26 Facts About NFL Commissioner

1.

The NFL Commissioner is one of the major North American professional sports leagues and the highest professional level of American football in the world.

FactSnippet No. 799,163
2.

NFL Commissioner was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association before renaming itself the National Football League for the 1922 season.

FactSnippet No. 799,164
3.

The NFL Commissioner has the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world and is the most popular sports league in the United States.

FactSnippet No. 799,165
4.

The NFL Commissioner is the wealthiest professional sports league by revenue and the sports league with the most valuable teams.

FactSnippet No. 799,166
5.

Fan interest in the de facto championship game led the NFL Commissioner, beginning in 1933, to split into two divisions with a championship game to be played between the division champions.

FactSnippet No. 799,167
6.

NFL Commissioner was always the largest professional football league in the United States; it nevertheless faced numerous rival professional leagues through the 1930s and 1940s.

FactSnippet No. 799,168
7.

The game, the Super Bowl, was held four times before the merger, with the NFL Commissioner winning Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II, and the AFL winning Super Bowl III and Super Bowl IV.

FactSnippet No. 799,169
8.

Today, the NFL is the most popular sports league in North America - with much of the league's growth and popularity attributable to former Commissioner Pete Rozelle, who led the league from 1960 to 1989.

FactSnippet No. 799,170
9.

The league's licensing wing, NFL Commissioner Properties earns the league billions of dollars annually; Rozelle's tenure marked the creation of NFL Commissioner Charities and a national partnership with United Way.

FactSnippet No. 799,171
10.

From 1920 to 1934, the NFL Commissioner did not have a set number of games for teams to play, instead setting a minimum.

FactSnippet No. 799,172
11.

The NFL Commissioner went to a 14-game schedule in 1961, which it retained until switching to a 16-game schedule in 1978.

FactSnippet No. 799,173
12.

In March 2021, the NFL Commissioner officially adopted a 17-game schedule after gaining the agreement of the National Football League Players Association .

FactSnippet No. 799,174
13.

NFL Commissioner operated in a two-conference system from 1933 to 1966, where the champions of each conference would meet in the NFL Commissioner Championship Game.

FactSnippet No. 799,175
14.

NFL Commissioner is elected by the affirmative vote of two-thirds or eighteen of the members of the league, while the president of each conference is elected by an affirmative vote of three-fourths or 10 of the conference members.

FactSnippet No. 799,176
15.

NFL Commissioner is the "principal executive officer" of the NFL and has authority in hiring league employees, negotiating television contracts, disciplining individuals that own part or all of an NFL team, clubs, or employed individuals of an NFL club if they have violated league by-laws or committed "conduct detrimental to the welfare of the League or professional football".

FactSnippet No. 799,177
16.

The commissioner can issue sanctions up to and including a lifetime ban from the league if an individual connected to the NFL has bet on games or failed to notify the league of conspiracies or plans to bet on or fix games.

FactSnippet No. 799,178
17.

Each NFL Commissioner club is granted a franchise, the league's authorization for the team to operate in its home city.

FactSnippet No. 799,179
18.

Each NFL Commissioner member has the exclusive right to host professional football games inside its Home Territory and the exclusive right to advertise, promote, and host events in its Home Marketing Area.

FactSnippet No. 799,180
19.

NFL Commissioner preseason begins with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, played at Fawcett Stadium in Canton.

FactSnippet No. 799,181
20.

Each NFL Commissioner team is required to schedule three preseason games.

FactSnippet No. 799,182
21.

NFL Commissioner games are not normally played on Fridays or Saturdays until late in the regular season, as federal law prohibits professional football leagues from competing with college or high school football.

FactSnippet No. 799,183
22.

NFL Commissioner games are rarely scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday, and those days have only been used three times since 1948: in 2010, when a Sunday game was rescheduled to Tuesday due to a blizzard; in 2012, when the Kickoff game was moved from Thursday to Wednesday to avoid conflict with the Democratic National Convention; and in 2020, when a game was postponed from Sunday to Tuesday due to players testing positive for COVID-19.

FactSnippet No. 799,184
23.

The winning team chooses the company that makes the rings; each ring design varies, with the NFL Commissioner mandating certain ring specifications, in addition to requiring the Super Bowl logo be on at least one side of the ring.

FactSnippet No. 799,185
24.

NFL Commissioner recognizes a number of awards for its players and coaches at its annual NFL Commissioner Honors presentation.

FactSnippet No. 799,186
25.

The NFL Commissioner announced in March 2015 that it would suspend its blackout policy for at least the 2015 season.

FactSnippet No. 799,187
26.

NFL Commissioner operates several other drafts in addition to the NFL Commissioner draft.

FactSnippet No. 799,188