The 1936 NFL season was the 17th regular season of the National Football League. For the first time since the league was founded, there were no team transactions; neither a club folded nor did a new one join the NFL. 1936 was also the first year in which all league teams played the same number of games. Since this season, the number of regular season games per team has been:

The season ended when the Green Bay Packers defeated the Boston Redskins in the NFL Championship Game. For the only time in NFL history, the team with the home field advantage declined to play at their own stadium and instead elected to play at a neutral site. Due to poor attendance, the Redskins moved the game from Boston to the Polo Grounds in New York City.

In the Western Division, the Bears reached 6–0–0 and the Packers 5–1–0 midway through the 12 game season, the Packers only loss having been 30–3 to Chicago. On November 1, Green Bay beat the Bears 21–10 to give both teams a 6–1–0 record. Both teams continued to win, and both were 9–1–0 as Thanksgiving approached. The Bears lost their last two games, while Green Bay lost neither, putting the Packers into the title game. In the Eastern Division, the Pittsburgh Pirates were at 6–5–0, and the Boston Redskins at 5–5–0, when they met on November 29 in Boston before a crowd of only 7,000. The Pirates lost, 30–0, falling to 6–6–0, and could only hope that 6–5–0 Boston would do the same in their last game; instead, the Redskins won at New York, 14–0 before 18,000. Since the Eastern winner had the right to host the '36 title game, George Preston Marshall spurned Boston to play the championship game at New York as well, where 29,545 turned out. Marshall would move the Redskins to Washington for 1937.

The National Football League has enjoyed success in selling out many of their venues from season ticket sales alone. Out of 32 teams in the league, 24 claim to have waiting lists from under 1,000 people to over 150,000. For some fans, this means a wait not just of years, but decades. This is due mostly to the NFL's short window of play; there are only eight regular-season home games, forcing the most devoted fans into a desperate and sometimes costly search for a limited number of events.

Since 1973, the waiting lists have also had the by-product of preventing any home games of certain teams from being blacked out on local television. Home games must be sold out within 72 hours of kickoff before a telecast is allowed, and the longest waiting lists have ensured every home game of the applicable teams being locally televised. Prior to 1973, home games could not be locally televised even if they were sold out. Four teams have had the benefit of not seeing any blackouts at all since 1972.

Personal Seat Licenses (PSLs) is a license which grants the holder the right to buy season tickets for a particular team. PSLs were first used in the NFL by the expansion Carolina Panthers in 1993 to help finance their new stadium. Since that time, several teams have used the mechanism to finance new stadium projects including the Chicago Bears remodel of Soldier Field and more recently the Dallas Cowboys. The New York Jets and the New York Giants used PSL programs to finance the construction of the New Meadowlands Stadium, now MetLife Stadium.

Harry Norbert Kalas (March 26, 1936 – April 13, 2009) was an American sportscaster, best known for his Ford C. Frick Award-winning role as lead play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies. Kalas was also closely identified with the National Football League, serving as a voice-over narrator for NFL Films productions (a regular feature on Inside the NFL) and calling football games nationally for Westwood One radio.

Born in Naperville, Illinois, Kalas graduated from Naperville High School in 1954 and from the University of Iowa in 1959. Upon graduation, he was immediately drafted into the United States Army and stationed in Hawaii. After his discharge in 1961, Kalas began calling minor-league baseball games for the Hawaii Islanders.

Kalas had three sons Todd, Brad, and Kane. Todd Kalas was a Phillies broadcaster, worked as a pregame/postgame–show host, and is currently an in-game analyst for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Kalas made his major-league debut in 1965 with the Houston Astros, replacing Al Helfer and working alongside Gene Elston and Loel Passe. He called the first game at Houston's Astrodome, on April 12, 1965.

Jerry Lee Rice (born October 13, 1962) is a retired American football wide receiver. He is widely considered to be the greatest wide receiver of all time and is considered by many to be the best NFL player to ever play football. On November 4, 2010, Rice was chosen by NFL Network's NFL Films production The Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players as the greatest player in NFL history.

The all-time leader in most major statistical categories for wide receivers and the all-time NFL leader in touchdowns scored with 208, Rice was selected to the Pro Bowl 13 times (1986–1996, 1998, 2002) and named All-Pro 12 times in his 20 NFL seasons. He won three Super Bowl rings playing for the San Francisco 49ers and an AFC Championship with the Oakland Raiders.

Jerry Rice was born and raised in Starkville, Mississippi, as the son of a brick mason. He developed his hands while working for his father. His speed also helped him excel in football in high school. He enjoyed watching football on television.

According to his book "Rice" (written with Michael Silver), the school's principal tracked him down for skipping class, but when he called his name the startled Rice sprinted off running. After seeing him run, the principal decided to let him join the football team or be punished. Jerry decided upon football and the principal told the school's football coach about his speed. The truthfulness of this story has been questioned.

Calvin Enley Johnson, Jr. (born September 29, 1985), nicknamed Megatron, is an American football wide receiver for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Lions second overall in the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at Georgia Tech. On March 14, 2012, Johnson signed a seven-year, $132 million contract extension with the Lions, one of the largest sports contracts ever.

Johnson has a rare combination of size, hands, speed, strength, leaping ability, body control and hand-eye coordination. His nickname "Megatron" was given to him by former Lions wide receiver Roy Williams and the name caught on with fans.

Johnson was born to Calvin Sr. and Arica Johnson on September 29, 1985 in Newnan, Georgia. Johnson was 6 feet tall in middle school, and 6 feet 4 inches in 10th grade. He attended Sandy Creek High School in Tyrone, Georgia and was a student and a letterman in football. In football, he was a three year starter as a wide receiver. As a sophomore, he made 34 receptions for 646 yards and 10 touchdowns. As a junior, Johnson caught 40 passes for 736 yards and eight touchdowns. His number, 81, was retired on October 22, 2010.