American Football

Overview

American or gridiron football (as distinct from soccer, commonly known as football to non-Americans) is a sport played by two teams using an oval ball on a rectangular field. Each team has an offensive and defensive component of players, as well as a special teams unit that takes the field for certain plays. The offense attempts to move the ball, by either throwing it or carrying it, into the opponent's end zone of the field for a score known as a touchdown, or to kick the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The defense works to prevent this movement and to gain possession of the ball. A team wins by having the most points at the end of the game. By the late twentieth century American football was considered the most popular sport in the United States, where it is simply known as football.

Football owes its roots to the US collegiate environment, where university players merged two popular international sports—soccer and rugby—into a new sport. Collegiate football remains highly popular. Football has also become a major professional enterprise. The leading professional league in the world is the National Football League (NFL), based in the United States. Also popular is the Canadian Football League (CFL); although so-called Canadian football is actually slightly different from football as played in the United States, it is sometimes still considered a subset of American football. Other professional and semiprofessional gridiron football leagues have been established, although the majority of these organizations have been short-lived.

Since the rules of the game were formalized in the late nineteenth century, football has evolved into one of the largest and most profitable sports industries in the United States. During the fall and early winter months, stadiums are filled weekly with tens of thousands of fans who descend upon these venues to spend money on food, drinks, retail merchandise, and other goods and services. Televised games generate millions in advertising revenue and are among the highest-rated weekly programs in the country. The Super Bowl, the NFL’s end-of-season championship game, is broadcast around the world and dominates American television with tens of millions of viewers.

Origins and History

American football owes its roots to two highly popular sports that were played throughout Europe: soccer and rugby. Evidence of a rudimentary form of soccer can be traced as far back as the second and third centuries BCE to a military exercise called Tsu’ Chu during the Han dynasty in China. The exercise involved passing a leather ball through a small, one-foot-wide opening using only the feet, chest, back, or shoulders while other players attempted to block the target. Early versions of rugby and soccer were played across Asia and Europe and traveled to North America in the 1600s. In the early nineteenth century, the two sports began to branch off from one another as the rules of each sport were formalized. Rugby diverged from soccer in the early 1800s; running with the ball in hand was officially allowed in the Rugby School’s rules in 1841. In 1863, the Football Association was established in England, becoming soccer’s first governing body.

Early versions of American football developed on college campuses and preparatory schools throughout the early 1800s, but the game rules differed widely, with some versions of the game favoring kicking the ball and others favoring carrying it. In the mid- to late 1800s, more formalized sets of rules began to develop. “The Boston Game,” played by the Oneida Football Club on the Boston Common, was one such example, with its rules for kicking and carrying the ball, and soon other enthusiasts began to adopt similar frameworks. Beginning in 1876 and continuing through the 1890s, a number of rules committees and football clubs met to establish a universal set of rules and regulations for the sport. Among the participants was Walter Chauncey Camp, a prominent collegiate athlete at Yale University. Camp offered a wide range of rules and regulations that distinguished the sport from rugby and that remain on modern American football’s books—including the line of scrimmage, the system of downs, the quarterback position, the arrangement of offensive players, and an early points system—as well as various plays and strategies. For his work in organizing this sport, Camp has been named “the father of American football.” In 1888, tackling below the waist was legalized, prompting plays in which a group of players massed on one player of the opposing team; the brutality of this style of play nearly prompted football to be banned in the 1890s and early 1900s.

Beginning in the 1870s, the Intercollegiate Football Association (IFA) began organizing games between teams at colleges across the northeast United States. Soon after, athletic clubs, which were popular during this era, organized their own football teams and games. On November 12, 1892, in a game between the Allegheny Athletic Association and the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, William “Pudge” Heffelfinger, a former Yale All-American guard, was paid five hundred dollars to play for Allegheny; this controversial decision made Heffelfinger the first professional football player.

In 1920, organizers established the American Professional Football Association (APFA) in Canton, Ohio, with fourteen teams from Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, New York, and Michigan. In 1922, the association was renamed the National Football League. In 1960, another league, the American Football League (AFL), was established, creating a rivalry with the NFL. The AFL lasted only six years, however; in 1966, the NFL and AFL merged, and the NFL’s structure was altered to feature two conferences, the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC). In January 1967, the champions of each conference played against each other in the first Super Bowl.

