Football playoff season is coming to a close this weekend, when Super Bowl LIX kicks off in New Orleans. Football is the most popular sport in the United States, and the National Football League has a longstanding exceptional legal status in this country. Follow along as we use HeinOnline to explore the history of football, from its earliest origins in the Middle Ages, to the modern legal monopoly of the National Football League.
Early History of Football
The origins of football (or American football, to the rest of the world) can be traced back to what contemporary scholars call “mob football” games in Medieval England. These early games were raucous and violent affairs, where entire villages would compete against each other to carry a ball (typically an inflated pig’s bladder) to a target. Participants numbered in the hundreds and damage to property and people was commonplace. Mob football games declined with the passage of the Highway Act of 1835,[1]A. Wood (Editor) Renton; A. W. (Editor) Donald. Encyclopaedia of the Laws of England Being a New Abridgment by the Most Eminent Legal Authorities. This text can be found in HeinOnline’s Legal Classics collection. which prohibited playing football on public highways, although some villages in England and Scotland still hold annual ball games, typically coinciding with the Easter holidays.
In the first half of the nineteenth century, the rules of football (or soccer, to Americans) were developed and standardized at football clubs in the elite boarding schools of England and Scotland. One particularly popular variety was the “Rugby game,” which was developed at the Rugby School in England.
The first Rugby game recorded in the United States was played between McGill University and Harvard University in 1874. The game quickly caught on in popularity at Harvard, with the Harvard student paper going so far as to comment that “The Rugby game is in much better favor than the somewhat sleepy game now being played by our men.” [2]Amos Alonzo Stagg. Touchdown! As Told by Coach Amos Alonzo Stagg to Wesley Winans Stout (1927). This book can be found in HeinOnline’s Business and Legal Aspects of Sports and Entertainment collection.

Over the course of the following decades, a concerted effort was made in a series of conferences by university athletic officials to develop and standardize the sport that would become American gridiron football (or, as it is known to Americans, just football). Walter Camp[3]Donald Grant Sr. Herring. Forty Years of Football (1940). This book can be found in HeinOnline’s Business and Legal Aspects of Sports and Entertainment collection. of Yale University was particularly influential, and is credited with the establishment of many of the most recognizable features of modern football, such as the line of scrimmage, forward passes, and the system of downs and distance.
Professionalization of the Sport
By the turn of the century, football had developed into a more-or-less recognizable version of the sport that is played today. As the rules were standardized, the sport moved beyond college campuses and into the eye of the general public. Professional football in the United States began in 1892 when the Allegheny Athletic Association paid William “Pudge” Heffelfinger[4]Elise Michael, School of Hark Knocks – The Impact of the NFL Concussion Litigation, 33 CARDOZO ARTS & ENT. L.J. 289 (2015). This article can be found in HeinOnline’s Law Journal Library. $500 to play in a single football game. Two years later, they fielded the first all-professional football team. Regional professional leagues followed in their wake. The league that would become the modern NFL was initially founded in 1920 as the American Professional Football Conference (APFC). Two years later, the league switched its name to the National Football League.
Since its founding, the NFL was always the largest professional sports league in the United States, but it faced a number of competitors over the course of its early years, such as the All-America Football Conference, which challenged the NFL between 1946-1949. Prior to World War II, the NFL also faced competition from separate, short-lived leagues known as the American Football League (AFL): AFL I (1926), AFL II (1936-1937), and AFL III (1940-1941).
The NFL was frequently described as a monopoly over the course of its first half-century of existence, and was the subject of antitrust hearings[5]Organized professional team sports. Hearings, Eighty-fifth Congress, second session, July 9-31, 1958. Part 3. This document can be found in HeinOnline’s U.S. Congressional Documents collection. in Congress in the 1950s and early 1960s.[6]Telecasting of professional sports contests. Hearing before the Antitrust Subcommittee (Subcommittee No. 5) of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Eighty-seventh Congress, first session, on H.R. 8757, a bill to amend the … Continue reading The most serious competitor faced by the NFL was the fourth, and final, American Football League, which was founded in 1960. The AFL sued the NFL in 1962,[7]205 F. Supp. 60, AMERICAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE et al. v .NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE et al. May 21, 1962. This case can be found in Fastcase. alleging that it operated as a monopoly in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.[8]Legislative History of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 P.L. 51-647 (1890). This document can be found in HeinOnline’s U.S. Federal Legislative History Library.
