National Football League

Title	National Football League
Current season	2011 NFL season
Logo	National Football League 2008.svg
Pixels	150 px
Sport	American Football
Founded	August 20, 1920, in Canton, Ohio
Ceo	Roger Goodell
Inaugural	1920
Teams	32
Country	United States
Champion	Green Bay Packers (13th title)
Most champs	Green Bay Packers (13 titles)
Website	NFL.com
Tv	CBSFoxNBCESPNNFL Network

The National Football League (NFL) is the highest level of professional American football in the United States. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing its name to the National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of thirty-two teams from the United States. The league is divided evenly into two conferences — the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC), and each conference has four divisions that have four teams each, for a total of 16 teams in each conference. The NFL is an unincorporated 501(c)(6) association, a federal nonprofit designation, comprising its 32 teams.

The regular season is a seventeen-week schedule during which each team plays sixteen games and has one bye week. The season currently starts on the Thursday night in the first full week of September (the Thursday after Labor Day) and runs weekly to late December or early January. At the end of each regular season, six teams from each conference (at least one from each division) play in the NFL playoffs, a twelve-team single-elimination tournament that culminates with the championship game, known as the Super Bowl. This game is held at a pre-selected site which is usually a city that hosts an NFL team.

The NFL is by far the most attended domestic sports league in the world by average attendance per game, with 67,509 fans per game in the 2009-10 regular season and 66,960 fans per game in 2010-11. Although not as frequently as the other major professional sports leagues in the United States, the NFL still is not immune to labor disputes, such as the player's strikes of 1982 and 1987, and more recently a lockout in 2011.

History

In 1920 representatives of several professional American football leagues and independent teams founded the American Professional Football Conference, soon renamed the National Football League. The first official championship game was held in 1933. By 1958, when that season's NFL championship game became known as "The Greatest Game Ever Played", the NFL was on its way to becoming one of the most popular sports leagues in the United States. In 1965, football supplanted baseball as the most popular televised sport in America. The merger with the American Football League, agreed to in 1966 and completed in 1970, greatly expanded the league and created the Super Bowl, which has become the most-watched annual sporting event in the United States.

Season structure

Since 2002, the NFL season features the following schedule:

a 4-game exhibition season (or preseason) running from early August to early September;

a 16-game, 17-week regular season running from September to December or early January; and

a 12-team single-elimination playoff beginning in January, culminating in the Super Bowl in early February.

Traditionally, American high school football games are played on Friday Nights, American college football games are played on Thursday Nights and Saturdays, and most NFL games are played on Sunday. Because the NFL season is longer than the college football season, the NFL schedules Saturday games and Saturday playoff games outside the college football season. The ABC Television network added Monday Night Football in 1970, and Thursday night NFL games were added in the 1980s.

Exhibition season

Following mini-camps in the spring and officially recognized training camp in July–August, NFL teams typically play four exhibition games from early August through early September. Each team hosts two games of the four. The exhibition season begins with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, so those two teams play five exhibition games each. Historically, the American Bowl(s) were played prior to the NFL scheduling regular season games abroad and those teams faced this similar predicament.

The games are useful for new players who are not used to playing in front of very large crowds. Management often uses the games to evaluate newly signed players. Veteran starters will generally play only for about a quarter of each game to minimize the risk of injury. Several lawsuits have been brought by fans, against the policy of including exhibition games in season-ticket packages at regular season prices, but none have so far been very successful.

Regular season

, the Browns (in green) finished in fourth place in the AFC North. Thus the Browns in 2009 had to play all the other AFC North teams (in blue) twice; all the AFC West teams (another division within its own conference) once; all the NFC North teams (a division in the other conference) once; and the Bills and the Jaguars, who also finished in fourth place in their respective AFC divisions during that previous season.]] Following the preseason, each of the thirty-two teams embark on a seventeen-week, sixteen-game schedule, with the extra week consisting of a bye to allow teams a rest sometime in the middle of the season (and also to increase television coverage). The regular season currently begins the Thursday evening after Labor Day with a primetime "Kickoff Game" (NBC currently holds broadcast rights for that game). According to the current scheduling structure, the earliest the season could begin is September 4 (as it was in the 2008 season), while the latest would be September 10 (as it was in the 2009 season, due to September 1 falling on a Tuesday).

