How NFL Has Affected American Culture

Jerry Rice once said,” To me it was never about what I accomplished on the football field, it was about the way I played the game. The NFL has effected America both positively and negatively. It has been a great past time over the years but has also been damaging in many ways to the American culture. Although the NFL has helped American’s throughout the Community and Financially. The NFL has affected American culture economically, philanthropically, and emotionally both positively and negatively.

Professional football started in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania when William Heffelfinger was offered to play for $500 for the Allegheny Athletic Association for one single game in 1892. At that time pro football , which was called The American Professional

Football Association at the time, was only played in small towns throughout the midwest and Pennsylvania. However, on August 20, 1920, a group of men gathered in Canton Ohio and created the National Football league which is Which is still the current pro football league as of today.
In its early years the national football league was a success, although it was missing one key component, the playoffs. For many years there were no playoffs or championships in the NFL. They would usually decide who was the champion of the league by who had the most wins, but this was not fair because all of the teams did not have the same number of games as others did. The different teams would just make their own schedule almost like a recreational league. So the NFL decided to make a schedule for each of the thirty-two teams to play sixteen regular season games.
In the NFL there are two conferences the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC) each of these Conferences has four divisions. The AFC North, South, East, and West and the NFC North, South, East, and West. Each of these divisions has four teams. The AFC teams are as follows: New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals, Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego Chargers, and The Oakland Raiders. The NFC teams are as follows: Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants, Washington Redskins, Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, North Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals, San Fransisco 49ers, and The Saint Louis Rams.
After the NFL created the different divisions they made the National Football League Playoffs and Championship. There are four rounds, the wildcard, divisional, conference, and championship. The team with the most wins in there division goes to the wildcard round Unless they are one of the top two teams in their conference they will go straight to the Divisional Round and skip the Wildcard.
Ever since the 1920’s the NFL had successfully been the best league in the NFL, however in 1960 the American Football League had been formed. The AFL was a very serious competitor with the NFL. So in 1966 they made an agreement to join together and it became the AFC and the NFC and the winner of both of these conferences would play in a final game called the Super Bowl.
Over the years the game has changed quite a bit. There is only one original football franchise left in existence which is the Green Bay Packers. The Packers are the only team to still have the same name and stadium in the NFL. They started in 1919 and are also the only non-profit team in the NFL. They have won 4 Super Bowls and their franchise is owned by the community. Other than the Green Bay Packers every other NFL Franchise has changed throughout the years.
Another thing that has changed is the safety of the players. Players in the early days would have bent noses or even missing teeth, today their helmets are made from steel and they are required to wear mouth pieces. The football players also ware four times more pads than they used to. Also their cleats are reenforced to help prevent broken and sprained ankles. The National Football League has also put in tackling rules. Rules like no tackling players from their knee’s and below and no helmet to helmet contact. One more thing the National Football League has just recently been able to do is review plays with a change flag. I believe this has helped the National Football League dramatically.
The National Football League has been one of the best ways to become involved in the community. Many people from all over America cannot wait for the next Sunday to come by so they can spend a full day watching their favorite sports teams battle to victory. The National Football League has often been known as America’s favorite sport, it is definitely the most popular. In the 2013 season the NFL regular season averaged 17.6 million viewers according to TV by the Numbers. The NFL has reached a point that they had almost been able to make “Super Bowl Sunday” a national holiday. This plan obviously didn’t work out as well as they wanted, but is still one of the most anticipated events all year long. Fox News reported,” The Seattle victory eclipsed the 111.3 million viewers who watched the 2012 Super Bowl between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots,according to the Nielsen Company. Until last years game dipped slightly to 108.7 million, the Super Bowl had set ratings records for the previous three years in a row.” Fox News also reported that,” For the fourth time out of five years, the Super Bowl has set a record for most-watched television event in U.S. history, drawing 111.5 million viewers, even though the Seattle Seahawks’ 43-8 victory over the Denver Broncos wasn’t really competitive.” According to all of this information the NFL is by far America’s favorite past time. It has been for about 25 years. faqs.org states that,” By the 1990’s, the Super Bowl was one of the top three rated television broadcasts on North American Television.”
The players within the teams in the National Football League are also a community. They see each other every day, they train together every day and they play together every day. Many people like to support these players by cheering them on in games. Barry Sanders, a pro Football Hall of Fame player, said,” I want to thank all of the fans and media who made playing in the NFL such a wonderful experience. I have had the pleasure meeting many of them.” This shows how much the players appreciate the positive support from their fans.
Ben Roethlisberger, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback said,” I take my life and put it on the football field, and I take the football field and put it in my life.”Players in the National Football League often compare life and football. Vince Lombardi said,” Football is like life - it requires perseverance self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and respect for authority.” This shows how football can be compared to life in many ways. It shows how you need to work hard in order to become successful.
Football is a team involved sport.