The AFL’s antitrust suit against the NFL failed in court, but the AFL proved to be more resilient than previous rivals to the NFL. The AFL obtained lucrative television contracts with ABC and NBC. After a slow start, it gained a dedicated following of fans who appreciated the faster pace of its offense-centric gameplay, and by the mid-1960s was in serious competition with the NFL for top player talent.
The AFL-NFL Merger (If you can’t beat them, join them.)
By the mid-1960s, competition between the two leagues had settled into an increasingly acrimonious stalemate. Rather than continuing to compete with one another, executives from the two leagues instead resolved to join forces. In 1966, the two leagues announced that they had reached an agreement to merge into a single league under the name of the National Football League.
The problem was, this merger was a blatant violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, under which the resulting league would be considered an illegal monopoly. In years prior, the federal government had sought to enforce antitrust laws on the National Football League, even filing suit against the league for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act[9]116 F. Supp. 319. UNITED STATES v. NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE et al. No. 12808. United States District Court, E. D. Pennsylvania. November 12, 1953. This case can be found in Fastcase. in 1953. But the mood in Washington was different in 1966, and Congress was more amenable to making exceptions for the NFL. Five years earlier, Congress had passed the Sports Broadcasting Act,[10]To amend the antitrust laws to authorize leagues of professional football, baseball, basketball, and hockey teams to enter into certain television contracts, and for other purposes., Public Law 87-331, 87 Congress. 75 Stat. 732 (1961). This law can … Continue reading which carved out extensive exemptions from the Sherman Antitrust Act to enable the NFL to sign league-wide exclusive contracts with broadcast networks, thus overturning a prior decision from a U.S. District Court that found the NFL in violation of antitrust laws.

In the new, more business-friendly environment, Congress held a series[11]Professional sports antitrust bill, 1965. Hearings, Eighty-ninth Congress, first session. This document can be found in HeinOnline’s U.S. Congressional Documents collection. of hearings[12]Professional football league merger / hearings before Antitrust Subcommittee (Subcommittee no. 5) of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives. Eighty-ninth Congress, second session on S. 3817, October 6, 11, and 13, 1966. This … Continue reading on the proposed merger between the leagues. In October 1966, Congress removed the remaining antitrust barriers facing the leagues, when it passed the somewhat ambiguously named “Act to suspend the investment credit and the allowance of accelerated depreciation in the case of certain real property.”[13]To suspend the investment credit and the allowance of accelerated depreciation in the case of certain real property., Public Law 89-800, 89 Congress. 80 Stat. 1508 (1966). his law can be found in HeinOnline’s United States Statutes at Large. The stage was set for a phased integration of the two leagues, with an end date of 1970, at which point the two leagues would become two conferences—the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC)—in a single National Football League.
The First Super Bowl and Legacy of the American Football League
The game that would come to be known as the Super Bowl was first played during this transitional period, as a championship between the two leagues. Originally referred to as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game in its first two iterations, the game was first referred to as the Super Bowl in the 1969 matchup now known as Super Bowl III, played between the New York Jets and Baltimore Colts (now the Indianapolis Colts). The name “Super Bowl” was initially introduced by Lamar Hunt, owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, as a joking name for the game in the 1960s, supposedly in reference to his child’s “Super Ball” toy.[14]153 Cong. Rec. 13316 (2007). This document can be found in HeinOnline’s U.S. Congressional Documents collection. The name caught on with audiences and the media, and was officially adopted as a trademark by the time of the third game.
Most scholars and commentators agree that the larger and more financially powerful NFL came to dominate the teams of the AFL in their merger, with many NFL policies—such as the ban on public ownership—overruling those of the AFL when the two leagues joined. However, in other ways, the distinct culture of the AFL had long-reaching positive impacts on the sport.
At the time of the merger, the AFL was considerably more racially integrated than the NFL. Its teams fielded more Black players than the NFL, and its players were more organized and wielded more power within their organizations. This was demonstrated in 1965, when Black players voted to boycott the AFL All-Star Game in racially segregated New Orleans en masse, forcing its cancellation and relocation to the comparatively more progressive environment of Houston. This was in sharp contrast to the NFL, which had a long history of segregation thanks to “gentleman’s agreements”[15]Michael Oriard. Brand NFL: Making and Selling America’s Favorite Sport (2007). This book can be found in HeinOnline’s Business and Legal Aspects of Sports and Entertainment collection. between owners that effectively excluded Black players from the league. The merger of the AFL and NFL brought an influx of politically aware young players into the league, and strengthened the power of the NFL Player’s Association relative to the predominantly white ownership of the league.