The league uses a scheduling formula to pre-determine which teams plays whom during a given season. Under the current formula since 2002, each of the thirty-two teams' respective 16-game schedule consists for the following:

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 the previous season, not counting the division they were already scheduled to play: one at home, one on the road (two games).

Although this scheduling formula determines each of the thirty-two teams' respective opponents, the league usually does not release the final regular schedule with specific dates and times until the spring; the NFL needs several months to coordinate the entire season schedule so that, among other reasons, games are worked around various scheduling conflicts, and that it helps maximize TV ratings.

The regular season, under the current format, starts no earlier than September 4, and ends no later than January 3, in any given year.

Playoffs

The season concludes with a twelve-team tournament used to determine the teams to play in the Super Bowl. The tournament brackets are made up of six teams from each of the league's two conferences, the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC), following the end of the 16-game regular season:

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 (tie-breaker rules may apply).

Two wild card qualifiers from each conference (those non-division champions with the conference's best record, i.e. the best won-lost-tied percentages, with a series of tie-breaking rules in place in the event that there are teams with the same number of wins and losses), which are seeded five and six.

In each conference, the #3 and #6 seeded teams, and the #4 and #5 seeds, face each other during the first round of the playoffs, dubbed the Wild Card Playoffs (the league in recent years has also used the term Wild Card Weekend). The #1 and #2 seeds from each conference receive a bye in the first round, which entitles these teams to automatically advance to the second round, the Divisional Playoff games, to face the winning teams from the first round. In round two, the #1 seeded team always plays the lowest surviving seed in their conference. And in any given playoff game, whoever has the higher seed gets the home field advantage (i.e. the game is held at the higher seed's home field).

The two surviving teams from the Divisional Playoff games meet in Conference Championship games, with the winners of those contests going on to face one another in the Super Bowl in a game located at a neutral venue that is usually either indoors or in a warm-weather locale. The designated "home team" alternates year to year between the conferences. In odd-numbered Super Bowls, the NFC team is the designated "home team", with the AFC team serving as the home team for even-numbered games.

The NFL is the only one out of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States to use a single-elimination tournament in its playoffs; Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League all use a "best-of" format instead.

Pro Bowl

The Pro Bowl, the league's all-star game, has been traditionally held on the weekend after the Super Bowl. The game was played at various venues before being held at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii for 30 consecutive seasons from 1980 to 2009.

However, the 2010 Pro Bowl was played at Sun Life Stadium, the home stadium of the Miami Dolphins and host site of Super Bowl XLIV, on January 31, the first time ever that the Pro Bowl was played before the championship game. The 2011 and 2012 games will return to Honolulu, though the 2011 game was still played before the Super Bowl.

Calendar

Though the NFL only plays in the late summer, fall, and early winter, the extended offseason often is an event in itself, with the draft, free agency signings, and the announcement of schedules keeping the NFL in the spotlight even during the spring, when virtually no on-field activity is taking place. A typical calendar of league events is as follows, with the dates listed being those for the 2010 NFL season:

February 22 – Pro Football Hall of Fame Game opponents announced.

February 24–March 2—NFL Scouting Combine: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Ind.

February 25—Deadline for Clubs to designate Franchise and Transition players.

March 5—Veteran Free Agency signing period begins. Trading period begins.

March 21–24—NFL Annual Meeting: Dana Point, Calif. Usually accompanied by announcement of scheduling and opponents for first game and opening-weekend night games.

Early April: Teams begin voluntary workouts.

April 20: 2010 schedule announced.

April 22–24 – NFL Draft: New York City.

May 24–26—NFL Spring Meeting: Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

June 27 – June 30—NFL Rookie Symposium, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Mid-July (varies by team)-- Training camps open.

August 7 – Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Canton, Ohio, including Hall of Fame Game.

August 12–16—First full Preseason weekend.

August 31—Roster cutdown from 80 to maximum of 75 players.

September 4—Roster cutdown from 75 to maximum of 53 players.

September 9–13 – Kickoff 2010 Weekend (Week 1 of regular season)

October 31 – International Series game (Wembley Stadium, London).

November – Pro Bowl balloting, flexible scheduling for Sunday Night Football and the NFL Network's night game package all begin.

November 25 – Thanksgiving games.

January 2, 2011—End of regular season.

January 8, 2011 – Playoffs begin.

