This timeline of the National Football League (NFL) tracks the history of each of the league's 32 current franchises from the early days of the league, through its merger with the American Football League (AFL). The history of franchises that began as independent teams, or as members of the Ohio League, New York Pro Football League, and other defunct leagues are shown as well.
The American Professional Football Association is formed on September 17, 1920, at Canton, Ohio, with Jim Thorpe elected president.[1] The fourteen teams were mainly drawn from the Ohio League, Chicago Circuit, New York Pro Football League and other teams from the lower midwest. A $100 membership fee was charged. The Chicago Tigers folded after the season.[2]
The American Professional Football Association is reorganized at Akron, Ohio on April 30, 1921, with Joe F. Carr elected as new league president.[1] With the low entry barrier of a $100 membership fee, the number of teams balloons to 21.[1] Four of these franchises would last only one season, with Tonawanda Kardex only making it through a single game. Three other franchises folded mid-season.
A new and distinct Cleveland Indians franchise was formed. Two other teams joined the NFL, the Duluth Kelleys and the St. Louis All Stars. The St. Louis team folded after one season.
Before the season, the owner of the Cleveland Indians bought the Canton Bulldogs and "mothballed" it, taking the team's nickname and players to Cleveland for the season. The Canton Bulldogs had won the NFL championship in 1923, and won it again as the Cleveland Bulldogs in 1924.
The Canton Bulldogs were reactivated. Four other franchises were awarded, including most notably a New York City franchise awarded to Timothy J. Mara and Will Gibson for a $2,500 membership fee, the New York Giants.[1] This was the final season for the Rochester Jeffersons.
Prior to the season, the league decided to eliminate the financially weaker teams. As a result, the league dropped from 22 to 12 teams, and a majority of the remaining teams were centered around the East Coast instead of the Midwest, where the NFL had started. The New York Yankees were added from the American Football League (AFL I) and the Cleveland Bulldogs returned.
The league drops to 10 teams, the Buffalo Bisons sat out the season and the Duluth Eskimos folded. The Cleveland Bulldogs moved and played as the Detroit Wolverines.
The league increased back to 12 teams with the addition of two franchises, the Staten Island Stapletons and the Orange Tornadoes. Two mothballed teams activated for the season. Minneapolis re-entered as the Red Jackets along with the re-entry of the Buffalo Bisons.
Prior to the season, Brooklyn businessmen William B. Dwyer and John C. Depler bought the Dayton Triangles, moved it, and renamed it the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Orange Tornadoes relocated to Newark. The Portsmouth Spartans entered as a new team, bringing the total to 11 teams.
The league roster limit was expanded to a maximum of 20 players, with a minimum of 16 required.[3]
The league decreased to 10 teams due to financial hardships caused by the Great Depression. While the Cleveland Indians joined as an expansion team, the league lost the Minneapolis Red Jackets and the Newark Tornadoes, and the Frankford Yellow Jackets folded midway through the season.
The barrier to entry was raised again with the July 8 decision to increase the league membership fee to $10,000.[1] Despite the fee increase, three new teams were added — the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Eagles, and Pittsburgh Pirates.
As America became more deeply embroiled in World War II, the Cleveland Rams suspend operations for the 1943 season due to a major loss in players. The Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers were able to work around the player shortage by merging to form the "Phil-Pitt Steagles."
The size of the active roster reduced from 33 to 28 players per team.[6] Intent of this reduction was to appease the Office of Defense Transportation by reducing the impact of travel by road teams.[7] Additionally, teams primarily used day coaches rather than sleeper cars, a more efficient albeit less comfortable mode of travel.[7] This continued through the 1944 season.
New York Yanks ceased operations after the 1951 season, with the remains of the team enfranchised for 1952 as the Dallas Texans, but the team terminated after one season. It remains the last NFL team to fold due to financial reasons.
The 1953 season saw a renaming of the league's two conferences, with the American Conference renamed the Eastern Conference and the National Conference renamed the Western Conference.
A second and distinct Baltimore Colts team was enfranchised from the remains of the Dallas Texans.
Effective with the 1957 season, the NFL raised its roster limit from 33 to 35 players per team.[3] The roster limit was raised again for the 1959 season, this time to 36 players per team.[8]
Facing a divided sports market due to the establishment of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, the AFL's Dallas Texans moved to Kansas City to become the Kansas City Chiefs.
Titans of New York renamed as the New York Jets.
In the NFL, the roster limit was raised in 1963 to 37 players and in 1964 to 40 players — a number which remained constant until the end of the 1973 season.[6]
After the first two games of the 1982 season the size of the active roster was increased from 45 to 49 players, where it would remain through the end of the 1984 season.[6]
In 1991 the league allowed teams to add a third "emergency" quarterback to their active 45 man rosters—a system that would remain in effect through the end of the 2010 season.[6]
Houston Oilers announced that they will move to Nashville and renamed the Tennessee Oilers. They played the 1997 season in Memphis and the 1998 season at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville while a new stadium was built in Nashville.
The NFL realigned to create four divisions in each conference with four teams in each division.
Arizona (NFC East) and Seattle (AFC West) joined the NFC West.
NFC Central renamed NFC North.
AFC Central renamed AFC North.
NFC South created.
Tampa Bay moved from the old NFC Central.
New Orleans, Atlanta, and Carolina moved from the NFC West.
AFC South created.
Jacksonville and Tennessee moved from the old AFC Central.
Indianapolis moved from the AFC East.
Houston Texans enfranchised.
In 2011 the active roster limit was shifted from 45 + 1 emergency quarterback to an undifferentiated 46 players. This would remain in effect through the end of the 2019 season.[6]
^ abDan Daly, The National Forgotten League: Entertaining Stories and Observations from Pro Football's First Fifty Years. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2012; p. 192.
^ abJim Heffernan (ed.), "Waivers, Cutdown Dates, Move List, and Player Limits," National Football League 1969 Record Manual, New York: National Football League, 1969; p. 109.
