A Quick History of NFL - SCACCHoops.com

A Quick History of NFL

by WebMaster

Posted: 8/19/2021 12:35:19 AM


What is the NFL? 

The National Football League was born in 1920 in Canton, Ohio, as the American Professional Football Association, and its first president was Jim Thorpe, who was an athlete who played in the league. The name NFL didn’t really come about until 1922. 

We love the NFL, nothing excites America quite as much as football season, and the culmination of the season with the Superbowl is some of the most talked about events in America. Everyone has their favorite team, and these NFL teams have supporters around the world as well as in the States thanks to widespread media coverage. 

While we love the NFL and engage with it with all our passion every year, how many of us know the deep history of this amazing sorting event that has us cheer, cry, jump for joy, and scream our lungs out? 

Let’s take a real look at the amazing history behind this amazing game.

1920. 

It all began in 1920, when the league began play. The league only comprised five teams from Ohio; Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Tigers, Columbus Panhandlers, and Dayton Triangles. As well as four teams from Illinois; Chicago Tigers, Decatur Staleys, Racine Cardinals, and Rock Island Independents. Two from Indiana also were part of this; Hammond Pros and Muncie Flyers. Two from New York; Buffalo All-Americans, and Rochester Jefferson's. Finally, they had the Detroit Heralds from Michigan. 

Of all these original teams, only two remain to this day. The Cardinals left Chicago for St. Louis after the season in 1959 and relocated to Arizona in 1988. Then the Decatur Staleys moved to Chicago in 1921 and a year later became the Chicago bears. 

NFL vs AFL and the merger. 

Once the league began, like any startup project, it experienced a lot of instability and competition. It has a competition with its counterpart, the AFL. However, not all foes will always seek to crush each other, and eventually these two enemies become friends. While once, they were in rivalry to become the strongest American professional football league in the 60s, they managed to look past their differences. 

In 1970, they reconciled, and they completed a merger, which created a 26-team circuit under the name of the older NFL, thus eventually forming two conferences that would play against each other and craft the NFL we know today; the AFC and NFC. 

Since this merger back in 1970 the league has managed to expand four times and add in six new franchises, equalling 32 teams, with each of these football conferences having 16 teams. These 16 teams would play off against each other in the NFL, and the last two teams standing then compete in the Superbowl. This merger between the NFL and AFL created the NFL we know and love today. 

The NFL won the first two Superbowls while the AFL won Superbowl three and four, and once these leagues merged they took on their new names as the NFC and AFC, but they game continued on under the titled NFL. 

Betting on the NFL- The real moneymaker.

One of the biggest parts of the NFL these days is it’s betting enterprise. The NFL is, without a doubt, the most widely bet on sport in North America and nothing even comes close, not even basketball. Despite the league garnering massive television ratings largely because the audience has invested financially in the outcomes, the league was publicly opposed to the legalization of sports betting on the NFL. However, the argument was made that legalizing betting would impeach the integrity of the league and an honest game was paramount above all else. 

However, this argument soon fell flat as illegal gambling ran rampant, and the NFL became increasingly popular, all thanks to bettors. It was not only good for business, but they could easily keep their heads high and untoward gambling while still deriving all of the benefits. The NFL lines on each and every single game would be available in every newspaper, despite it only being allowed to wager in Las Vegas sportsbooks. 

Then when sports betting became mainstream after the Profession and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 1992 thanks to it becoming overturned, the leagues' stance was thawed. And now the NFL has taken to holding hands with DraftKings, which is a daily fantasy football concern that paved the way for sports betting to become legitimized and legal. 

The former mentioned fantasy football concerns then branched out into bookmaking, and we have to say, it's a bit funny that the NFL struck a corporate deal with them now after pretending they hated their guts for so long. No one can deny any longer than the NFL are no less than best friends with the cash income that fills their pockets. And why would they deny it? It's good business.

It's taken a long time but sports betting is now rife and there are only a few States in the US where it is not yet legalized, however, even these states are on their way to legalizing it, and online sports betting is now even more common and legal than any other online gambling in America. 



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