subject: Nfl: The National Football League History [print this page] The National Football League (designated by the unofficial translation of "National Football League" in French), abbreviated by the acronym NFL is an association of professional teams in football, working in the United States. The NFL was founded in 1920, first under the name American Professional Football Association (APFA), prior to the detriment renamed the National Football League in 1922. The NFL holds an annual championship closely watched in the world punctuated by a major event: the Super Bowl.
The first football game dates back to November 6, 1869 but the need for a unified league appeared in 1920.
On August 20, 1920, the leaders of four teams from Ohio the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians and Dayton Triangles met in Canton, a small town in Ohio and decided to form lAmerican Professional Football Conference . A month later, these leaders find themselves again, but other teams from other states join: the Hammond Pros and Muncie Flyers from Indiana, the Rochester Jeffersons from New York, and three teams from Illinois: the Rock Island Independents, Decatur Staley and the Racine Cardinals. They then decided to abandon the term of their conference name to the Association, and was born lAmerican Professional Football Association (APFA designated by the acronym) .
To gain visibility, the new league decides to appoint the popular athlete Jim Thorpe in his presidency, it also donning the costume of player in the league. However, at the very beginning, the organization is more like a conglomerate than a league of teams structured and framed for the first year, fourteen teams will play in trying to decide and they will not play the same number of games . It was not until April 30, 1921 and a meeting of the league to Akron for the Akron Pros are symbolically sacred champions of the inaugural season .
Following this meeting, was reorganized LAFp: Thorpe, who spent more time on land than take over the organization, is replaced by Joseph Carr , former member of Columbus Panhandle, which moves the headquarters of the League of Akron to Columbus and defines the limits of "territory" for the players and file official documents on the league. For the first time a ranking official is expected to be established before the start of the competition. Twenty-four teams participating in the championship, which the Packers of Green Bay . At the end of the season, the Chicago Staley totaled nine wins, 1 loss and 1 draw and the Buffalo All-Americans 9-1-2.
On June 24, 1922 LAFPA changes name to the National Football League . The NFL will experience a relatively rapid development thanks to a new policy of recruiting players. The college football at the time being what was best in terms of visibility and popularity, the NFL approach of many famous scholars who, once they graduate, join the league. In addition, to attract a greater number of spectators, all teams in the league, except the Green Bay Packers, moving in 1934 to larger cities.
The introduction of a great final between the top two teams from the two newly created divisions (East and West divisions later called conferences) will contribute to the success of the NFL. The invention of the grand final in 1933, plus the fact that it took place in the city the best team, has largely contributed to the growing enthusiasm around the team in each city.
Become a lucrative competing college football, the NFL looks to expand: from 1945, she won the West Coast following the move of the Rams from Cleveland to Los Angeles.
The expansion of the NFL gives ideas to other entrepreneurs: a rival league, the All-American Football Conference (AAFC) is thus created in June 1944. This is initially a serious rival to the NFL before passing it in terms of spectators at matches. Fortunately for the NFL, viewers get tired of the domination of one team, the Cleveland Browns, who won all AAFC titles with ease from 1946 to 1949. The AAFC went bankrupt in 1950 and the NFL took the opportunity to expand and grown out of this tumultuous period, absorbing three teams from the defunct AAFC with the Cleveland Browns and the San Francisco 49ers.
The NFL then experienced a remarkable development, but in 1960 a new league in turn tries to enjoy the thrill of professional football. The American Football League (AFL) is founded on bases different from the NFL riding the wave of renewal, in contrast with the conservative nature of the NFL. The first AFL installs billboards showing the time left to play, thus facilitating the lives of many fans who were no longer obliged to wait until the referee announces the time remaining when he saw fit.
Faced with competition in terms of performance but also in terms of pure game, the NFL responded by setting up a franchise in the cities occupied by the AFL: Dallas eg Dallas Cowboys Dallas Texans compete in the AFL. The battle between the two leagues to recruit the best players and broadcast rights to television and the public is tired of the sluggish rise of professional football. On June 8, 1966, the two leagues, aware of the financial danger, decide to merge, spreading out the details of the operation up to 1970.