January 23 – AFC Championship Game and NFC Championship Game.

January 30 – Pro Bowl.

February 6 – Super Bowl.

Teams

Current NFL teams

The NFL consists of thirty-two clubs. Each club is allowed a maximum of fifty-three players on their roster, but they may only dress forty-five to play each week during the regular season. Reflecting the population distribution of the United States as a whole, most teams are in the eastern half of the country; seventeen teams are in the Eastern Time Zone and nine others in the Central Time Zone.

Most major metropolitan areas in the United States have an NFL franchise, although Los Angeles, the second-largest metropolitan area in the country, has not hosted an NFL team since 1994. The Rams and the Raiders called the Los Angeles area home from 1946–1994 and 1982–1994 respectively. In 2005, some Saints games were played in San Antonio and Baton Rouge because of Hurricane Katrina.

Unlike Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League, the league has no full-time teams in Canada, although the Buffalo Bills play one game per year in Toronto. Also, there is talk of possibly bringing the NFL to Toronto, the largest city in Canada.

The Dallas Cowboys are the highest valued American football franchise, valued at approximately $1.6 billion and one of the most valuable franchises in all of professional sports worldwide, currently third behind Canadian ice hockey team Toronto Maple Leafs (valued at $2.25 billion) and English soccer club Manchester United, (Incidentally, the majority shareholder in United, Malcolm Glazer, is also the owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.)

