The National Football League (NFL) is the highest level of
professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top
professional American football league in the world. 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 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 the most attended domestic sports league in the world by
average attendance per game (16 a season), with 67,394 fans per game in
2011–12.
History
In 1920, representatives of several professional American football
leagues and independent teams met in Canton, Ohio, and founded the American
Professional Football Conference, soon renamed the National Football League.
The first official championship game was held in 1933; before then, there was
no playoff system, and instead the team that finished with the best regular
season record was awarded the league title. 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 one of the most watched sporting
events in the world, and is second to association football (soccer)'s UEFA
Champions League final as the most watched annual sporting event worldwide.
Official rules and notable
rule distinctions
Although rules for NFL, college, and high school American football games
are generally consistent, there are several differences. In addition, the NFL
frequently makes rule changes because of exploits on the field by a single
coach, owner, player, or referee.
Some of the major rules differences include:
- A pass is ruled complete if both of the receiver's feet are
inbounds at the time of the catch. In college and high school football,
only one foot is required to be inbounds.
- In the NFL, a player is considered down when he is tackled or
forced down by a member of the opposing team (also known as "down by
contact"). In college football, a player is automatically ruled down
when any part of his body other than the feet or hands touches the ground
or when the ball carrier is tackled or otherwise falls and loses
possession of the ball as he contacts the ground with any part of his
body.
- NFL players in certain positions are normally ineligible to catch
passes. As an aid for game officials to enforce this rule, players wear uniform
numbers based on the position they play. (see below)
- In the NFL, overtime is decided by a 15-minute sudden-death quarter
during regular season games, and can still end in a tie if neither team
scores during this extra period; if the score remains tied during a
playoff game, however, additional overtime periods are played. Starting
with the 2012 season, each team gets one possession to score unless one of
them scores a touchdown on its first possession. Sudden death rules apply
if both teams have had their initial possession and the game remains tied.
During college football's overtime, each team is given one possession from
its opponent's twenty-five yard line with no game clock. The team leading
after both possessions is declared the winner. If the two college teams
remain tied, additional overtime periods are played; a college football
game cannot end in a tie.
- Unlike college and high school, the NFL has a two-minute warning,
an automatic time-out that occurs when two minutes of game time remain on
the game clock in each half, and overtime during the regular season (the
timing rules of overtime during the regular season is similar to the
fourth quarter, while overtime periods in the playoffs are timed like
regulation).
- Also unique to the NFL, the game clock never stops after the
offense completes a first down in order to reset the first down chains.
- Two-point conversion tries are attempted from the two-yard line,
whereas in college football they are attempted from the three-yard line.
- In college football, the defensive team may score two points on a
point-after touchdown attempt by returning a blocked kick, fumble, or
interception into the opposition's end zone. The NFL does not allow this,
and instead a conversion attempt is automatically ruled as "no
good" when the defending team gains possession of the football.
- There are several differences in enforcing penalties. For example,
defensive pass interference results in the ball being placed at the spot
of the foul. In college football, the same penalty is capped at a maximum
of 15 yards.
- For instant replay, NFL teams are given two replay challenges per
game, and can be awarded a third one if the other two are successful.
Replays of scoring plays, the final 2:00 of each half and all overtime
periods are instead initiated by the official in the replay booth. Also,
as of the 2012 season, all turnovers will be reviewed by the replay
official. In college football, teams are only originally allocated one
replay challenge (and can get a second one if successful), and the replay
official can initiate reviews of all plays.
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
At the end of the 2008 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.
Main article: National Football League regular 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 regular season
ends no later than January 3, in any given year.
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.
Playoffs
Each of the four division winners is seeded 1–4 based on their W-L-T
records. The two Wild Card teams (labeled Wild Card 1 and 2) are seeded fifth
and sixth (with the better of the two having seed 5) regardless of their
records compared to the four division winners.
Main article: National Football League 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 No. 3 and No. 6 seeded teams, and the No. 4 and
No. 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 No. 1 and No. 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 No. 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 all four
rounds of its playoffs; Major League Baseball (not including their Wild Card
Showdown round), 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 game returned to Honolulu in 2011 and 2012, though both games were
still played before the Super Bowl.
On April 26, 2012, Chris Mortensen of ESPN reported that the Pro Bowl
was likely to be suspended for the 2012 season and beyond. According to league
sources, Commissioner Roger Goodell was dissatisfied with the lack of
competitive effort by players in that game, although he did not bear any ill
will toward the players due to safety issues. Mortenson also reported that if
the game is shelved, a Pro Bowl balloting process will continue because many
player contracts include incentive clauses that are triggered by Pro Bowl
selections.
The NFL later decided to keep the Pro Bowl for the time being, announcing that
the 2013 game would be held in Honolulu, again one week 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 2012 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 13—Veteran Free Agency signing period begins. Trading period
begins.
- March 26–28—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 17: 2012 schedule announced.
- April 26–28 – NFL Draft: New York City.
- May 21–23—NFL Spring Meeting: Chicago, Ill.
- June 24 – June 27—NFL Rookie Symposium, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
- Mid-July (varies by team, fifteen days before first preseason
game)-- Training camps open.
- August 5 – Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Canton,
Ohio, including Hall of Fame Game.
- August 9–13—First full Preseason weekend.
- August 28—Roster cutdown from 90 to maximum of 75 players.
- September 1—Roster cutdown from 75 to maximum of 53 players.
- September 5–10 – Kickoff 2012 Weekend (Week 1 of regular season)
- October 28 – International Series game (Wembley Stadium, London).
- November – Pro Bowl balloting and flexible scheduling for NBC
Sunday Night Football begin.
- November 22 – Thanksgiving games.
- December 30, 2012—End of regular season.
- January 5, 2013 – Playoffs begin.
- January 20 – AFC Championship Game and NFC Championship Game.
- January 27 – Pro Bowl.
- February 3 – 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 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.
Further information: History of the National Football League in Los
Angeles
The Rams and the Raiders called the Los Angeles area home from 1946–1994
and 1982–1994 respectively. On August 9, 2011, the LA City Council approved
plans to build Farmers Field which could be home to an NFL team. Candidates for
relocation are the San Diego Chargers, St. Louis Rams, and the Oakland Raiders,
or if any, will move to the venue.
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 the Bills Toronto
Series in Toronto, the largest city in Canada and there have been discussion of
possibly bringing the NFL there permanently. In addition, as of 2013, the Jacksonville
Jaguars will begin hosting one of its regular season games in London, England
as part of the International Series, making the NFL the first U.S.-based sports
league to have one of its teams establish a home stadium outside North America.
The Dallas Cowboys, at approximately $2.1 billion, are the most valuable
NFL franchise. This also makes them the most valuable sports franchise in the
United States, and second worldwide to the soccer club Manchester United, which
has a value of $2.23 billion at current exchange rates. The New England
Patriots and Washington Redskins are the second and third most valuable NFL
teams, with respective values of $1.64 billion and $1.6 billion. All 32 NFL
teams rank among the top 50 most valuable sports teams in the world.
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