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The Birth of the NFL
The NFL was born in Canton Ohio. 14 men huddled inside a car dealership. These 14 men were soon to be the owners of their own NFL team. This was the start of the $45 billion powerhouse it is now. -
1st Obstacle
The first obstacle the NFL dealt with was what they should pay the players causing a miniture lockout. -
2nd Obstacle
because of the confusion of pay the players would jump from team to team trying to find the most money. -
3rd Obstacle
the last obstacle was that college students were being recruited to play for this professional teams. This was a huge no no because at this time collegiate football was the power house and the NCAA states that you can not pay their students. -
The Demise
Only four out of the original fourteen franchise surivived the first season. The teams struggled because they were severly under funded and not to mention the ticket and merchandise sales were low. -
Low Ticket Sales
The teams were forced to drop their prices from $2.00 to 50 cents because not only were the stadiums surrounded by generally small towns but there was no fan base because no one cared for the teams and there was no culture surrounding football. -
The Trifecta
The Green Bay Packer won their third concecutive title. Which was a turning point for the culture surrounding the NFL and in specific the Packers because the ticket sales spiked 65% in their three year reign. -
First Radio Broadcasted Game
The first ever radio broadcast game was the Thanksgiving game. The Chicago Bears were playing the Detriot Lions. This was the first time that fans at home could listen to a play by play of the game with out actually being there. This not only helped the NFL to gain more fans but also opened up chances for them to advertise to a large margin of people. -
The First Televised Game
The first televised game was broadcasted by the NBC network. This was the first time people could see every each of the game with out being at the game. -
NFL Became Non-profit
The NFL became a non-profit organization. By establishing this the NFL has limited liability and huge tax exemptions. Because to be a non-profit organization the government has to see you as a public charity. -
Television Threat
The NFL saw the television as a threat to the NFL's profit because at that time the NFL made their money on tickets. Until Pete Rozelle convinced the founders that the television would help the NFL reach its pinnacle. Rozelle knew it would because it would make football a part of your home. Plus the NFL would still make money by selling the right to showing the game. -
NFL Peaks
The NFL's highest ticket sales was in 2007. 17,345,205 people attended the 256 regular season games. The reason for the high attendance numbers is because of the low ticket prices. -
Missing $60 Million Dollars
The NFL lost $60 million and 782,000 paying customers only four years after reaching the NFL's highest number of tickets ever sold. The attendance number continue to decline as the ticket prices continue to increase. -
Drop Out of Non-profit
The NFL decided to drop its non-profit status. No one is sure why they did it whether it was to quiet the critics that didn't think the NFL deserved the non-profit status. However Grantspace.org believes they did this to gain more privacy and control. -
How Television has Affected the Game
Each team gets 150 to 200 employees for recording regular season games. Not to mention that the NFL signs multibillion dollar television contracts each year.