Since the 2002 season, the teams have been aligned as follows: {| class="navbox wikitable" style="width:100%; text-align:center" |- ! style="background:white; width:5%" | Division ! style="background:white; width:13%" | Team ! style="background:white; width:13%" | City/Area ! style="background:white; width:20%" | Stadium ! style="background:white; width:11%" | Founded ! style="background:white; width:8%" | Joined ! style="background:white; width:13%" | Head Coach !style="background:white; width:17%" |Owner |- ! style=background:#E60000 colspan=8 | American Football Conference |- ! style=background:white rowspan=4 | East | Buffalo Bills | Orchard Park, NY | Ralph Wilson Stadium ¹ | align=center | Oct 28, 1959 (AFL) | align=center | 1970 | Chan Gailey | Ralph Wilson |- | Miami Dolphins | Miami Gardens, FL | Sun Life Stadium | align=center | Aug 16 1965 (AFL) | align=center | 1970 | Tony Sparano | Stephen M. Ross |- | New England Patriots | Foxborough, MA | Gillette Stadium | align=center | Nov 22, 1959 (AFL) | align=center | 1970 | Bill Belichick | Robert Kraft |- | New York Jets | East Rutherford, NJ | New Meadowlands Stadium | align=center | Aug 14, 1959 (AFL) | align=center | 1970 | Rex Ryan | Robert Wood Johnson IV |- ! style=background:white rowspan=4 | North | Baltimore Ravens | Baltimore, MD | M&T; Bank Stadium | align=center | Feb 9, 1996 | align=center | 1996 ² | John Harbaugh | Steve Bisciotti |- | Cincinnati Bengals | Cincinnati, OH | Paul Brown Stadium | align=center | May 23, 1967 (AFL) | align=center | 1970 | Marvin Lewis | Mike Brown |- | Cleveland Browns | Cleveland, OH | Cleveland Browns Stadium | align=center | June 4, 1944 (AAFC) | align=center | 1950 ² | Pat Shurmur | Randy Lerner |- | Pittsburgh Steelers | Pittsburgh, PA | Heinz Field | align=center | July 8, 1933 | align=center | 1933 | Mike Tomlin | Dan Rooney |- ! style=background:white rowspan=4 | South | Houston Texans | Houston, TX | Reliant Stadium | align=center | Oct 6, 1999 | align=center | 2002 | Gary Kubiak | Robert C. McNair |- | Indianapolis Colts * | Indianapolis, IN | Lucas Oil Stadium | align=center | Jan 23, 1953 | align=center | 1953 | Jim Caldwell | Jim Irsay |- | Jacksonville Jaguars | Jacksonville, FL | EverBank Field | align=center | Nov 30, 1993 | align=center | 1995 | Jack Del Rio | Wayne Weaver |- | Tennessee Titans * | Nashville, TN | LP Field | align=center | Aug 14, 1959 (AFL) | align=center | 1970 | Mike Munchak | Bud Adams |- ! style=background:white rowspan=4 | West | Denver Broncos | Denver, CO | Invesco Field at Mile High | align=center | Aug 14, 1959 (AFL) | align=center | 1970 | John Fox | Pat Bowlen |- | Kansas City Chiefs * | Kansas City, MO | Arrowhead Stadium | align=center | Aug 14, 1959 (AFL) | align=center | 1970 | Todd Haley | Clark Hunt |- | Oakland Raiders * | Oakland, CA | Overstock.com Coliseum | align=center | Jan 30, 1960 (AFL) | align=center | 1970 | Hue Jackson | Al Davis |- | San Diego Chargers * | San Diego, CA | Qualcomm Stadium | align=center | Aug 14, 1959 (AFL) | align=center | 1970 | Norv Turner | Alex Spanos |- ! style=background:navy colspan=8 | National Football Conference |- ! style=background:white rowspan=4 | East | Dallas Cowboys | Arlington, TX | Cowboys Stadium | align=center | Jan 28, 1960 | align=center | 1960 | Jason Garrett | Jerry Jones |- | New York Giants | East Rutherford, NJ | New Meadowlands Stadium | align=center | Aug 1, 1925 | align=center | 1925 | Tom Coughlin | John Mara & Steve Tisch |- | Philadelphia Eagles | Philadelphia, PA | Lincoln Financial Field | align=center | July 8, 1933 | align=center | 1933 | Andy Reid | Jeffrey Lurie |- | Washington Redskins * | Landover, MD | FedEx Field | align=center | July 9, 1932 | align=center | 1932 | Mike Shanahan | Dan Snyder |- ! style=background:white rowspan=4 | North | Chicago Bears * | Chicago, IL | Soldier Field | align=center | 1920 ³ | align=center | Sept 17, 1920 | Lovie Smith | Virginia Halas McCaskey |- | Detroit Lions * | Detroit, MI | Ford Field | align=center | 1929 | align=center | July 12, 1930 | Jim Schwartz | William Clay Ford, Sr. |- | Green Bay Packers | Green Bay, WI | Lambeau Field | align=center | Aug 11, 1919 | align=center | Aug 27, 1921 | Mike McCarthy | Green Bay Packers, Inc. |- | Minnesota Vikings | Minneapolis, MN | Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome | align=center | Jan 28, 1960 | align=center | 1961 | Leslie Frazier | Zygi Wilf |- ! style=background:white rowspan=4 | South | Atlanta Falcons | Atlanta, GA | Georgia Dome | align=center |June 30, 1965 | align=center |1966 | Mike Smith | Arthur Blank |- | Carolina Panthers | Charlotte, NC | Bank of America Stadium | align=center | Oct 26, 1993 | align=center | 1995 | Ron Rivera | Jerry Richardson |- | New Orleans Saints | New Orleans, LA | Louisiana Superdome | align=center | Nov 1, 1966 | align=center | 1967 | Sean Payton | Tom Benson |- | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Tampa, FL | Raymond James Stadium | align=center | April 24, 1974 | align=center | 1976 | Raheem Morris | Malcolm Glazer |- ! style=background:white rowspan=4 | West | Arizona Cardinals * | Glendale, AZ | University of Phoenix Stadium | align=center | 1898 | align=center | Sept 17, 1920 | Ken Whisenhunt | Bill Bidwill |- | St. Louis Rams * | St. Louis, MO | Edward Jones Dome | align=center | 1936 (AFL II) | align=center | 1937 | Steve Spagnuolo | Stan Kroenke |- | San Francisco 49ers | San Francisco, CA | Candlestick Park | align=center | June 4, 1944 (AAFC) | align=center | 1950 | Jim Harbaugh | Denise DeBartolo York and John York |- | Seattle Seahawks | Seattle, WA | Qwest Field | align=center | June 4, 1974 | align=center | 1976 | Pete Carroll | Paul Allen |} ; Chart notes

Former NFL teams

In its earliest years, the NFL was a very unstable and somewhat informal organization. Many teams entered and left the league annually. However, since the acquisition of the All-America Football Conference in 1950, the NFL has shown remarkable stability. The last NFL team to fold was the Dallas Texans in 1952; its remnants were salvaged to form the expansion Baltimore Colts.

Media

Television

The television rights to the NFL are the most lucrative and expensive sports broadcasting commodity in the United States.

