national football league
In 1920, eleven football teams across the United States came together to form a football association in an effort to streamline the game, the rules and further the sport as a great American pastime. This association would later become known as the National Football League (NFL). Originally, it was named the American Professional Football Association, later becoming the American Professional Football League in 1921 and finally settling on its current name in 1922.
The National Football League is divided into two conferences, the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football conference (NFC). These two conferences are further divided into four smaller divisions, with four teams each. The primary objective of the NFL is to promote the game, set the regular season schedule of competitors and to host a playoff game, the world championship, known as the Super Bowl.
The National Football League sets a seventeen-week schedule in which each team will play 16 games, with one week off. The regular football season begins in September, the Thursday immediately following Labor Day, and generally concludes at the end of December or first week of January. When the regular schedule is completed, the top 6 teams from each conference will face off in the playoff tournaments to determine the top two teams. The top two teams from the playoffs that will then face off in the Super Bowl.
The National Football League is the exclusive owner of all rights to the Super Bowl and sets rules and guidelines for merchandising, ticketing and any related business, including selecting the stadium where the Super Bowl will be held each year. That task is accomplished through a bidding process in which a host city will make a proposal to the National Football League for the Super Bowl to be held in their city.
In addition to the many guidelines reqired by the National Football League, the stadium’s seating capacity is an important consideration. This is the reason many cities have built or rebuilt their stadiums in recent years. Another consideration is the impact the super Bowl will have on the area. For example, when Jacksonville hosted their first Super Bowl in 2005 (Super Bowl XXXIX), they had several problems that put a strain on local resources, one of which was the enormous amount of people using the public bathrooms that caused an unanticipated strain on the local wastewater plant.
Nevertheless, The National Football League, as a governing body, has been instrumental in bringing Football into the home of millions of Americans as well as making it as popular as the great American pastime of Baseball.