Membership in the National Football League (NFL) is certified by a franchise. A franchise is awarded by the league to each member club and serves as the league's authorization to operate as a professional football club in their city. Franchises award member clubs the exclusive right to hold professional football games between league members within a 75-mile radius of their city as well as the exclusive rights to market games in their area.[1] There are currently 32 clubs in the league, and new members can only be approved with the support of 3/4s of current members.[2] In the case of egregious misbehavior, a club's franchise can be revoked or suspended by the league's commissioner.[3]
The NFL has had a total of 49 franchises become defunct over its history;[4] this includes ten of the league's twelve founding members, with only the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals surviving to the present day.[5] By 1926, the league had expanded to 22 franchises, but a league meeting in April 1927 led to the decision to revoke the franchises of the clubs in the weakest financial situations; 10 franchises were ultimately revoked.[6]
Five defunct NFL franchises (the Akron Pros/Indians, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Bulldogs/Indians, Frankford Yellow Jackets, and Providence Steamrollers) had previously won NFL championships. The most recent franchise to become defunct was the Dallas Texans, which folded in 1952 after one season in the league.[7]
- ^ NFL Bylaws, p. 6, 12–15.
- ^ NFL Bylaws, p. 3.
- ^ NFL Bylaws, p. 28-35.
- ^ "Pro Football teams that came and went". ESPN.com. August 14, 2019. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
- ^ "National Football League (NFL)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on June 20, 2013. Retrieved June 21, 2013.
- ^ "NFL History by Decade: 1921–1930". NFL.com. Archived from the original on April 10, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2013.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
National Football League Franchise Historieswas invoked but never defined (see the help page).