Annually, the Super Bowl often ranks as the most watched show of the year. Four of Nielsen Media Research's top ten programs are Super Bowls. Networks have purchased a share of the broadcasting rights to the NFL as a means of raising the entire network's profile. The Super Bowl is so popular annually that many companies debut elaborate commercials during the game.

Under the current television contracts, which began during the 2006 season, regular season games are broadcast on five networks: CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN, and the NFL Network. Regionally shown games are broadcast on Sundays on CBS and Fox, carrying the AFC and NFC teams respectively (the traveling team deciding the broadcast station in the event of inter-Conference games, presumably so that each network can show games from all the stadiums). These games generally air at 1:00 p.m. ET and 4:05 p.m. or 4:15 p.m. ET. (Due to differences between Eastern and local time, games played in the Pacific and Mountain time zones are never played in the 1:00pm ET time slot.) Nationally televised games include Sunday night games (shown on NBC), Monday night games (shown on ESPN), the Thursday night NFL Kickoff Game (shown on NBC), the annual Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Day games (CBS and Fox), and beginning in 2006, all Thursday and Saturday games on the NFL Network, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Football League.

Additionally, satellite broadcast company DirecTV offers NFL Sunday Ticket, a subscription based package, that allows most Sunday daytime regional games to be watched. This package is exclusive to DirecTV in the USA; for subscribers to Dish Network Verizon FiOS and Comcast, the NFL instead offers "RedZone," a less expensive single channel that launched in 2009 and airs "the touchdowns and most important moments during all the Sunday afternoon games." In Canada, NFL Sunday Ticket is available on a per-provider distribution deal on both cable and satellite.

The NFL also produces programming for various networks, mainly highlight shows like Inside the NFL for Showtime and other historical games through its renowned NFL Films division that generally air on ESPN and NFL Network. Other NFL-produced programs include Hard Knocks, an HBO series detailing training camp for certain teams; plus the animated children's show RushZone: Guardians of the Core airing on Viacom's Nicktoons channel.

Radio

Each NFL team has its own radio network and employs its announcers. Nationally, the NFL is heard on the Westwood One Radio Network, Sports USA Radio Network, the Dial Global-Compass Media Sports Network and in Spanish on Univision Radio. Westwood One carries Sunday and Monday Night Football, all Thursday games, two Sunday afternoon contests each week, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, and all post-season games, including the Pro Bowl. Sports USA Radio and Dial Global-Compass each broadcast two Sunday afternoon games every Sunday during the regular season, by agreement with individual teams.

Internet radio broadcasts of all NFL games are managed through FieldPass, a subscription service. Radio stations are, by rule, prohibited from streaming the games for free from their Web sites; however, there are numerous stations that break this rule. All 32 teams, plus Westwood One and Univision, currently broadcast through FieldPass as of 2009; Dial Global-Compass and Sports USA do not.

Internet/new media

In October 2006 the NFL announced the league would fully operate NFL.com, including the development of the technology, infrastructure and editorial content. Launching its first major redesign since 1999 in August 2007, the site had been previously produced and hosted since 2001 by CBS SportsLine. It is estimated that the contract cost CBS $120 million over a five year period. Prior to CBS, ESPN.com produced and hosted the NFL site.

Brian Rolapp, senior vice president of NFL digital media and media strategy: “In a rapidly changing digital landscape, bringing NFL.com in-house provides us greater control of our valuable content and enables us to strategically build the site as a media asset. Fans can look forward to an even more entertaining, interactive and informative site built upon the expertise of the NFL and its other in-house media outlets such as NFL Network and NFL Films.”

Univision Online, Inc., the interactive subsidiary of Univision Communications Inc., and the NFL announced in January 2008 that they will jointly manage and operate NFLatino.com powered by Univision.com, the official U.S. Spanish-language website of the NFL. NFLatino.com is the only Spanish-language website in the United States to feature NFL video game highlights. In addition, the website includes live radio broadcasts, up-to-date stats, Hispanic player diaries, Fantasy Football and an insider’s view of all 32 teams.

Announced in March 2009, NFL.com received its first-ever Sports Emmy nominations, which earned recognition for its NFL.com LIVE coverage of NFL Network’s Thursday and Saturday Night Football (Outstanding new approaches, coverage) and its Anatomy of a Play, a short-form 360-degree analysis of key plays of the week (Outstanding new approaches, general interest).

