The Rise of the NFL

Roger Basick and Paula Devis talk about a popular sports league in the United States.

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Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Roger Basick.

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And I’m Paula Devis. Spotlight used a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

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In February of 2026, the National Football League (NFL) held its sixtieth Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is the championship game of American football. The Seattle Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots 29 to 13. But the real winner was the NFL. Over 130,000,000 people in the United States watched the game.

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On Today’s Spotlight, we look at how the NFL became the most popular sport in America. We’ll see what changes it has brought to American society and to the rest of the world.

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American football was created as a combination of soccer and rugby, two European football games. Both soccer and rugby began as kicking games. Since American football used kicking like European football games, Americans also called their game football. “Passing” in European football is when one player kicks the ball with their feet to another player on their team. “Passing” did not become a part of American football until years later. Players began throwing the ball to teammates with their hands.

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The NFL began in 1920 with only fourteen teams. Cities like Canton, Ohio and Decatur, Illinois were home to the original teams. Football had only local popularity. It was a long way from capturing the nation’s attention.

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By the Nineteen Sixties, football was becoming a more popular sport. Other cities wanted football teams, but the NFL did not want to expand. So, a group of businessmen started a new league. It was called the American Football League, or AFL. After several years, the head of the NFL and the owner of one of the AFL’s teams, the Kansas City Chiefs, had a meeting. They decided to hold a game between the champions of each league at the end of the football season. They called the game the “Super Bowl.” They held the first Super Bowl in Nineteen Sixty-Seven. In Nineteen Seventy, the AFL joined the NFL. A few years later, the NFL split into two parts. From then on, the winners of each part played in the Super Bowl at the end of the football season.

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The competition between the two parts helped to increase football’s popularity. The more people watched football, the more it became a part of America’s culture. High school football games on Friday nights became weekly events in towns across the country. College football achieved great popularity, selling out games in stadiums with 110,000 seats. Graduates of colleges passed down their love for their school’s football team to their children. Support of the local college football team became a tradition. Keith Jackson, a college football broadcaster, said, “You go into a college football town, and you will find three generations of a family sitting together.” The best college players were then drafted into the NFL. Fans of college players continued to follow them in the NFL.

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The NFL also limited the amount of money each team could spend on players. This gave each team a chance to hire the best players. It gave these teams an equal chance of competing.

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The internet helped the NFL grow. The internet allowed viewers around the globe to follow the NFL. The NFL held games each season in cities like London, Berlin, and Mexico City to grow its league.

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During the 1990s – 2000s, the NFL also changed or created rules to encourage scoring. These changes made the game more exciting. Fans liked to watch games with more action. Jean Anderson, a mother of four and a church organist who lived in Massachusetts, said, “I like the passing. It’s fun to see if they can catch the ball. You never know what will happen.” Football had the tension of a close soccer match, but with much more scoring. The average number of viewers who watched the Super Bowl went from eighty to ninety million during the– 1990s to one hundred eleven million by 2011.

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The NFL was also wise to encourage Fantasy Football. Fantasy Football is a game where fans pick certain players from all the different teams in the NFL. A fan chooses players until the team is complete. The fan’s imaginary team competes against other teams in the Fantasy Football League. The fan collects points based on how his or her team’s players perform in NFL games. This allows fans to stay interested in the whole NFL, not just one team. Fantasy Football appeals to many people who never followed football closely. Bryan Butler, a counselor from Fort Worth, Texas, said, “I never used to watch the NFL. It didn’t really interest me. But then I joined a Fantasy Football League and started paying attention to players all over the league.”

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All these factors led to the NFL becoming the most popular sport in America. Exciting games were broadcast on television each Sunday, Monday, and Thursday. Fans could not wait to see if their favorite team could make it to the Super Bowl. Players made amazing runs and throws. There were close games with great finishes. Every year, the Super Bowl was the country’s highest rated broadcast. Watching football games became popular during American Thanksgiving celebrations. Thanksgiving is a national holiday in America and Canada remembering the colonial Pilgrims’ harvest meal with Native Americans. The NFL broadcasts two or three games on Thanksgiving Day. Families across North America gathered before and after meals to watch these games.

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The Super Bowl each February is an unofficial holiday. A Super Bowl party can be as big as an event like a Christmas or a New Year’s Eve party.

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Football became an American tradition, and the NFL is still its most popular league. But was it a healthy tradition? Were three days a week too many to show NFL games? College football games were broadcast on Saturday. High school games were held every Friday during the fall. Five days a week were devoted to football for almost half a year. Was it all too much?

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For football fans, the answer was no. It brought communities closer together by cheering on their local team. In Stratton, Colorado, high school football coach Jesse McConnell said, “The whole town comes to watch our team. They see them at the gas station. They’re always asking the kids how the season is going.” Football helped families unite over professional and college football teams. It gave people a break from the daily pressures they faced at work. It was fun entertainment the whole family could enjoy.

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And the continued growth of the NFL proved one thing to be true about America, and about the rest of the world – it couldn’t wait for the next game.

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Do you like to watch football games? Have you ever played American football yourself? You can leave a comment on our website at www.spotlightnenglish.com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and X. You can also get Spotlight episodes delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app. 

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The writer of this episode was Peter Anderson.  The producer was Michio Ozaki.  The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom.  All quotes were adapted for this episode and voiced by Spotlight.  No AI or artificial intelligence was used in this episode.  Spotlight episodes are written, voiced, and produced by real people for real people, no matter where in the world they live.  This episode is called “The Rise of the NFL.” 