What Year Was the NFL Created?
Contents
The National Football League was created in 1920.
The Early Years of Football
Pre-NFL Football
Up until the early 1920s, there was no such thing as professional football. The sport was mostly played at the collegiate level, with the top teams sometimes squaring off in what were called “exhibition games.” These games were used to generate revenue for the schools and occasionally featured players who had graduated but were still eligible to play.
The first attempt at creating a professional football league came in 1892, when William “Pudge” Heffelfinger was paid $500 to play for the Allegheny Athletic Association in a game against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. This made Heffelfinger the first professional football player, but the league didn’t last long.
Other leagues followed in its footsteps, including the World League of Professional Football, which was founded in 1902 and featured teams from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. This league also ultimately failed.
Finally, in 1920, a group of owners from four Midwest cities – Akron, Canton, Cleveland, and Dayton – met to form the American Professional Football Association (APFA). This league would eventually be renamed the National Football League (NFL).
The Creation of the NFL
In 1920, pro football was a sport in search of respect. The game’s leading figure was Jim Thorpe, an Olympic gold medalist and all-around athletic superstar who had excelled in baseball and track as well as football. He also was a national figure as the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal. (He would later have the medals taken away because he had been paid to play semipro baseball before the Olympics, but that’s another story).
The NFL Today
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league. It was founded in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) with ten teams from four states, all of whom existed in some form as participants of regional leagues in their respective territory.
The NFL’s Growth
The NFL’s growth can be traced back to 1922, when it was founded as the American Professional Football Association (APFA). The APFA was created in Canton, Ohio, by a group of NFL team owners who wanted to standardize the rules of the game and eliminate what they saw as undesirable practices. In 1925, the APFA changed its name to the National Football League (NFL) and began to expand into new markets. By 1926, the NFL had grown to include ten teams, and in 1927 it began its first season with a full schedule of games.
In 1958, the NFL expands again, this time adding two new teams: the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants. The league also realigns itself into two divisions: the Eastern Division, which includes the Colts and Giants; and the Western Division, which consists of all the other teams. This format will remain in place until 2002, when the league expands to 32 teams with the addition of the Houston Texans.
The NFL Today
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league consisting of 32 teams, divided equally between the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). The NFL is one of the four major professional sports leagues in North America, and the highest professional level of American football in the world. The NFL was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) before renaming itself the National Football League for the 1922 season.
The NFL today consists of 32 teams divided into two conferences, each conference further divided into four divisions. The AFC has 16 teams organized into four divisions: North, East, South, and West. The NFC has 16 teams organized into four divisions: North, East, South, and West.