Beginning September 2008, the NFL announced that it would simulcast all NBC Sunday Night Football games on NFL.com, located at nfl.com/snf. In 2007, they had provided an Emmy-nominated "complementary live broadcast" which included a partial simulcast of the NFL Network's Run to the Playoffs eight game package along with expanded NFL Network analysis.

The NFL offers a pay service allows fans to watch all NFL regular season, playoff, and Super Bowl games online. However, viewers within the United States cannot watch these games live. Instead, the service is updated Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It offers full DVR functionality with the ability to watch up to four previously recorded games at once.

The NFL offers a pay service for NFL fans outside United States to watch all regular season and playoff games, except for the Super Bowl, live online. This service is not available for fans within the United States or México.

Player contracts and compensation

The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) has historically served as the labor union for NFL players. Among its duties is negotiating collective bargaining agreements (CBA) with league owners, which governs the negotiation of individual player contracts for all of the league's players. The NFLPA was established in 1956, and has decertified at least twice in its history during labor disputes: the 1987 strike and the 2011 lockout.

The most recent CBA was in place since 1993, and was amended in 1998 and again in 2006. But in 2008, the owners exercised their right to opt out of the agreement two years early. This has eventually led to a lockout in 2011, the NFL's first work stoppage since 1987, which is longer than Major League Baseball (1994 and beginning of 1995 seasons), the NBA (1998-99 season) or the NHL (2004-05 season canceled).

Under that recently expired CBA, players were tiered into three different levels with regards to their rights to negotiate for contracts: Players who have been drafted (see below), and have not yet played in their first year, may only negotiate with the team that drafted them. Bo Jackson sat out an entire year in 1986, choosing to play baseball in the Kansas City Royals organization rather than play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the team that had drafted him. He reentered the draft the following year, and was drafted and subsequently signed with the Los Angeles Raiders. Players that have played three 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.

Player contracts are not guaranteed; teams are only required to pay on the contract as long as the player remains a member of the team. If the player is cut, or quits, for any reason, the balance of the contract is voided and the player receives no further compensation.

Among other things, the CBA establishes a minimum salary for its players, For 2009, it increased to $127 million. As a result of the NFL owners opting out of the CBA two years early, in the absence of a new CBA 2010 will have no salary cap or floor. If the pick is not made in the allotted time, subsequent teams in the draft may draft before them. This happened in 2003 to the Minnesota Vikings.

Teams have the option of trading away their picks to other teams for different picks, players, cash, or a combination thereof. While player-for-player trades are rare during the rest of the year (especially in comparison to the other major league sports), trades are far more common on draft day. In 1989, the Dallas Cowboys traded running back Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings for five veteran players and six draft picks over 3 years. The Cowboys would use these picks to leverage trades for additional draft picks and veteran players. As a direct result of this trade, they would draft many of the stars who would help them win three Super Bowls in the 1990s, including Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland, and Darren Woodson.

The first pick in the draft is often taken to be the best overall player in the rookie class. This may or may not be true, since teams often select players based more on the teams' needs than on the players' overall skills. Plus, comparing players at different positions is difficult to do. Still, it is considered a great honor to be a first-round pick, and a greater honor to be the first overall pick. The last pick in the draft is known as Mr. Irrelevant, and is the subject of a dinner in his (dubious) honor in Newport Beach, California.

Drafted players may only negotiate with the team that drafted them (or to another team if their rights were traded away). The drafting team has one year to sign the player. If they do not do so, the player may reenter the draft and can be drafted by another team. Bo Jackson famously sat out a season in this way. Free agents are classified into two categories: restricted and unrestricted. Furthermore, a team may "tag" a player as a franchise or transition, which places additional restrictions on that player's ability to negotiate. However, the ability to "tag" is quite limited, and only affects a handful of players each year.

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

Restricted free agent

A player who has 3 years of experience is eligible for restricted free agency, whereby his current team has the chance to retain rights to this player by matching the highest offer any other NFL franchise might make to that player. The club can either block a signing or, in essence, force a trade by offering a salary over a certain threshold. In 2006, these thresholds were as follows:

If a club tenders an offer of $685,000 per year for a three year veteran, and $725,000 for a four year veteran, the player's current team has "right of first refusal" over the contract at those terms, and may sign the player at those terms.

