The National Football League is an economic juggernaut. As of 2011, it reportedly makes an estimated $6 billion per year in ticket sales, merchandising and contracts with television networks. Almost 22 million people paid to attend games in 2005, and 141.1 million viewers watched on TV as the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL in 2006. But the league springs from humble beginnings and its past includes rivalries and infighting.
1920s
Pro football existed in 1920, but it wasn't organized. On Aug. 20, owners met in an auto showroom in Canton, Ohio, then they met again on Sept. 17, and the American Professional Football Association was born. It changed its name to the National Football League in 1922 and weathered its first contract dispute with a player in 1925 when Harold "Red" Grange of the Chicago Bears demanded a five-figure salary and part ownership of the team. Grange lost his negotiations, so his agent tried to start a new NFL team to accommodate him. This effort wasn't successful, either, so his agent established the American Football League for him. That version of the AFL lasted only one season.
1930 to 1949
Once again, in 1936, another league formed to challenge the NFL: the second incarnation of the American Football League. And 1936 marked the inception of the NFL's college draft. NBC was the first to televise an NFL game in 1939. The third American Football League formed in 1940, renamed itself the All-America Football Conference in 1946 and fielded eight teams. For the first time, helmets were mandatory in the NFL, and in 1948, the Los Angeles Rams were the first team to paint a logo on theirs.
1950 to 1969
The first NFL championship game was televised coast to coast in December 1951, and CBS began regularly broadcasting nonchampionship games in 1956. In 1962, the United States District Court supported the NFL's right to black out home games on television within 75 miles of a team's stadium, forcing fans to buy tickets to see the games. The AFL brought an antitrust suit against the NFL in 1962, charging it with monopolizing the television networks and the signing of quality players. After a lengthy court battle and a series of secret meetings in 1966, the AFL and NFL finally merged. The first Super Bowl between them, called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, was played in January 1967.
1970 to 1989
The first Pro Bowl took place in Los Angeles in 1971, and in 1972, the Super Bowl was the most watched one-day event in television history to that point, reaching more than 27 million homes. Congress intervened in the dispute about blacked-out games in 1973, requiring that television blackouts be lifted for home games that sell out three days prior to the game. Players went on strike in 1982 for a new collective bargaining agreement, and teams fielded a group of nonprofessional players until the dispute was resolved. A Super Bowl "tournament" in 1983 resulted from the odd, shortened season.
1990 through the Millennium
The NFL added three new teams: the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars in 1994, and the Houston Texans in 2001. The NFL began using the Internet in 1995 when it became the first major sports league to establish its own website. It had signed a satellite television deal a year earlier, agreeing to a deal with DirecTV for "NFL Sunday Ticket," a subscription service allowing fans to access coverage of any game played on a given weekend.
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