NFL Major League Teams Timeline 1920-present

Number	Teams	Years Active
	American Pro Football Association 1920-1921
1	Chicago Cardinals	1898-1959
2	Chicago Bears	1920-present [1]
3	Green Bay Packers	1921-present
4	New York Giants	1921; 1924-1973 [2]
	National Football League Era 1922-1959
5	Brooklyn Dodgers	1930-1943
6	Portsmouth Spartans	1930-1933 [3]
7	Boston Braves	1932 [4]
8	Boston Redskins	1933-1936 [4]
9	Cincinnati Reds	1933
10	Pittsburgh Pirates	1933-1939 [5]
11	Philadelphia Eagles	1933-present
12	St. Louis Gunners	1933
13	Detroit Lions	1934-present [3]
14	Green Bay Packers (Milwaukee)	1935-1984 [6]
15	Phildelphia Eagles (Johnstown, PA)	1936 *
16	Washington Redskins	1937-present [4]
17	Cleveland Rams	1937-1944 [7]
18	Philadelphia Eagles (Buffalo)	1938 *
19	Philadelphia Eagles (Erie, PA)	1938 *
20	Pittsburgh Steelers (Charleston, West Virginia)	1938 *
21	Cleveland Rams (Colorado Springs)	1939 *
22	Pittsburgh Steelers	1940-present [5]
23	Cleveland Rams (Akron)	1942 *
24	Phil-Pitt Steagles	1943 [8]
25	Boston Yanks	1944-1948
26	Brooklyn Tigers	1944
27	Card-Pitt	1944 [9]
28	Los Angeles Rams	1946-1981 [10]
29	New York Bulldogs	1949
30	Cleveland Browns AAFC	1950-1995 [10]
31	San Francisco 49’ers	1950-2013 [10]
32	Baltimore Colts	1950-1951 [10]
	American Football League Era 1950-1988
33	New York Yanks	1950-1951
34	Dallas Texans	1952
35	Baltimore Colts	1953-1981 [11]
36	Dallas Texans	1960-1962 [12]
37	Denver Broncos	1960-present
38	Houston Oilers	1960-1995 [13]
39	Los Angeles Chargers	1960 [14]
40	New York Titans	1960-1962 [16]
41	Buffalo Bills	1960-present
42	Boston Patriots	1960-1969 [17]
43	Dallas Cowboys	1960-present
44	Oakland Raiders	1960-1981 [18]
45	St. Louis Cardinals	1960-1987 [19]
46	Minnesota Vikings	1961-present
47	San Diego Chargers	1961-2018 [20]
48	Kansas City Chiefs	1963-present
49	New York Jets	1963-present
50	Atlanta Falcons	1966-present
51	Miami Dolphins	1967-present
52	Boston Patriots (Birmingham)	1968 *
53	New Orleans Saints	1968-present
54	Cincinnati Bengals	1969-present
55	Miami Dolphins (Tampa)	1969 *
56	New England Patriots	1971-present [17]
57	New York Giants (New Haven, Conn.)	1973-1975 [21]
58	New York Giants (New Jersey)	1976-present [21]
59	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	1976-present
60	Seattle Seahawks	1976-present
61	Indianapolis Colts	1982-present [22]
62	Los Angeles Raiders	1982-1994 [23]
63	Los Angeles Rams (Anaheim)	1982-1994 [24]
64	New York Jets (New Jersey)	1984-present [25]
	National Football League Europe Era 1988-2005
65	Phoenix Cardinals	1988-1993 [26]
66	Barcelona Dragons	1991-1992; 1995-2003
67	Birmingham Fire	1991-1992
68	Frankfurt Galaxy	1991-1992; 1995-2007
69	London Monarchs	1991-1992; 1995-1997
70	Montreal Machine	1991-1992
71	New York / New Jersey Knights	1991-1992
72	Orlando Thunder	1991-1992
73	Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks	1991
74	Sacramento Surge	1991-1992
75	San Antonio Riders	1991-1992
76	Ohio Glory	1992
77	Arizona Cardinals	1994-present [26]
78	Amsterdam Admirals	1995-2005
79	Rhein Fire	1995-2007
80	Scottish Claymores	1995-
81	Carolina Panthers	1995-present
82	Jacksonville Jaguars	1995-present
83	St. Louis Rams	1995-2018 [27]
84	Oakland Raiders	1995-2019 [28]
85	Baltimore Ravens	1996-present
86	Tennessee Oilers	1997 [29]
87	England Monarchs (Birmingham)	1998
88	England Monarchs (Bristol)	1998
89	England Monarchs (London)	1998
90	Tennessee Titans	1998 [30]
91	Berlin Thunder	1999
92	Cleveland Browns (AFC)	1999-present [31]
93	Houston Texans	2002-present
94	Cologne Centurions	2004-2007
95	New Orleans Saints (Baton Rouge)	2005 [32]
96	New Orleans Saints (San Antonio)	2005 [32]
	National Football League International Era 2005-
97	Arizona Cardinals (Mexico City)	2005 [33]
98	Hamburg Sea Devils	2006
99	Jacksonville Jaguars (London)	2007-present [34]
100	Buffalo Bills (Toronto)	2008-2013 [35]
101	San Francisco 49’ers (Santa Clara)	2014-present
102	Los Angeles Chargers	2019-present [20]
103	Los Angeles Rams	2019-present [36]
104	Las Vegas Raiders	2020-present [37]

