Pro Football

HISTORY

The first professional football game in the U.S. took place in 1895 in the town of Latrobe, Pa., between a team representing that town and the team of Jeannette, Pa. In the following ten years many professional teams were formed, including the Duquesnes of Pittsburgh, Pa., the Olympics of McKeesport, Pa., the Bulldogs of Canton, Ohio, and the team of Massillon, Ohio. Among noted college players who took up the professional game during its early years were Willie Heston (1878-1963; formerly at the University of Michigan), Jim Thorpe, Knute Rockne (Notre Dame University), and Fritz Pollard (1894-1986; Brown University). The professional game attracted only limited public support during its first 30 years. The first league of professional football teams was the American Professional Football Association, formed in 1920. It gave way in 1922 to the National Football League (NFL). A tremendous stimulus to public interest in the professional games was provided by the famous halfback Red Grange, who in 1925 joined the Chicago Bears of the NFL and toured the U.S. that year and the next. His playing drew large crowds; thereafter professional football attracted more and more first-rate college players, and the increased patronage of the public placed the game on a paying basis.

In 1936 the NFL adopted the so-called Draft Rule, a system that assigned graduating college stars to the various league teams in such a way that a fair distribution of talent was assured. In 1946 a second major professional football league, the All-America Football Conference, began to operate in competition with the NFL. In December 1949, after a period of rivalry, the All-America Football Conference was absorbed into the NFL.

Publicist Pete Rozelle was named NFL commissioner in 1960 and engineered the phenomenal growth of football for the next 29 years. He recognized and exploited the opportunity presented by nationwide television; the vast income potential in televised games made the formation of a rival major league financially possible, and in 1960 the American Football League (AFL) began play. Competitive bidding for the services of outstanding college players soon imposed a heavy financial burden on both leagues. In answer to this problem, among others presented by the increasing rivalry, a merger of the two leagues was announced on June 8, 1966. The immediate result was a common draft pool of new talent. The final stage of the merger, which became effective in 1970, provided for one commissioner and one league, the NFL. The league was divided into two conferences, the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). Rozelle inaugurated the Super Bowl, a championship game between the AFC and NFC (before 1970, between the AFL and NFL) winners, which has been played annually in January since 1967; it is the most popular televised sports event in the U.S. NFL teams play 4 preseason exhibition games, 16 games in the regular season, and play-off games within each conference among the division winners and wild card teams (teams with the best records that did not win a division).

Other professional leagues, former and current, include the World Football League (1974-75); the United States Football League (1983-85); and the World League of American Football (1991-93, 1995-    ), which was renamed NFL Europe in 1998. As of 2005, NFL Europe consisted of 6 teams: the Amsterdam Admirals, the Berlin Thunder, the Cologne Centurions, the Frankfurt Galaxy, the Hamburg Sea Devils, and the Rhein Fire. At the end of the season, the two top teams play in the World Bowl.

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