Rules and Regulations

Under standard NFL rules, American football is played on a rectangular field of grass or artificial turf that is 100 yards long and 53.33 yards wide. On each end of the field is a ten-yard area called the “end zone,” at the far end of which is a tall, forked post called the goalpost. Players score points by passing or carrying the football into the opposing team’s end zone or kicking it through the goalposts. The two opposing teams each send out eleven players, and the positions of the players on the field change whether the team is playing offense or defense. The offense is the team in possession of the ball at the start of a play.

The offense is led by the quarterback, who calls offensive plays as directed by the head coach (although experienced quarterbacks often call plays themselves when they see changes or vulnerabilities in the defense). The quarterback calls their team into huddle prior to the play, quickly outlines the play at hand, and then breaks up the huddle. The team returns to the line of scrimmage, the line on the field where the offense had moved the ball at the end of the last play. The quarterback receives the ball from the center and either throws the ball to a receiver, hands or tosses the ball to a running back, or runs with the ball themselves. The quarterback is protected by the usually five players who form the offensive line, whose job is to block opponents from tackling the quarterback or whoever possesses the ball. Each time the offense gains possession of the ball, it has four opportunities (called downs) to advance the ball at least ten yards to get a new set of four downs (called a first down) or to score. The defense tries to prevent the offense from advancing the ten yards needed to earn a first down and from scoring; if the offense fails to gain the ten yards needed for a first down, it loses possession of the ball.

There are five different ways to earn points in football: touchdowns, extra points, two-point conversions, field goals, and safeties. Players can earn six points for a touchdown by carrying the ball into or catching the ball while in the opposing end zone. After a touchdown, the ball is placed at the opponent’s two-yard line and the offense has the opportunity to score one point (called an extra point) by kicking the ball through the goalpost or two points (called a two-point conversion) by running or receiving the ball in the end zone. Players can also score three points for a field goal by kicking the ball through the opposing team’s goalposts from anywhere on the field. The defense can score two points by tackling the offensive team in the latter’s own end zone, a play known as a safety.

The defense comprises players with various tasks, all of which are designed to disrupt the offense. Some players attempt to rush across the line of scrimmage and tackle either the quarterback (a “sack”) or another player in possession of the ball. Other defensive players drop back to pursue the offensive team’s receivers (the players to whom the quarterback could throw the ball) and try to prevent them from catching the ball. If the defense forces a player to drop the ball (fumble) and picks it up, or catches a pass thrown by the quarterback (an interception), the defense has secured a “turnover,” enabling its team’s offense to start play from the spot of the turnover.

In addition to the offensive and defensive players, a third segment of the players are considered to be special teams. The special teams are composed of the players who are on the field during kicks and punts. When a team cannot advance the ball within three downs, it will often use the fourth down to punt the ball to the opposing side of the field for the other team’s offense to start. After a touchdown and extra point, special teams will also go on the field for the kickoff.

The rules and regulations are critical to American football. Penalties for illegal contact, unsportsmanlike conduct, unnecessary roughness, or failure to start a play within the forty-second time limit between plays (or twenty-five seconds if the game clock was stopped) can all result in a penalty flag thrown by the referees. Such penalties can cost the team yards (penalty yards) or downs and can even result in a player being ejected from the field.

Strategy and Tactics

Football is a game of strategy. Teams spend the week between games studying the team they are scheduled to play, watching for player shortcomings and defensive and offensive weaknesses and to familiarize themselves with how that team calls its plays in certain situations. They also spend the week assessing their own strengths and shortcomings, particularly with regard to what they know about the opposing team’s past performances. Furthermore, coaches and players must be fully versed in their team’s playbook so that plays can be executed correctly and effectively during the game.

On the field, teams make a number of adjustments to changes they see on the other team. For example, many defenses begin the game in a “zone” style, which means that their players position themselves in certain areas of the field and attempt to disrupt the offense as the play is executed. However, when certain players show an ability to move through zones, the defense may go to a “man-to-man” style, thereby positioning a player on a single offensive player. Another important adjustment is with regard to the pass and run. A quarterback might see the defense as unable to effectively stop running plays and invest more of the game in this type of play. Conversely, the offense might see more opportunities for passing plays, especially if a man-to-man defense works heavily in the offense’s favor.

Among the most important strategies in football is avoiding penalties and turnovers. Both issues can result in the loss of critical yards, plays, and even control of the ball. Penalties and turnovers can be the result of strong but miscalculated play. However, most of these incidents are the result of sloppy play and a lack of self-control on the field. Most players, coaches, and football experts agree that a team that makes such mistakes in great numbers is likely to lose the game.