Vince Lombardi said,” People who work together will win, Wether it be against a complete football defense, or the problems of modern society. Without teamwork you cannot win in the National Football league. Troy Polamalu, the Pittsburgh Steelers strong safety said,” I’ve never been a fan of individual awards, because football is such a team sport. There’s so many things that goes into making plays. It’s about teammates trusting one another and working together.”

Another way the NFL has helped the community is through video games. John madden a former player for the NFL decided to make a game that was as close to watching it on tv as possible. His first game he published was called Madden 89, because it came out in 1989. every year he comes out with a new game. last year he came out with madden 25 for the 25th anniversary of the Maddan games. He partnered with Electronic arts sports, also known as EA sports, to help him create the games. Over 15 million people play madden Each

year.
Football has been known as the “Worlds richest sports league”. According to NBC News,” In 2006 league revenue topped $5.8 billion,reports Plunkeh Research, LTD. That same season, the NFL signed the richest series of television rights deals in history. Worth more than $23.9 billion through 2013. Meanwhile, game attendance broke records in 2006 when stadiums were filled to 90% capacity. In our Living rooms, CBS, NBC and Fox pulled NFL television ratings that eclipsed average prime time shows by a whopping 66%. Between September 9, 2006 and June 21, 2007. 12 of the 20 top-rated individual programs were NFL games."
The National Football League has also helped the economy in some ways.

For one,it has given many Americans jobs. Their are thousands of NFL employees. From a NFL player to a news reporter, the NFL has given tens of thousands of jobs to the American people. The NFL has also helped the economy in the home stadium. On the weekend of the game there are a lot of people from out of the state to come and watch the game. This means hotels, restaurants, gas stations, ect. are bringing in way more customers then a normal day. There is a lot that goes on to make the NFL as enjoyable as it is. At one game there are roughly 500 employees that are actually at the stadium. There are players, coaches, reporters, vendors, janitors and many, many more. It is all of these people who make the game and environment as enjoyable as it

is.
The National Football League has many different organizations to benefit the community. Their most popular organization is Play 60. Play 60 is an organization to help prevent childhood obesity by encouraging kids to go outside and play for 60 minutes every day. Every once in a wile they will have NFL players come out onto the field and play with the kids who are in Play 60. The National Football League has also been a proud supporter of Breast Cancer Awareness. For the month of October, the National Football League always contributes to the organization by wearing pink. The NFL coaches, referees, players, and the football field all have pink on them to help bring awareness to breast cancer. By doing this, it has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to the breast cancer industry. The NFL also supports the American military in an organazation called, “Salute to Service”. This organization helps raise awareness for the sacrifices the Military has made for our country. Salute to Service has affected America in a very positive way because it makes American’s more aware of the suffering and sacrifices that our troops have made.
Many of the individual players in the National Football League have positively affected America as well. For example, Russell Willson, the Seattle Seahawks quarterback, goes to St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Seattle almost every week to sit with patients to keep them company. Drew Brees, the New Orleans Saints quarterback, partnered with Operation Kids to help create parts, recreational centers, playgrounds, and after school mentoring programs.