Further Reading
If you’re interested in learning more about the intersections between sports, law, and culture, HeinOnline has two databases dedicated to these very topics. Our Hackney Publications collection features in-depth legal analysis of every aspect of the sports law industry from Hackney Publications, the nation’s leading publisher of sports law periodicals. Additionally, Business and Legal Aspects of Sports and Entertainment (BLASE), our largest collection of sports law material, features hundreds of topic-coded cases, government documents, court decisions, and thousands of articles from more than fifty legal periodicals dedicated to sports law, including Virginia Sports and Entertainment Law Journal and Marquette Sports Law Review.
HeinOnline Sources[+]
↑1 | A. Wood (Editor) Renton; A. W. (Editor) Donald. Encyclopaedia of the Laws of England Being a New Abridgment by the Most Eminent Legal Authorities. This text can be found in HeinOnline’s Legal Classics collection. |
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↑2 | Amos Alonzo Stagg. Touchdown! As Told by Coach Amos Alonzo Stagg to Wesley Winans Stout (1927). This book can be found in HeinOnline’s Business and Legal Aspects of Sports and Entertainment collection. |
↑3 | Donald Grant Sr. Herring. Forty Years of Football (1940). This book can be found in HeinOnline’s Business and Legal Aspects of Sports and Entertainment collection. |
↑4 | Elise Michael, School of Hark Knocks – The Impact of the NFL Concussion Litigation, 33 CARDOZO ARTS & ENT. L.J. 289 (2015). This article can be found in HeinOnline’s Law Journal Library. |
↑5 | Organized professional team sports. Hearings, Eighty-fifth Congress, second session, July 9-31, 1958. Part 3. This document can be found in HeinOnline’s U.S. Congressional Documents collection. |
↑6 | Telecasting of professional sports contests. Hearing before the Antitrust Subcommittee (Subcommittee No. 5) of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Eighty-seventh Congress, first session, on H.R. 8757, a bill to amend the antitrust laws to authorize leagues of professional football, baseball, basketball, and hockey teams to enter into certain television contracts, and for other purposes. August 28, 1961. This document can be found in HeinOnline’s U.S. Congressional Documents collection. |
↑7 | 205 F. Supp. 60, AMERICAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE et al. v .NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE et al. May 21, 1962. This case can be found in Fastcase. |
↑8 | Legislative History of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 P.L. 51-647 (1890). This document can be found in HeinOnline’s U.S. Federal Legislative History Library. |
↑9 | 116 F. Supp. 319. UNITED STATES v. NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE et al. No. 12808. United States District Court, E. D. Pennsylvania. November 12, 1953. This case can be found in Fastcase. |
↑10 | To amend the antitrust laws to authorize leagues of professional football, baseball, basketball, and hockey teams to enter into certain television contracts, and for other purposes., Public Law 87-331, 87 Congress. 75 Stat. 732 (1961). This law can be found in HeinOnline’s United States Statutes at Large. |
↑11 | Professional sports antitrust bill, 1965. Hearings, Eighty-ninth Congress, first session. This document can be found in HeinOnline’s U.S. Congressional Documents collection. |
↑12 | Professional football league merger / hearings before Antitrust Subcommittee (Subcommittee no. 5) of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives. Eighty-ninth Congress, second session on S. 3817, October 6, 11, and 13, 1966. This document can be found in HeinOnline’s U.S. Congressional Documents collection. |
↑13 | To suspend the investment credit and the allowance of accelerated depreciation in the case of certain real property., Public Law 89-800, 89 Congress. 80 Stat. 1508 (1966). his law can be found in HeinOnline’s United States Statutes at Large. |
↑14 | 153 Cong. Rec. 13316 (2007). This document can be found in HeinOnline’s U.S. Congressional Documents collection. |
↑15 | Michael Oriard. Brand NFL: Making and Selling America’s Favorite Sport (2007). This book can be found in HeinOnline’s Business and Legal Aspects of Sports and Entertainment collection. |