American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of soccer and rugby. The first American football match was played on November 6, 1869, between two college teams, Rutgers and Princeton, using rules based on the rules of soccer at the time. A set of rule changes drawn up from 1880 onward by Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", established the snap, the line of scrimmage, eleven-player teams, and the concept of downs. Later rule changes legalized the forward pass, created the neutral zone and specified the size and shape of the football. The sport is closely related to Canadian football, which evolved in parallel with and at the same time as the American game (although their rules were developed independently from those of Camp). Most of the features that distinguish American football from rugby and soccer are also present in Canadian football. The two sports are considered the primary variants of gridiron football.
American football is the most popular sport in the United States. The most popular forms of the game are professional and college football, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. , nearly 1.1 million high school athletes and 70,000 college athletes play the sport in the United States annually. The National Football League, the most popular American football league, has the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world. Its championship game, the Super Bowl, ranks among the most-watched club sporting events in the world. The league has an annual revenue of around US$15 billion, making it the most valuable sports league in the world. Other professional leagues exist worldwide, but the sport does not have the international popularity of other American sports like baseball or basketball. (Full article...)Apogee Stadium is a college football stadium located at the junction of Interstate 35 East and West in Denton, Texas. Opened in 2011, it is home to the University of North Texas (UNT) Mean Green football team, which competes in Conference USA. The facility replaced Fouts Field, where the school's football program had been based since 1952.
The stadium was proposed by the University of North Texas System Board of Regents after the 2002 New Orleans Bowl. Designed by HKS, Inc., it was constructed at a cost of $78 million after a student body election in 2008. It was originally named "Mean Green Stadium", but was renamed when ResNet provider Apogee purchased the naming rights in 2011. The stadium hosted its first major event on September 10, 2011 when the Mean Green lost 48-23 against the University of Houston Cougars. Official home attendance figures for the team's first six seasons at Apogee Stadium averaged 18,563 per game, which is 60% of its capacity of 30,850. (Full article...)Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Considered to be one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, he spent 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and four with the Denver Broncos. Manning is also one of the NFL's most recognizable players, earning the nickname "the Sheriff" due to his tendency to audible prior to the snap. The second son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning and older brother of former NFL quarterback Eli Manning, he played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers, with whom he won the 1997 SEC Championship Game and earned MVP honors.
Manning was selected first overall in the 1998 NFL Draft by the Colts, where he served as their starting quarterback from 1998 to 2010. He helped transform the struggling Colts franchise into consistent playoff contenders, leading them to 11 playoff runs, eight division titles, three AFC Championship Games, two Super Bowl appearances, and one championship title in Super Bowl XLI, the franchise's first in over three decades and first since relocating to Indianapolis. Manning was also named Super Bowl MVP in the victory. After undergoing neck surgery that sidelined him for the 2011 season, Manning was released by the Colts and signed with the Broncos. Serving as the team's starting quarterback from 2012 to 2015, he helped the Broncos clinch the AFC West each season and play in two Super Bowls. Manning's career ended with a victory in Super Bowl 50, making him the first starting quarterback to win the Super Bowl for more than one franchise. (Full article...)Jan 2-3 | NFL: Week 17 | |
Jan 9-10 | NFL: Wild Cards | |
Jan 11 | College Football National Championship: #1 Alabama vs #3 Ohio State | |
Jan 16-17 | NFL: Divisional games | |
Jan 24 | NFL: Conference games | |
Feb 7 | NFL: Super Bowl LV | |
2020 season: NFL o NCAA FBS (Bowl games) |
---|
" | College football: I do not see the relationship of those highly industrialized affairs on Saturday afternoons to higher learning in America. | " |
-- Robert Maynard Hutchins University of Chicago president, on the putative extra-academic character and corporate, professional nature of the collegiate game in the United States |
![]() |
|
Portals