Notes:

[1] Originally founded as Decatur Staleys (1920). Became Chicago Staleys (1921) and Bears (1922)

[2] The NFL counts the New York Giants of 1921 and 1924 as separate teams.

[3] Portsmouth Spartans became Detroit Lions in 1934.

[4] Boston Braves became Boston Redskins 1933 and Washington Redskins 1937.

[5] Pittsburgh Pirates became Pittsburgh Steelers 1940.

[6] Green Bay Packers played around half their home games in Milwaukee from 1935-1984.

[7] Cleveland Rams became Los Angeles Rams 1945.

[8] Philadelphia and Pittsburgh played as joint team due to player shortage during WWII. Known as Phil-Pitt and knicknamed “Steagles” by fans.

[9] Chicago Cardinals and Pittsburgh played as a joint team in 1944 also due to a player shortage. Known as Card-Pitt.

[10] Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49’ers and Baltimore Colts joined NFL from All-America Football Conference (1946-1949)

[11] NFL considers Baltimore Colts of 1951 & 1953 as separate teams.

[12] Dallas Texans became Kansas City Chiefs in 1963.

[13] Moved to Memphis and became Tennessee Oilers in 1996. name retired by NFL.

[14] Los Angeles Chargers moved to San Diego in 1961.

[15] Minneapolis were awarded a team for the AFL in 1960, but later resigned from the League and were awarded a team for the NFL to begin play in 1961.

[16] New York Titans changed name to New York Jets 1963.

[17] Boston Patriots moved outside Boston in Massachusetts in 1970 and changed name to New England Patriots.

[18] Oakland Raiders moved to Los Angeles (Anaheim) in 1982.

[19] Chicago Cardinals became St. Louis Cardinals in 1960.

[20] San Diego Chargers moved back to Los Angeles in 2019.

[21] New York Giants moved to New Haven, Connecticut in 1973, and East Rutherford, New Jersey in 1975.

[23] Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1982.

[24] Los Angeles Rams moved to Anaheim in 1982.

[25] New York Jets moved into Giants Stadium, New Jersey in 1984.

[26] St. Louis Cardinals moved to Phoenix in 1988 and then moved to Tempe, Arizona and became Arizona Cardinals in 1994.

[27] Los Angeles Rams moved to St. Louis 1995.

[28] Los Angeles Raiders moved back to Oakland 1995.

[29] Houston Oilers moved to Memphis becoming the Tennessee Oilers in 1997.

[30] Tennessee Oilers moved to Nashville becoming Tennessee Titans in 1998.

[31] The Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore in 1996, and were renamed the Ravens. The NFL placed a new team in Cleveland in 1999, and gave them the Cleveland Browns name and history.

[32] The New Orleans Saints played their Home matches in Baton Rouge (Louisiana) and San Antonio (Texas) in 2005 due to the Super Dome in New Orleans being unplayable as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

[33] The Arizona Cardinals were the designated Home Team for an NFL International Regular Season match in Mexico City in 2005.

