The history of the National Football League The NFL is wildly popular with teams regularly selling out their home games The National Football League NFL started in 1920 with 14 teams Since then it has grown into a multibillion-dollar organization Today there are 32 teams NFL games are played in large stadiums packed with cheering fans Some of these places are old and filled with meaningful histories Others are more modern Millions of fans from around the world watch the sport There are no sure things in the NFL Any team can win any game This is part of what makes the league so exciting for fans Yet some teams led by great coaches and players show a dominance that lasts for many years These teams often end up in the playoffs In the playoffs every game is a sudden-death 4
BUCCANEERS C LIV 12 12 step toward the Super Bowl the biggest US sporting event of the year Today the NFL continues to grow in popularity and excitement However that wasn’t always the case In the early 1900s college football was wildly popular but professional football was an unorganized mess Professional and semipro teams were scattered across the country There was no official In February 2021 quarterback Tom Brady led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to their second Super Bowl win 5
THE HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE rulebook or standings Also there was no way to keep players from changing teams whenever they wanted The Early Days The owners of four professional teams got together on August 20 1920 They wanted to talk about organizing their football games They named their group the American Professional Football Conference and agreed on a set of rules About one month later more teams wanted to join and create a professional football league The new group changed its name to the American Professional Football Association APFA APFA leaders created more rules for the sport In April 1921 the league crowned the Akron Pros from Ohio as its first champion From there the APFA added even more teams It started to expand to bigger cities On June 24 1922 the APFA changed its name It was now the National Football League The number of teams in the NFL rose and fell as leaders added new teams and closed struggling ones The NFL was made up almost entirely of white athletes in those days There were a few Black players in the 1920s but soon the owners wrongfully decided not to give any Black players contracts Two former college stars finally broke that barrier in 1946 The Cleveland Rams wanted to move to Los Angeles California They wanted to play their games at the LA Coliseum which was built with public money Local officials said the Rams had to integrate their roster So the team agreed to sign Kenny Washington and Woody Strode Both of these men had played locally at the University of California 6
7 34 10 17 13 Kenny Washington back row on the left and Woody Strode front row on the right made history when they joined the Rams Los Angeles UCLA Today Black athletes make up about 70 percent of NFL teams Growing Popularity Rival leagues have challenged the NFL over the years Two of the most successful ones ended up changing the face of the NFL In 1944 a group of businesspeople formed the All-America Football Conference AAFC The new league tried to form a friendly relationship with the NFL It agreed not to sign any NFL contract players The AAFC had eight teams in its first season in 1946 The Cleveland Browns were led by coach Paul Brown They won all four AAFC titles before the league shut down after the 1949 season NFL commissioner Bert Bell 7
