numbers are of course exceeded dramatically by the best players in each position.

Years Experience	Minimum Salary
0	$260,000
1	$305,000
2	$380,000
3	$455,000
4-6	$540,000
7-9	$665,000
10+	$765,000

Escalating player salaries throughout the 1980s and the advent of free agency in 1992 led to the NFL's adoption of a salary cap in 1994, a maximum amount of money each team can pay its players in aggregate. The cap is determined via a complicated formula based on the revenue that all NFL teams receive during the previous year. For the 2004 season, the NFL's salary cap was $80.582 million, an increase of $5.5 million from 2003. The cap for the 2005 season was set at $85.5 million, and at $102 million for 2006 instead of the previously estimated $94.5 million.

Proponents of the salary cap note that it prevents a well-financed team in a major city from simply spending giant amounts of money to secure the very best players in every position and thus dominating the entire sport. This has been seen as a problem in American baseball, long dominated since the advent of free agency by large market teams. They point to the relative parity of competition that exists in the NFL as of 2005 compared to Major League Baseball as evidence that the NFL salary cap preserves competitive balance. They claim fans end up paying higher ticket prices to help pay for escalating player salaries. These concerns, among others, led in part to modified salary cap adoption in the National Basketball Association in 1984 and the National Hockey League in 2005.

Critics of the salary cap note that the driving reason for the cap was to maximize the profitability of the NFL teams, and limit the power of NFL players to command the high salaries they are said to deserve in exchange for bringing in large numbers of paying fans to the stadiums. Furthermore, they attribute NFL competitive parity instead to the league's extensive revenue sharing policies.

A new CBA (collective bargaining agreement) was reached between the NFL and the NFLPA on March 8, 2006, which extends the current agreement through 2013. The cap for 2006 was expected to be set at $94.5 million, but due to the new deal it instead was set at $102 million.

Racial policies

Main article: Black players in American professional football

Although the current NFL is well-represented at virtually every position by African-American athletes, that was not always the case. The league had a few African American players until 1933, one year after entry to the league of George Preston Marshall. Marshall's policies not only excluded blacks from his Washington Redskins team but may have influenced the entire league to drop African Americans until 1946, when pressure from the competing All-America Football Conference induced the NFL to be more liberal in its signing of African Americans. Another theory holds that the NFL, like most of the United States during the Great Depression, simply fired African American workers before white workers, but this could hardly account for the league's apparent "all-white" policy during this period. Still, Marshall refused to sign African American players until threatened with civil rights legal action by the Kennedy administration in 1962, in which it was explained to him that his lease on the then-new D.C. Stadium, which was at the time controlled by the United States Department of the Interior, would be voided if he continued to refuse to sign any African American players. This action, and pressure by another competing league, the more racially-liberal American Football League, slowly managed to reverse the NFL's racial quotas. The AFL's Denver Broncos were the first modern-era team to have a African American starting quarterback, Marlin Briscoe, who started the fourth game of the 1968 season, and broke pro football rookie records for passing yardage and touchdowns. The next year 1969, another American Football League team, the Buffalo Bills were the first professional football team of the modern era to begin the season with an African American, James Harris as their starting quarterback. The Chicago Bears had an African American quarterback in 1953, Willie Thrower, who played in only one game and did not start in any games. After that, no old-line NFL team had an African American starting quarterback until the Steelers' Joe Gilliam in 1972.

Even after that, for many NFL teams the door would remain closed to African American quarterbacks through the 1970s. 1978 Rose Bowl MVP Warren Moon played for six seasons in the CFL before his abilities finally landed him the starting role with the Houston Oilers. It took until 1988 before an African American quarterback started for a Super Bowl team, when Doug Williams, ironically, won it for the previously discriminatory Redskins. To this day, the NFL's head-coach hiring policies are questioned, and it has had to institute measures to attempt to have African American head coach candidates be treated more equitably.

