Anyone watching American football in its original form in the 1890s would find little in common with the version played today. Over its long history, American football has expanded from strictly a college sport to a professional game, which eventually evolved into the National Football League.
Founding
The first professional American football League was known as the American Professional Football Association and was formed in 1920. The league changed its name to the National Football League in 1922. The NFL began with 18 teams, and the Canton, Ohio, Bulldogs won the league championship in the first two years of the league's existence. The original NFL's rules differed little from the college football rules of the time and followed college playbooks. However, despite having similar rules, college players were unable to play in the NFL until they had finished college.
The Early Years
In 1922, the NFL grew to 22 teams. The next year, though, at a meeting in Cleveland, the league was reduced to 12 teams, and then to 10 the following year. In 1932, the number dropped again to eight teams, the lowest membership in the league's short history. In 1935, the first NFL draft was held. The draft was a way to bring graduated college players into the league and saw teams selecting in reverse order of finish, with the last-place team selecting first.
All-American Football League
In 1946, the rival All-American Football Conference was formed. The league started with eight teams, and the Clevland Browns won the first three AAFC championship games. In 1949, three AAFC teams -- the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts -- moved to the NFL in a merger agreement. The next year, in 1950, the NFL and AAFC merged to form the National-American Football League. This name was changed three months later to the National Football League. In 1953, the previous designations of East and West divisions were changed to American and National divisions, respectively.
American Football League
Another rival football league was created. This league had eight teams, including the New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders. The league was called the American Football League, or AFL. The AFL held its first draft in 1959, and its first games in 1960. For years, the NFL and AFL had a bitter rivalry, competing for media attention, fans and players.
NFL-AFL Merger
In 1966, the NFL and AFL agreed to a merger after years of legal and monetary battling. The new league consisted of 24 teams, which would be increased to 28 in 1970. The first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, between the winner of the AFL and NFL playoffs, was held in 1967. The Packers of the NFL won the first two of these games, called Super Bowls, beating the Kansas City Chiefs and then the Oakland Raiders. In 1970, the two leagues finalized their merger. Each league brought 13 teams and formed a new conference. The NFL became the NFC and the AFL became the AFC. The AFL and NFL kept the name NFL to represent the two conferences as a whole.
Players
In 1956, the NFL Players Association was formed to help protect players' rights. The association brought forth a lawsuit in 1987, which was decided in 1992, and created free agency so players could move between teams. Another move by the association was a player strike in 1982 for a variety of issues, including higher minimum salaries based on years of experience.
Television
Television has been an important part of NFL football. In 1950, selected teams began making deals to put games on television. During the time when they were competing for an audience, both the AFL and NFL worked out contracts with ABC, NBC and CBS. At one point, the AFL filed a lawsuit against the NFL for attempting to create a monopoly in football television broadcasts. In 1970, ABC began broadcasting Monday night games, which would later become known as "Monday Night Football." One of the most interesting events in a network broadcast of football was the "Heidi" incident on NBC in 1968. The network chose to end the Raiders-Jets game 50 seconds early so the movie "Heidi" could begin on time. The game ended with the Raiders scoring two touchdowns in the final 42 seconds to win.
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