[34] The Jacksonville Jaguars were the designated Home Team for NFL International Regular Season matches in London from 2007 to present. nicknamed the “Union Jags” by fans.

[35] The Buffalo Bills were the designated Home Team for NFL International Regular Season matches in Toronto from 2008 to 2013.

[36] St. Louis Rams moved back to Los Angeles in 2019.

[37] Oakland Raiders moved to Las Vegas in 2020.

*Single Home match played at the venue indicated.

References

Bibliography

[1] National Football League (2014) “Past Standings” 2014 Official NFL Record & Factbook” pg. 350-399. National football League, Time Home Entertainment. 2014.

Websites

[2] Pro Football Hall of Fame (2005) American Football League Standings (1936-37) [Internet] Available from: http://www.profootballhof.com/news/american-football-league-standings-1936-37/ [Accessed 5 June 2017]

[3] Bob Gill, The Coffin Corner, Pro Football Researchers Association (1989) Back Before Bengalmania – Cincinnati’s First Brush with the Big Time – [Internet] Available from: http://profootballresearchers.com/archives/Website_Files/Coffin_Corner/11-05-379.pdf [Accessed 9 October 2018]

[4] Pro Football Archives (2019) 1938 | American Football League [Internet] Available from: https://www.profootballarchives.com/1938.html [Accessed 12 October 2019]

[5] Pro Football Archives (2019) 1939 | American Football League [Internet] Available from: https://www.profootballarchives.com/1939.html [Accessed 12 October 2019]

[6] Pro Football Hall of Fame (2005) American Football League (1940-1941) [Internet] Available from: http://www.profootballhof.com/news/american-football-league-1940-1941/ [Accessed 5 June 2017]

[7] Pro Football Hall of Fame (2005) All-America Football Conference (AAFC) Standings (1946-1949) [Internet] Available from: http://www.profootballhof.com/news/all-america-football-conference-aafc-standings-1946-1949/ [Accessed 5 June 2017]

[2] World League of American Football (2018) WLAF History: 1998 [Internet] Available from: http://www.worldleagueofamericanfootball.com/id173.html [Accessed 23 April 2018]

[3] World League of American Football (2018) WLAF History: 1999 [Internet] Available from: http://www.worldleagueofamericanfootball.com/id174.html [Accessed 23 April 2018]

[4] World League of American Football (2018) WLAF History: 2000 [Internet] Available from: http://www.worldleagueofamericanfootball.com/id175.html [Accessed 23 April 2018]

[5] World League of American Football (2018) WLAF History: 2001 [Internet] Available from: http://www.worldleagueofamericanfootball.com/id176.html [Accessed 23 April 2018]

[6] World League of American Football (2018) WLAF History: 2002 [Internet] Available from: http://www.worldleagueofamericanfootball.com/id177.html [Accessed 23 April 2018]

[7] World League of American Football (2018) WLAF History: 2003 [Internet] Available from: http://www.worldleagueofamericanfootball.com/id178.html [Accessed 23 April 2018]

[8] World League of American Football (2018) WLAF History: 2004 [Internet] Available from: http://www.worldleagueofamericanfootball.com/id179.html [Accessed 23 April 2018]

[9] World League of American Football (2018) WLAF History: 2005 [Internet] Available from: http://www.worldleagueofamericanfootball.com/id180.html [Accessed 23 April 2018]

[10] World League of American Football (2018) WLAF History: 2006 [Internet] Available from: http://www.worldleagueofamericanfootball.com/id181.html [Accessed 23 April 2018]

[11] World League of American Football (2018) WLAF History: 2007 [Internet] Available from: http://www.worldleagueofamericanfootball.com/id182.html [Accessed 23 April 2018]

Images

[8] National Football League (2019) Division Standings | 2019 | Preseason [Internet] Available from: https://www.nfl.com/standings/division/2019/PRE [Accessed 12 August 2019]

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Decy Maher and John Kane.

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish, North American & World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 7 March 2020

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2020

You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved.Advertisements