White skill players have become increasingly rare in the modern NFL, as most positions are filled by African Americans. White running backs, defensive backs, and receivers have become less and less common over the last 25 years. In 2005, a slim majority of offensive linemen are white, while no whites are listed as Tailbacks or Cornerbacks on NFL rosters. Most quarterbacks, punters, and kickers are white, while almost all running backs, wide receivers, defensive backs, defensive linemen, safeties, punt returners, and kickoff returners are African American. Increasingly, positions such as tight end, fullback, and linebacker are being filled by African Americans. In the early 1980s, African Americans and whites each made up roughly half of the players. Since then, the percentage of African American players has increased steadily to its present 2005 level of 69%. Whites make up the plurality of the remaining players, followed by Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, and Asians.

History

Further information: History of American football

File:NFL 1960.gif

National Football League logo (1960-1969)

Like the American college football game from which it sprung, NFL football is a descendant of rugby football, which was imported to the United States from Canada in 1874, and then transformed into American college football after McGill University in Montreal invited Harvard University to Quebec to play a new Canadian version of "rugby football". Professional football in the United States dates at least to 1892, when an athletic club in Pittsburgh paid William "Pudge" Heffelfinger $500 to take part in a game. Over the next few decades, while most attention was paid to football at elite colleges on the East Coast, the professional game spread widely in the Midwest, particularly in Ohio where in 1903 the Massillon Tigers, a strong amateur team, hired four Pittsburgh pros to play in their season-ending game against Akron.

The American Professional Football Association was founded in 1920 at a Hupmobile dealership in Canton, Ohio. Legendary athlete Jim Thorpe was elected president. The group of eleven teams, all but one in the Midwest, was originally less a league than an agreement not to rob other teams' players. In the early years, APFA members continued to play non-APFA teams.

In 1921, the APFA began releasing official standings, and the following year, the group changed its name to the National Football League. However, the NFL was hardly a major league in the '20s. Teams entered and left the league frequently. Franchises included such colorful representatives as the LaRue, Ohio Oorang Indians, an all-Native American outfit that also put on a performing dog show.

Yet as former college stars like Red Grange and Benny Friedman began to test the professional waters, the pro game slowly began to increase in popularity. By 1934 all of the small-town teams, with the exception of the Green Bay Packers, had moved to or been replaced by big cities. One factor in the league's rising popularity was the institution of an annual championship game in 1933.

By the end of World War II, pro football began to rival the college game for fans' attention. The spread of the T formation led to a faster-paced, higher-scoring game that attracted record numbers of fans. In 1945, the Cleveland Rams moved to Los Angeles, becoming the first big-league sports franchise on the West Coast. In 1950, the NFL accepted three teams from the defunct All-America Football Conference, expanding to thirteen clubs.

In the 1950s, pro football finally earned its place as a major sport. The NFL embraced television, giving Americans nationwide a chance to follow stars like Bobby Layne, Paul Hornung, Otto Graham, and Johnny Unitas. The 1958 NFL championship in New York drew record TV viewership and made national celebrities out of Unitas and his Baltimore Colts teammates.

The rise of professional football was so fast that by the mid-'60s, it had surpassed baseball as Americans' favorite spectator sport in some surveys. As more people wanted to cash in on this surge of popularity than the NFL could accommodate, a rival league, the American Football League (AFL), was founded in 1960.

The AFL introduced features that the NFL did not have, such as wider-open passing offenses, players' names on their jerseys, and an official clock visible to fans so that they knew the time remaining in a period (the NFL kept time by a game referee's watch, and only periodically announced the actual time). The newer league also secured itself financially after it established the precedents for gate and television revenue sharing between all of its teams, and network television broadcasts all of its games.

The AFL also forced the NFL to expand: The Dallas Cowboys were created to counter the AFL's Dallas Texans. The Texans moved the franchise to Kansas City as the Chiefs in 1963; the Minnesota Vikings were the NFL franchise given to Max Winter for abandoning the AFL; and the Atlanta Falcons franchise went to Rankin Smith to dissuade him from purchasing the AFL's Miami Dolphins.

