NFL stands for National Football League, which is a professional American football league that is made up of 32 teams. These teams are equally divided between the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). NFL is the highest professional level of American Football in the entire world, and it is also among the four major professional sports leagues in North American.
The league is made up of a 17 weeks regular season, running from September to December. In a season, each team is expected to play a total of 16 games, one game a week. After the regular season comes to an end, six teams from each conference proceed to playoffs. The playoff is a single-elimination tournament that culminates in the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is played between NFC and AFC champions, and it is held on the first Sunday of February.
Inception
NFL was formed as American Professional Association (APFA). The name was, however, changed in the 1922 season to National Football League. Before the implementation of the playoff system in 1933, the league used to determine the champion through the standings the teams had by the end of the season. AFC and NFC merged in 1966, and a year late, the Super Bowl was held to determine the overall winner from both conferences, and it has been operational since then.
Evolution
Since its inception, the NFL considered itself as a trade association which had 32 member teams who also acted as its financers. During this time, the league was under the category of a nonprofit association, and they were among those excepted from taxation, but all individual teams were being taxes. In 2015 they gave up the exempt status following much criticism, and they started paying taxes from then.
Each April, a draft of college players is held by the NFL. The draft is made up of seven rounds, where each club gets one pick in each round. The Super Bowl champion gets to draft last while the losing team during Super Bowl drafts second-last.
The league is headed by three officers, the highest in the command being the commissioner, followed by the secretary, and finally, the treasurer. The conferences are headed by the president, but he is just ceremonial as he has no powers. A lot of the league’s growth was experienced between 1960 and 1989 under the leadership of Commissioner Pete Rozelle.
During this time, there was a great increase in overall annual attendance from 3 million to 17 million towards the end of his tenure. The numbers increased to 400 million global viewers during the 1989 Super Bowl. Paul Tagliabue took over after Rozelle, and during his leadership, the league was marked by a large increase in television contracts as well as expansion teams. He was succeeded by the current Commissioner Roger Goodell. Roger is more focused on making the sport safer by reducing illegal hits and also suspending players who are found breaking the rules.
The season format of NFL is divided into three; Preseason, Regular Season, ant the Postseason. During preseason, each team is supposed to schedule four games and play five preseason games. These are, however, just exhibition matches, and they do not count on the regular season. In the regular season, teams have played 16 games. After the regular season, the postseason starts with a twelve-team single-elimination tournament.
Awards & Achievements
Over the years, NFL has been the winner of the Shorty Industry Award in different categories like Award for Best Images, Award for Best Graphics, Award for Best Use of Animated GIFs, Award for Best Live Event Content, Award for Best use of a Meme and many others. The league has also achieved a lot when it comes to viewership because it is considered one of the major professional sports leagues in North America. The league is also the highest level of professional American football in the entire world.
Net Worth of NFL in 2024
As of November 2024, The exact net worth of NFL is not known, but it is estimated to be around $30 billion. The revenue of the league mainly comes from three sources, and these are; NFL Ventures, Television contracts, and finally, NFL Enterprises. The league has several TV partners like CBS, NBC, ESPN, FOX, and NFL Network, and these are some of the sources of its revenue.
NFL is among the leading professional sports leagues in North America, and its popularity has, over the years, spread out to the entire world. The league is among the most-watched in the world, and this has been facilitated by the wide coverage they have managed to get over the years. It also has the highest average attendance of the entire professional sports league. All this goes a long way to show the popularity of the league and how it has provided entertainment to millions and millions of people.