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Professional Football Begins
Representatives of four Ohio football teams—the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians, and Dayton Triangles—meet in a Canton automobile showroom to form a new professional football league. Initially called the American Professional Football Association, the organization will eventually be renamed the National Football League. -
Flyers Over Panhandles
In the first matchup between NFL teams, the Dayton Flyers defeat the Columbus Panhandles by the score of 14-0. -
First Black Head Coach
Akron Pros star Fritz Pollard adds coaching responsibilities to his on-field duties, becoming the NFL's first black head coach. -
Football Segrigates
At the insistence of Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall, the NFL imposes a new de facto policy of total racial segregation. No more black athletes will play in the NFL until after World War II. -
First Draft
An NFL game airs on television for the first time, with NBC producing a local broadcast of a game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Eagles. Since fewer than 1,000 TV sets are known to exist in New York at the time, it is unclear whether anyone actually watches the broadcast. -
First Televised League
An NFL game airs on television for the first time, with NBC producing a local broadcast of a game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Eagles. Since fewer than 1,000 TV sets are known to exist in New York at the time, it is unclear whether anyone actually watches the broadcast. -
NFL Champioship Televised
For the first time, the NFL Championship Game is televised nationwide. -
First Super Bowl
The NFL's Green Bay Packers easily defeat the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs to win the first Super Bowl. More than 32,000 tickets go unsold for the game, held in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, but the game draws more television viewers than any previous sporting event. -
Walter Payton Breaks All Time Russing Record
Flu-ridden Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton punishes the Minnesota Vikings' defense while rushing for an NFL single-game record of 275 yards. Payton's record will stand for 23 years. -
Coke Ad
During the broadcast of Super Bowl XIII, Coca-Cola airs one of the most popular Super Bowl ads of all time, showing fearsome Pittsburgh linebacker "Mean" Joe Greene and a young fan "having a Coke and a smile" in a stadium tunnel after a game. -
First Halftime Concert
Super Bowl XVI, held just outside Detroit in Pontiac, Michigan, includes the first Super Bowl musical performance by a major recording industry superstar: Motown's own Diana Ross. Ross's performance will kick off a new era in elaborately produced pregame and halftime entertainment. -
Apple 1984 Ad
The broadcast for Super Bowl XVIII includes the debut of one of the most famous television commercials ever: Apple Computer's "1984" ad. Inspired by George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, the spot's impact on thegame's massive audience inaugurates a new era of sophisticated Super Bowl advertising. On the field, the Los Angeles Raiders crush the Washington Redskins to win their third NFL championship. -
Football Stike
The NFL Players Association—the union representing pro football players—goes out on strike, hoping to force the NFL into allowing free agency and guaranteeing players a higher proportion of league revenues. The strike will last nearly a month, during which the league will play three weeks' worth of games, as scheduled, with teams made up of amateur "replacement players" while the regular pros march picket lines outside half-full stadiums. By the third week of the strike, solidarity within the pl -
Emmit Smith Breaks Walter Payton's Record
In the fourth quarter of a game against the Seattle Seahawks, Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith breaks off an 11-yard run that allows him to surpass the legendary Walter Payton to become the NFL's all-time leading rusher. Smith finishes the game with 109 yards on 24 carries, running his career total up to a staggering 16,728 yards from scrimmage. (That's almost ten miles!) -
Roger Goodell Named Commissioner
The NFL selects Roger Goodell, its own Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer since 2001, to succeed Paul Tagliabue as NFL Commissioner. Goodell has worked for the NFL since 1982, when he talked his way into a job as an administrative intern at league headquarters. The early years of Goodell's reign will be marked by a strong crackdown by the league against various acts of off-field misconduct by its players. -
Patriots Fail To Achieve Perfect Season
Leading one of the most potent offenses in NFL history, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady sets a new NFL record by throwing for 50 touchdown passes in the 2007 season. Brady's Pats storm to the NFL's first undefeated regular season since 1972, but fail to achieve perfection after stumbling to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl.
