GREAT AND MIGHTY NFL
Many great sports seasons have begun. Some of them are relatively peaceful, and some of them involve violence. But let’s look at the sport with the combination of these two approaches - American Football. To be more precise, about the National Football League.
For 101 years, the NFL has been bringing an immense amount of great games, legendary players, and an unbelievable level of excitement. But what do we have behind these curtains?
THE HISTORY AND STRUCTURE
We know you are here not for a “school-type” of information, so we’ll try to make it as quick and understandable as possible.
So, our journey began in 1920, when a bunch of intelligent representatives of specific football teams decided to make football more organized. And after a bit of chit-chat in Canton, Ohio, the results were these:
- The Creation of the American Professional Football Conference (APFC).
- Raised standards in all possible ways for professional football.
- Eliminate bidding for players between rival clubs.
- And enhancing the schedule of plays.
Or at least it was intended to be like that. How it went exactly right after, it’s the question not for us but our ancestors. Anyway, soon, during the same year, the conference was renamed the American Professional Football Association, or simply APFA. After some time, it’ll be called how we know it today - the National Football League.
Name changing does not affect what is going on. But the choice of the first president of this organization does - Jim Thorpe. And besides, the APFA held 14 teams initially.
Okay, at this point, we think it’s enough natural history facts, and let’s glance at the structure of the teams in the current situation. So, since the beginning of the NFL, the number of participants has increased noticeably, up to 32 teams. And maybe because of that, the NFL organization has two conferences: American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC), with 16 teams each. These two conferences also have been split into four divisions: East, North, South, and West.
Looking at the picture in the left, we can see how NFL teams are distributed among the U.S.A. If you see it for the first time and may be saying to yourself where's the logic, it's okay. After some time, you'll get used to it, and according to the history of some teams, they sometimes relocate to different cities and states. But despite the relocation, the initial region of the particular team was unchangeable.
So, to conclude and simplify, it is crucial to understand the structure of tournaments. First, the winners from each division move to the inter-conference games. From that point, The winner from each conference (AFC and NFC) will meet each other during the final showdown - the Super Bowl. During the Super Bowl, the League Champion is determined.
SUPER BOWL AT ITS FINEST
The Super Bowl (or how it is also called the “big game”, in case to avoid copyright infringement) is an event that lots of fans expect to witness. This annual tournament determines the best team out of the AFC and NFC. Why so? That’s pretty simple.