If a club tenders an offer of $712,000 or 110% (whichever is greater) of the previous year's salary, then the current club has both "right of first refusal" and rights to a draft pick from the same round (or better) from the signing club. Essentially, this means that the new club must forfeit the draft pick to the old club if they wish to sign the player under these terms.

If a club tenders an offer of $1.552 million or 110% (whichever is greater) of the previous year's salary, then the current club has both "right of first refusal"; and rights to the first round draft pick from the signing club. and criticized by others, but the policy is the longest running in American professional sports, beginning in 1987. The suspended games may be either regular season games or playoff games.

Since the NFL started random, year-round tests and suspending players for banned substances, many more players have been found to be in violation of the policy. By April 2005, 111 NFL players had tested positive for banned substances, and of those 111, the NFL suspended 54.

Video games

There have been several American football video games based on NFL teams created for various consoles over the years, from 10-Yard Fight and the Tecmo Bowl series for the NES to the more well known Madden series that have been released annually since 1988. The Madden series is named after former coach and American 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. This prompted video game developer Midway Games to release a game in 2005 called , with fictitious teams and players. In February 2008, EA Sports renewed their exclusivity agreement with the league through Super Bowl XLVII in 2013. A free flash based online game called Quick Hit Football was released in 2009 and was granted an official NFL license in 2010.

Management

Commissioners and presidents #Temporary Secretary Ralph Hay (1920) #President Jim Thorpe (September 17, 1920–April 30, 1921) #President Joseph Carr (April 30, 1921–May 20, 1939) #President Carl Storck (May 25, 1939–April 5, 1941) #Commissioner Elmer Layden (March 1, 1941–January 11, 1946) #Commissioner Bert Bell (January 11, 1946–October 11, 1959) #Interim President Austin Gunsel (October 14, 1959–January 26, 1960, following death of Bell) #Commissioner Alvin "Pete" Rozelle (January 26, 1960–November 5, 1989) #Commissioner Paul Tagliabue (November 5, 1989–September 1, 2006) #Commissioner Roger Goodell (September 1, 2006–present)''

Main league offices

Canton (1920–1921)

Columbus (1921–1941)

Chicago (1941–1946)

Philadelphia (1946–1960)

New York City (AFL, 1960–1969)

New York City (1960–present)

Franchise owners

Unlike many professional leagues, the NFL forbids corporate owners. Ownership groups must contain twenty-four or fewer individuals, and at least one partner must hold a thirty percent or greater share of the team. The Green Bay Packers are an exemption to the current policy, since they have been a publicly owned stock corporation since before the rule was in place.

In recent years, NFL owners and the NFL itself have become politically active, donating millions of dollars to political candidates.

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 at that date were grandfathered and did not have to change their uniform numbers if they did not conform. Since that date, players are invariably assigned numbers within the following ranges, based on their primary position:

Quarterbacks, Placekickers and Punters: 1–19

Wide Receivers: 10–19 and 80–89

Running Backs and Defensive Backs: 20–49

Offensive Linemen: 60–79 (Centers can have the option of using 50-59)

Linebackers: 50–59 and 90–99, or 40–49 if all are taken

Defensive Linemen: 50–79 and 90–99

Tight Ends: 80–89, or 40–49

Prior to 2004, wide receivers were allowed to wear only numbers 80–89. 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. Linebackers are allowed to wear numbers between 40–49 when all of the numbers 50–59 and 90–99 are taken. Prior to that, players were allowed to wear non-standard numbers only if their team had run out of numbers within the prescribed number range. Keyshawn Johnson began wearing number 19 in 1996 because the New York Jets had run out of numbers in the 80s. Oakland Raider offensive center Jim Otto wore a 00 jersey during most of his career with the AFL team and kept the number after the leagues merged. Devin Hester is a wide receiver/return specialist for the Chicago Bears but wears number 23 because he was drafted as a cornerback but transferred to wide receiver after his rookie year.