The ensuing costly war for players between the NFL and AFL almost derailed the sport's ascent. By 1966, the leagues agreed to merge as of the 1970 season. The ten AFL teams joined three existing NFL teams to form the NFL's American Football Conference. The remaining thirteen NFL teams became the National Football Conference. Another result of the merger was the creation of an AFL-NFL Championship game that for four years determined the so-called "World Championship of Professional Football". After the merger, the then-renamed Super Bowl became the NFL's championship game.

In the 1970s and '80s, the NFL solidified its dominance as America's top spectator sport and its important role in American culture. The Super Bowl became an unofficial national holiday and the top-rated TV program most years. Monday Night Football, which first aired in 1970 brought in high ratings by mixing sports and entertainment. Rules changes in the late 1970s ensured a fast-paced game with lots of passing to attract the casual fan.

The founding of the United States Football League in the early 1980s was the biggest challenge to the NFL in the post-merger era. The USFL was a well-financed competitor with big-name players and a national television contract. However, the USFL failed to make money and folded after three years.

In recent years, the NFL has expanded into new markets and ventures. In 1986, the league began holding a series of pre-season exhibition games, called American Bowls, held at international sites outside the United States. Then in 1991, the league formed the World League of American Football, (now NFL Europe), a developmental league now with teams in Germany and the Netherlands. The league played a regular-season NFL game in Mexico City in 2005 and intends to play more such games in other countries. In 2003, the NFL lauched its own cable-television channel, NFL Network.

Franchise relocations and mergers

Further information: NFL franchise moves and mergers

In the early years, the league was not stable and teams moved frequently. Franchise mergers were popular during World War II in response to the scarcity of players.

Franchise moves became far more controversial in the late 20th century when a vastly more popular NFL, free from financial instability, allowed many franchises to abandon long-held strongholds for perceived financially greener pastures. While owners invariably cited financial difficulties as the primary factor in such moves, many fans bitterly disputed these contentions, especially in Cleveland, Baltimore, Houston and St. Louis, each of which eventually received teams some years after their original franchises left (the Browns, Ravens,Texans and the Rams respectively). However, Los Angeles, the second-largest media market in the United States, has not had an NFL team since 1994 after both the Raiders and the Rams relocated elsewhere.

Additionally, with the increasing suburbanization of the U.S., the building of new stadiums and other team facilities in the suburbs instead of the central city became popular from the 1970s on, though at the turn of the millennium a reverse shift back to the central city became somewhat evident.

Video games

Electronic Arts publishes an NFL video game for current video game consoles and for PCs each year, called Madden NFL, being named after former coach and current football commentator John Madden. Prior to the 2005-2006 football season, other NFL games were produced by competing video game publishers, such as 2K Games and Midway Games. However, in December 2004, Electronic Arts signed a five-year exclusive agreement with the NFL, meaning only Electronic Arts will be permitted to publish games featuring NFL team and player names.

Commissioners and presidents

1. President Jim Thorpe (1920-1921)
2. President Joseph Carr (1921-1939)
3. President Carl Storck (1939-1941)
4. Commissioner Elmer Layden (1941-1946)
5. Commissioner Bert Bell (1946-1959)
6. Interim President Austin Gunsel (1959-1960, following death of Bell)
7. Commissioner Alvin "Pete" Rozelle (1960-1989)
8. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue (1989-2006)
9. Commissioner Roger Goodell (2006-present)

Main League offices

• Canton, Ohio (1920-1921)
• Columbus, Ohio (1921-1941)
• Chicago (1941-1946)
• Philadelphia (1946-1960)
• New York City (1960-present)

Players

Main article: List of American football players

Coaches

• Current NFL coaches

Uniform numbers

In the NFL, players wear uniform numbers based on the position they play. The current system was instituted into the league on April 5, 1973, as a means for fans and officials (referees, linesmen) to more easily identify players on the field by their position. Players who were already in the league were allowed to keep their established number regardless of what position they played, such as Jim Otto, Carl Eller, Alan Page and Charlie Joiner. Players are invariably assigned numbers within the following ranges, based on their primary position:

