National Football League

The National Football League (NFL) is an American professional football association. It is the largest of its kind in the United States and is made up of 32 teams. It was founded in 1920 and back then, it was still called the American Professional Football Association. The name was later changed to American Professional Football League in 1921 and the current name was adopted in 1922.

The NFL’s 32 teams are divided into 2 conferences – the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). Each conference is comprised of 4 divisions and each division is divided further into 4 teams. Roger Goodell stands as the League’s current commissioner.

The Thursday night of the first full week of September each year marks the start of the 17-week NFL Season. It runs weekly until late December or early January with each team playing 16 games in total. After the regular season ends, the NFL Playoffs begins and culminates in the championship games popularly known as the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is usually followed by the Pro Bowl where all star players from both the AFC and NFC gather to play. In 2010, the Pro Bowl will be held a week prior to the Super Bowl games and will be hosted by Miami.

Football is currently the most popular sport in the United States as determined by the Harris Poll and it has been that was since 1965. It also has the highest pre-gem attendance of any other domestic sports league in the world.

Notable teams in the NFL include the Green Bay Packers which has won the most championship games (12) in the league’s history. It is followed by the Chicago Bears with 9, the New York Giants with 7 and the Pittsburgh Steelers with 5. The highest valued team in the league is the Dallas Cowboys with an estimated worth of $1.6 Billion.