Occasionally, players will petition the NFL to allow them to wear a number that is not in line with the numbering system. Brad Van Pelt, a linebacker who entered the NFL in with the New York Giants, wore number 10 during his eleven seasons with the club, despite not being covered by the grandfather clause. In 2006, New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush petitioned the NFL to let him keep the number 5 which he used at USC. His request was later denied. Former Seattle Seahawks standout Brian Bosworth attempted such a petition in 1987 (to wear his collegiate number of 44 at the linebacker position which he used at the University of Oklahoma), also without success. The Seahawks attempted to get around the rule by listing Bosworth as a safety, but after he wore number 44 for a game against the Kansas City Chiefs, the NFL ruled Bosworth would have to switch back to his original number, 55.

To aid the officials in spotting certain penalties, such as "illegal formation" or "ineligible receiver", usually only offensive players with numbers 1–49 and 80–89 are allowed to play at the end or back positions or handle the ball in normal game situations. However, a player wearing 50–79 or 90–99 may play in an "eligible" position simply by reporting to the referee that he will be doing so. The 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, subject to the reporting rules described above. It is not uncommon for running backs to line up at wide receiver on certain plays, or even to have a large offensive or defensive 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.

Awards

AFC Championship Game (Lamar Hunt Trophy)

NFC Championship Game (George S. Halas Trophy)

NFL Coach of the Year Award

NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award

NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award

NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award

NFL Most Valuable Player Award

NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award

NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award

Pete Rozelle Trophy (Super Bowl MVP)

Pro Bowl MVP

Vince Lombardi Trophy

Walter Payton Man of the Year Award

Discontinued awards

AFL All-Star Game MVP

Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup

Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy

UPI AFL-AFC Player of the Year

UPI NFC Player of the Year

UPI NFL MVP

Cheerleading

26 of the 32 NFL teams are supported by their own professional cheerleading squads. These squads attend games and promote the team. The teams without cheerleading squads are the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, and Detroit Lions.

See also

Association of Professional Football Leagues

Coaching tree

Comparison of Canadian and American football

Current NFL coaches

Defunct NFL teams

Football Canada

Glossary of American football

History of the National Football League in Los Angeles

Instant replay in American football

List of American football players

List of current National Football League stadiums

List of current NFL announcers

List of famous American sports figures who became politicians

List of Professional Football Drafts

List of professional sports teams in the United States and Canada

List of sports attendance figures — the NFL's attendance in a worldwide context

List of TV markets and major sports teams

List of American and Canadian cities by number of major professional sports franchises

Madden NFL series

National Football League depth charts

NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team

NFL All-Decade Teams

NFL attendance

NFL Blitz

NFL Charities

NFL Cheerleading

NFL Films

NFL franchise moves and mergers

NFL Lore

NFL Network

NFL nicknames

NFL Street series

Personal Seat License

Pro Football Hall of Fame

USA Football

Regular seasons

List of NFL seasons

List of NFL tied games (since 1974)

Monday Night Football

*

NBC Sunday Night Football

National Football League rivalries

Thursday and Saturday Night Football

Postseasons

AFC Championship Game

Active NFL playoff appearance streaks

History of NFL Championships

List of Current NFL franchise post-season droughts

List of NFL champions

List of Super Bowl champions

NFC Championship Game

NFL playoffs

One Game Playoff

Pro Bowl

Professional American football championship games

Super Bowl

Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup

Vince Lombardi Trophy

Records

NFL Individual Records

NFL opening day standings

NFL Standings since 1920

NFL Standings since AFL-NFL merger

NFL Team-Oriented Records

Super Bowl records

Related football leagues

All American Football League

All-America Football Conference

American Football League

American Youth Football

Canadian Football League

List of leagues of American and Canadian football

NFL Europa

United Football League

References

Notes

Bibliography

MacCambridge, Michael (2004-2005), America's Game. New York:Anchor Books ISBN

External links

Official NFL Players Association (labor union) website

Official Super Bowl website

NFL History – Champion and Award Lists

NFL Digest of Rules

ESPN.com's NFL Section

NFL Video at ESPN's Video Archive

Pro Football Reference – Historical stats of every team, player and coach in the NFL

Playerfilter – Sortable and exportable player, game and season data

NFL's Economic Model Shows Signs of Strain

Process of game-time decisions will eliminate TV duds, create chaos by Michael Hiestand, USA Today, April 5, 2006 (Last accessed April 5, 2006)

Five NFL teams worth over $1 billion

Gadget for iGoogle NFL standings and schedule

Category:Organizations established in 1920 Category:Cooperatives in the United States 1 Category:Professional sports leagues Category:Supraorganizations