NFL — National Football League

What is the NFL?

The National Football League is the professional league of American football in the United States: 32 clubs split into the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC), each with East, North, South and West divisions of four teams.^[11] It is a league of member clubs rather than a sports federation. The 2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement defines a “Club” as “any entity that is a member of the NFL or operates a franchise in the NFL at any time during the term of this Agreement”, and defines “NFL” as “the National Football League, including the NFL Management Council”, the body that bargains for the clubs as employers.^[5]

For US tax purposes the league office was registered as a 501(c)(6) organisation, the category the IRS uses for business leagues and trade associations, under EIN 13-1922622 in New York; ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer holds its returns up to the fiscal year ending March 2015 and notes that the EIN is no longer on the IRS list of tax-exempt organisations.^[1] The NFL’s Constitution and Bylaws, which set out its legal form and the terms of club membership, could not be retrieved from a primary source.

What does the NFL govern or do?

The NFL writes the playing rules of the professional game. The current code is the 2026 NFL Rulebook, published on the league’s Football Operations site in 19 rules, from the field and the ball through scoring, player conduct, instant replay and overtime to the officials.^[3] Rule changes start in the Competition Committee, which the league says “reviews all competitive aspects of the game, including (but not limited to) playing rules, roster regulations, technology, game-day operations and player protection”. It has 12 members, a mix of club executives and head coaches, with Rich McKay (Atlanta Falcons) and Stephen Jones (Dallas Cowboys) as co-chairmen. “To be adopted, a new rule or a revision must have the support of 75 percent of the owners (24 ‘yes’ votes out of 32 clubs)”, cast at the annual league meeting.^[4]

Player employment — the salary cap, free agency, the draft and benefits — is set by the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the players’ union (see below). The NFL does not govern the college game, which is run by the NCAA and its conferences, or the international sport, whose world body is the International Federation of American Football. The NFL is not on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of organisations that have accepted the World Anti-Doping Code; IFAF is listed there among the ARISF members.^[16]

When was the NFL founded and where is it based?

The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s chronology dates the league to two meetings in Canton, Ohio, in 1920. The first, on 20 August at the Jordan and Hupmobile auto showroom, brought together the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians and Dayton Triangles and formed the American Professional Football Conference. At the second, on 17 September, clubs from Ohio, Indiana, New York and Illinois renamed it the American Professional Football Association and elected Jim Thorpe president.^[7] The Hall’s 1922 entry records that “The American Professional Football Association changed its name to the National Football League, June 24.”^[8]

The present structure dates from the merger with the American Football League. The Hall’s 1970 entry records that the “merged 26-team league” adopted rule changes on 18 March 1970 and that on 19 March Lamar Hunt and George Halas were elected presidents of the new AFC and NFC.^[9] The league now has 32 clubs.^[11]

The league office is in New York: the Nonprofit Explorer lists the National Football League at New York, NY, under its tax filings.^[1]

How is the NFL recognised?

As a league, the NFL holds no recognition from the IOC or an international federation; its standing rests on its legal form, its members and its labour agreement. On 28 April 2015, CBS News reported that the league office and its management council “will file tax returns as taxable entities for the 2015 fiscal year”, quoting commissioner Roger Goodell’s letter that the effects of the exemption “have been mischaracterized repeatedly in recent years”; the report added that “all 32 teams pay taxes on their income”.^[2]

The players’ side is the National Football League Players Association. The current agreement, “made and entered into as of the 15th day of March, 2020”, recognises the NFL Management Council as “the sole and exclusive bargaining representative of present and future employer member Clubs” and the NFLPA as that of “present and future employee players in the NFL”.^[5] The league states that it runs “through the 2030 season”.^[6]

For the national and Olympic game, USA Football states that the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee certified it as the National Governing Body for American football on 17 April 2025, and that it is “the sole U.S. member” of IFAF.^[14] The NFL’s part in the Olympic flag football effort was announced at The World Games 2022, when the NFL’s Troy Vincent and IFAF’s Pierre Trochet were named co-chairs of the “Vision28” group working for flag football’s inclusion at the Los Angeles 2028 Games.^[15] On 20 May 2025, at the league’s Spring Meeting, the owners passed a resolution allowing NFL players to take part in flag football at the 2028 Games; the league reported the vote as 32–0 and that “A maximum of one player from each team will be allowed to participate and each club’s designated international player is also permitted to take part for his country.”^[17][18]

What does the NFL organise?

The NFL’s season is an 18-week regular season of 272 games: each club plays 17 games and has one bye week. Six games are against division opponents, and the rest follow a fixed rotation of divisions inside and outside the conference, plus matchups based on the previous season’s standings.^[11] Under the 2020 agreement, seven teams from each conference qualify for the playoffs.^[6]

The 2026 season is in progress. Its kickoff weekend was 9–14 September 2026; the league calendar puts week 18 on 9–10 January 2027, the wild-card round on 16–18 January, the divisional round on 23–24 January and the conference championships on 31 January. Super Bowl LXI is scheduled for 14 February 2027 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.^[12]

The league also schedules regular-season games abroad. The first was played on 2 October 2005, between the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. For 2026 the league lists “nine games played across four continents, seven countries and eight stadiums”, in Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, London, Paris, Madrid, Munich and Mexico City.^[13]

Who are its members?

The NFL’s members are its 32 clubs, sixteen in each conference:^[11]

AFC — Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans.^[10]

NFC — Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Commanders.^[10]

The clubs act collectively through the owners’ votes at league meetings, which adopt rule changes by a three-quarters majority, and through the NFL Management Council, their bargaining agent with the players.^[4][5] The conditions for admitting or transferring a club are set in the Constitution and Bylaws, which could not be retrieved.