Facts and information about the National Football League

• The NFL was formed in 1920 and called the American Professional Football Association (APFA), changing its name to the National Football League in 1922.

• The first President of the NFL, then known as the American Professional Football Association, was legendary athlete Jim Thorpe.

• In the early days of the NFL, it was not uncommon for some teams to be located in smaller communities; Decatur, Providence, and LaRue, for example. Green Bay is the only small town team left from those days.

• Football pioneer Lamar Hunt offered to purchase an existing franchise in the NFL or to buy an expansion team, but was turned down. As a result, Hunt joined with other would-be owners and formed the American Football League (AFL) which would compete with the NFL through the 1960s until merging with the NFL in 1970.

• It wasn’t until the 1960s that the NFL had large scoreboard clocks showing the time remaining in the game so fans could see it. Up until that point the official time was kept by an official with a wristwatch.

• 1970 brought not only the AFL-NFL merger, but also the first airing of Monday Night Football which increased the games popularity immensely.

• It was former Philadelphia Eagles owner Bert Bell who, as commissioner of the National Football League, coined the phrase “on any given Sunday, any team can beat any other team”.

• The NFL has twice operated developmental leagues outside the United States. In the early 1990s there was the World League of American Football (WLAF) and then in the 2000s teams were fielded in Europe as part of NFL Europa.

• If a player is drafted by an NFL team and doesn’t want to play for that team, his only recourse is to sit out that season and enter the draft again the next year or threaten to sit out and force a trade to another team.

• The NFL Draft has been increasing yearly in its popularity as a spectator event, the official name of the draft is the “NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting”.

• While there are a few states that have multiple NFL teams playing within their borders, only Florida (Dolphins, Buccaneers, Jaguars) and California (49ers, Raiders, Chargers) have as many as three. Until the Rams moved from Los Angeles to St. Louis before the 1995 season, California had four teams.

• The NFL’s most famous Commissioner was Pete Rozelle. He was Commissioner of the NFL from 1960-1989. Pete Rozelle’s real first name was Alvin.

• The NFL’s official league office is in a city that no longer hosts NFL games, New York City (the Giants and Jets play in New Jersey). Before relocating to New York City in 1960, the leagues offices were located in Philadelphia (1946-60), Chicago (1941-1946), Columbus, Ohio (1921-1941), and Canton, Ohio (1920-1921).

• In 1973, the NFL adopted standardized jersey numbers according to position. Quarterbacks, Punters, and Kickers are allowed to wear numbers 1 through 19. Running Backs and Defensive Backs are allowed to wear numbers 20 through 49. Offensive and Defensive Linemen can wear the numbers 50 to 79 on their jerseys, while Defensive Line can also wear the numbers 90 to 99. Linebackers are permitted to wear numbers in the 50 to 59 range, as well as the 90-99 range. Tight Ends are allowed to wear numbers in the 80-89 range, if all number in that range are taken then Tight Ends can wear numbers between 40 and 49.

• It is against current rules for players to wear the number zero or double zero, two of the most famous players to wear these numbers on their jersey when it was legal were Jim Otto of the Raiders and Ken Burrough of the Oilers.

• The yearly award given to the NFL player that performs well in the community as well as on the field is named the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.

• From 1933 to 1974, the NFL had the field goal posts at the front of the end zone. They changed this practice at the same time the World Football League came about and had their goal posts at the back of the end zone.

• Longtime punter Sean Landeta, as of the 2006 season, was the last active NFL player to have played in the defunct United States Football League of the 1980s.

• The name of the trophy a team receives for winning the Super Bowl is the Vince Lombardi Trophy. For winning the NFC Championship game a team receives the George S. Halas Trophy and for winning the AFC Championship game a team would receive the Lamar Hunt Trophy.

• The NFL lost an antitrust lawsuit to the upstart USFL in the mid 1980s, in the verdict it was determined that the NFL was in fact an illegal monopoly. The financial award that the NFL was forced to pay to the USFL though was only one dollar (tripled to $3 under antitrust law) and this effectively meant the end to the USFL.

• Before being named Commissioner of the NFL in 1960, Pete Rozelle had been General Manager of the Los Angeles Rams.