Professional Leagues and Series

There are a number of major professional gridiron football leagues in the world. Although most of these leagues adhere to the general rules and regulations of the NFL, they often have certain different rules and practices that distinguish them from the NFL. For example, there are only three downs in CFL play, as opposed to the NFL’s four-down rule, which makes each play a little more contested and makes throwing more common. The CFL also plays its game on a 110-yard field with 20-yard end zones, and the CFL allows offensive players to move around before the ball is snapped (in the NFL, offensive players on the line of scrimmage must stand still once the ball is set before the snap—those in the backfield are allowed to move). Such differences result in the games and strategies appearing decidedly different from those in the NFL. The CFL has fewer teams than the NFL but retains a high degree of popularity in Canada. Since 1909, the CFL regular season has culminated with the Grey Cup championship.

The Arena Football League (AFL) was another league that found popularity, using a unique indoor format known as arena football. The AFL played on a smaller field with walls instead of sidelines. Games tended to be high-scoring affairs with more passing than in CFL or NFL games. Originally formed in 1987, the AFL peaked with nineteen teams in 2007 before dissolving in 2009. Brought back for the 2010 season, the league struggled before being dissolved again after the 2019 season. Other leagues have included the Indoor Football League (IFL) and the XFL.

The NFL remains the highest echelon of professional American football. Its teams cumulatively generate billions of dollars in ticket and advertising revenues as well as other monetary sources. During the regular season that runs from September to January, games are broadcast on several national television networks. NFL games last about three hours (including commercial breaks and halftime), with multiple games being broadcast on the NFL’s main game day, Sunday. The NFL’s championship game, the Super Bowl, is a sports juggernaut. The Super Bowl is broadcast in hundreds of markets across the globe and is considered one of the most-watched sporting events in the world. Pitting the NFL’s AFC and NFC champions against one another, the Super Bowl is typically played at warm-weather or indoor settings (although in 2014, Super Bowl XLVIII was played in cold weather for the first time, at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey).

College football also remains extremely popular. Most famous is the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA’s) Division I, which features the highest level of play and recruits many of the best players from high school competition. Fanbases and revenues often approach NFL levels, especially at universities with long track records of success. As the NFL does not have a typical minor league or farm system, college football serves as the key development system for players who are then drafted by NFL teams.

Popularity

By the 1980s, football was widely acknowledged to have taken over from baseball as the most popular sport in the United States. This trend held true well into the twenty-first century according to various metrics and reports. For example, data released by NFL Media in 2021 revealed that NFL games served as forty-eight of the fifty most-watched US television programs that year. In early 2024, Super Bowl LVIII set a US single-network television broadcast record with an estimated 123.7 million viewers (breaking the previous record of 115 million viewers for Super Bowl LVII). By that time, various Super Bowls accounted for nineteen of the top twenty US single-network television broadcasts of all time. The day of the Super Bowl is akin to a holiday for many people, and cultural commentators have compared football to religion in certain parts of the country.

American football is much less popular outside of the United States. The other primary market is Canada, where the NFL enjoys a wide following along with the CFL. There are smaller fanbases and local leagues in other countries, but football does not have the international status of other sports like basketball and baseball. In the twenty-first century the NFL made efforts to expand its base around the world, including hosting occasional games in the United Kingdom starting in 2007. The NFL International Series later expanded to Mexico for the first time in 2016 and Germany in 2022. The league continued to attempt to further expand its market to other countries in the 2020s.

Despite its popularity, football has seen several major controversies over the years. The NFL suffered two high-profile lockouts and strikes, in the late 1980s and in 2011. These incidents either created a shortened season after resolution or simply cost the NFL season altogether. Fan backlash was strong, but ultimately short-lived. Perhaps more notably, in the 2010s, the issue of concussions caused on the field caused growing concern among many observers. Football players endure a great deal of physical abuse and injury during play, and as research increasingly showed the long-term effects of concussions, many fans and former players called for improved player safety rules and equipment in the NFL and in leagues for younger players. The NFL responded to such outcries by implementing a number of new regulations protecting against high-impact tackles, but the issue remained controversial.

Politics have also intersected with football at times. This was especially seen amid increased attention to systemic racism in the late 2010s and early 2020s, as highlighted when NFL player Colin Kaepernick drew national attention for on-field protests against police brutality and subsequently accused the league of shutting him out of the sport.

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