National Football League

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's 17-week regular season runs from the week after Labor Day to the week after Christmas, with each team playing sixteen games and having one bye week. Following the conclusion of the regular season, six teams from each conference (four division winners and two wild card teams) advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament culminating in the Super Bowl, played between the champions of the NFC and AFC.

The NFL was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) before renaming itself the National Football League for the 1923 season. The NFL agreed to merge with the American Football League (AFL) in 1966, and the first Super Bowl was held at the end of that season; the merger was completed in 1970. Today, the NFL has the highest average attendance (67,591) of any professional sports league in the world and is the most popular sports league in the United States. The Super Bowl is among the biggest club sporting events in the world and individual Super Bowl games account for many of the most watched television programs in American history, all occupying the Nielsen's Top 5 tally of the all-time most watched U.S. television broadcasts by 2015. The NFL's executive officer is the commissioner, who has broad authority in governing the league.

NFL (disambiguation)

NFL is the abbreviation for the National Football League, the highest professional American football league in the United States.

NFL may also refer to:

Related to the National Football League

NFL Network

NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television network that is owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NFL RedZone. Dedicated to American football, the network features game telecasts from the NFL, as well as NFL-related content including analysis programs, specials and documentaries. The network is headquartered in the Los Angeles suburb of Culver City, California, and broadcasts its worldwide feed from Encompass Digital Media (formally Crawford Communications) in Atlanta, Georgia.

As of February 2015, NFL Network is available to approximately 71,867,000 households that subscribe to a cable, satellite and telco television service in the United States (totaling 61.7% of U.S. households with at least one television set).

Background

NFL Network was launched on November 4, 2003, only eight months after the owners of the league's 32 teams voted unanimously to approve its formation. The league invested $100 million to fund the network's operations. NFL Films, which produces commercials, television programs and feature films for the NFL, is a key supplier of NFL Network's programming, with more than 4,000 hours of footage available in its library. As a result, much of the network's highlights and recaps feature NFL Films' trademark style of slow motion game action, sounds of the game, and sideline conversations between players and/or team staff.

Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional football in the United States. The game culminates a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. Normally, Roman numerals are used to identify each game, rather than the year in which it is held. For example, Super Bowl I was played on January 15, 1967, following the 1966 regular season. The single exception to this rule is Super Bowl 50, which was played on February 7, 2016, following the 2015 regular season.

The game was created as part of a merger agreement between the NFL and its then-rival league, the American Football League (AFL). It was agreed that the two leagues' champion teams would play in the AFL–NFL World Championship Game until the merger was to officially begin in 1970. After the merger, each league was redesignated as a "conference", and the game has since been played between the conference champions to determine the NFL's league champion. Currently, the National Football Conference (NFC) leads the league with 26 wins to 23 wins for the American Football Conference (AFC). The Pittsburgh Steelers have the most Super Bowl victories with six.

NFL Total Access

NFL Total Access is a television news program on the NFL Network.

The network treats it as the league's "show of record" and bills it as the only year-round show dedicated to the National Football League, despite the ESPN show NFL Live running year round as well.

It is also broadcast on Sky Sports at various times in the UK.

During the 2007 season, another edition of the program previewing the week's action aired Saturday evenings on MyNetworkTV.

NFL Total Access was originally at the 7pm ET slot before being moved down to the 8pm ET time slot on September 2, 2013. On July 14, 2014, "NFL Total Access" moved back to the 7pm ET slot.

Personalities

NFL Total Access is primarily hosted by former ESPN anchor, Rich Eisen. Fran Charles is the substitute host when Eisen is unavailable or on location for a game. Other hosts for the show have included Alex Flanagan, Derrin Horton, Spero Dedes and Paul Burmeister. The main analysts are Rod Woodson, Marshall Faulk and Jamie Dukes, but other analysts include Terrell Davis, Brian Baldinger, Jim Mora, Sr., Deion Sanders, Michael Irvin, Steve Mariucci, Mike Martz, Solomon Wilcots and Warren Sapp.