• Quarterbacks: 1-19
• Running backs: 20-49
• Wide receivers: 10-19, 80-89
• Tight ends: 80-89, or 40-49 if all are taken
• Offensive linemen: 50-79
• Defensive linemen: 60-79 and 90-99
• Linebackers: 50-59 and 90-99
• Defensive backs: 20-49
• Placekickers and punters: 1-19

Prior to 2004, wide receivers were allowed to only wear numbers in the 80s. The NFL changed the rule that year to allow wide receivers to wear numbers 10-19 to allow for the increased number of players at wide receiver and tight end coming into the league. Prior to that, players were only allowed to wear non-standard numbers if their team had run out of numbers within the prescribed number range. Perhaps most familiar to fans, Keyshawn Johnson began wearing number 19 in 1996 because the New York Jets had run out of numbers in the 80s.

Occasionally, players will petition the NFL to allow them to wear a number that is not in line with the numbering system. In 2006, New Orleans Saints RB Reggie Bush petitioned the NFL to let him keep the number 5 which he used at USC. His request was later denied. Previously, players like Brian Bosworth and Keyshawn Johnson had petitioned the league to wear a non-standard number at their position.

It should be noted that this NFL numbering system is based on a player's primary position. Any player wearing any number may play at any position on the field at any time (though players wearing numbers 50-79 must let the referee know that they are playing out of position by reporting as an "ineligible number in an eligible position"). It is not uncommon for running backs to line up at wide receiver on certain plays, or to have a large lineman play at fullback or tight end in short yardage situations. Also, in preseason games, when teams have expanded rosters, players may wear numbers that are outside of the above rules. When the final 53-player roster is established, they are reissued numbers within the above guidelines.

Rules named after players

Throughout the league's history, a number of rules have been enacted largely because of a single player's exploits on the field. The following is a partial list of such rule changes:

• the Adam Vinatieri rule -- On successful field goals, five seconds will elapse on the game clock. Enacted in 2002 after the Patriots' kicker won Super Bowl XXXVI on the last play of the game. The clock ticked down from seven seconds to zero even though Vinatieri's kick appeared to sail between the uprights while time still remained.

• the Bronko Nagurski rule -- forward passing made legal from anywhere behind the line of scrimmage. Enacted in 1933. Prior to this rule change a player had to be five yards behind the line of scrimmage to throw a forward pass.

• the Deacon Jones rule -- no head-slapping. Enacted in 1977.

• the Deion Sanders rule -- Player salary rule which correlates a contract's signing bonus with its yearly salary. Enacted after Deion Sanders signed with the Dallas Cowboys in 1995 for a minimum salary and a $13 million signing bonus. (There is also a college football rule with this nickname.)

• the Emmitt Smith rule -- A player cannot remove his helmet while on the field of play. Enacted in 1997.

• the Erik Williams rule -- no hands to the facemask by offensive linemen.

• the Fran Tarkenton rule -- a line judge was added as the sixth official to ensure that a back was indeed behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass. Enacted in 1965.

• the Jerome Bettis rule -- the coin toss must be called before the coin is tossed. Enacted immediately after an incident during the 1998 Thanksgiving Day game between the Steelers and Lions.

• the Ken Stabler rule -- on fourth down or any down in the final two minutes of play, if a player fumbles, only the fumbling player can recover and/or advance the ball. If that player's teammate recovers the ball, it is placed back at the spot of the fumble. A defensive player can recover and advance at any time of play. Enacted in 1979.

• the Kimo von Oelhoffen rule -- defenders must take every opportunity to avoid hitting a quarterback below the waist when the quarterback is in a defenseless position looking to throw with both feet on the ground. Enacted after the Steelers' defensive lineman tackled Bengals' quarterback Carson Palmer at the knees following a long pass completion during the 2005 playoffs, sending Palmer to the sidelines with multiple ligament tears.

• the Lester Hayes rule -- no Stickum allowed. Enacted in 1981.

• the Lou Groza rule -- no artificial medium to assist in the execution of a kick. Enacted in 1956.

• the Mel Blount rule -- Officially known as defensive pass interference, defensive backs can only make contact with receivers within five yards of the line of scrimmage. Enacted in current form in 1978.

• the Mel Renfro rule -- allows a second player on the offense to catch a tipped ball, without a defender subsequentlly touching it. Enacted in 1978.

• the Michael Irvin rule -- no taunting. Another rule, resulting in offensive pass interference, prohibiting WRs to push off CBs, is also often called "the Michael Irvin rule."

• the Neil Smith rule -- prevents a defensive lineman from flinching to induce a false start penalty on the offense. Enacted in 1998.

• the Bert Emanuel rule -- the ball can touch the ground during a completed pass as long as the receiver maintains control of the ball. Enacted due to a play in the 1999 NFC championship game, where Emanuel, playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, had a catch ruled incomplete since the ball touched the ground.

• the Terrell Owens rule -- no "foreign objects" on a player's uniform (enacted in response to the 2002 "Sharpie™ incident"), though existing rules already forbade this.

• the Ty Law rule -- basically more emphasis on the Mel Blount rule after the New England Patriots allegedly committed several uncalled pass interference penalties in the 2003 AFC championship game against the Indianapolis Colts.

• the Roy Williams rule -- no horse-collar tackles. Enacted in 2005 when Williams broke Terrell Owens's ankle and Musa Smith's leg on horse-collar tackles during the previous season.

Awards

• Vince Lombardi Trophy
• Lamar Hunt Trophy
• George S. Halas Trophy
• Most Valuable Player
• Coach of the Year
• Offensive Player of the Year
• Defensive Player of the Year
• Offensive Rookie of the Year
• Defensive Rookie of the Year
• Super Bowl MVP
• NFL Comeback Player of the Year
• Walter Payton Man of the Year Award
• Pro Bowl MVP

Discontinued awards

• AFL All-Star Game MVP
• UPI NFL MVP
• UPI NFC Player of the Year
• UPI AFL-AFC Player of the Year
• UPI NFL-NFC Rookie of the Year
• UPI AFL-AFC Rookie of the Year

See also

• American football
• Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Defunct NFL teams
• List of Professional Football Drafts
• Personal Seat License
• NFL Films
• NFL Network
• Glossary of American football
• NFL Nicknames
• USA Football
• Madden NFL series
• NFL Street series
• NFL Blitz
• Sports league attendances
• Instant replay
• NFL franchise moves and mergers
• NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team
• NFL All-Decade Teams
• Bang Cartoon

Pre-seasons

• American Bowl
• Pro Football Hall of Fame Game

Regular seasons

• List of NFL seasons
• List of NFL tied games (since 1974)
• NFL Lore
• National Football League: Last to First
• Significant rivalries in the NFL

Postseasons

• NFL playoffs
• List of NFL champions
• Super Bowl
• List of Super Bowl champions
• Pro Bowl
• Professional Football Championship Games
• List of Current NFL franchise post-season droughts
• One Game Playoff
• Active NFL playoff appearance streaks

Records

• NFL Standings since AFL-NFL merger
• NFL Individual Records
• NFL Team-Oriented Records
• NFL Annual Rushing Leaders

Other related leagues

American football

• American Football League
• All-America Football Conference
• NFL Europe
• List of leagues of American football

External Links

• Official NFL website
• Official NFL players website
• Official Super Bowl website
• NFL History - Champion and Award Lists
• Harris Poll on popularity of the NFL and each individual team

References

• "NFL Scores Nearly $18 Billion in TV Rights", by Stefan Fatsis and Kyle Pope, 14 January 1998, The Wall Street Journal (p. B1) [1]
• 2006 NFL Record and Fact Book. Time Inc. Home Entertainment. ISBN 1-933405-32-5.
• Total Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League. Harper Collins. ISBN 1-933405-32-5.
• NFL's Economic Model Shows Signs of Strain
• Professional Football Researchers Association - detailed descriptions of why many of the rules named after players were enacted.
• Process of game-time decisions will eliminate TV duds, create chaos by Michael Hiestand, USA Today, April 5, 2006 (Last accessed April 5, 2006)
• Pro Football Reference - Historical stats of every team and player in the NFL.
• Five NFL teams worth over $1 billion