Current NFL Teams
Bills Dolphins Patriots Jets Ravens Bengals Browns Steelers Texans Colts Titans Broncos Chiefs Raiders Chargers Cowboys Giants Eagles Redskins Bears Lions Packers Vikings Falcons Panthers Saints Buccaneers Jaguars Cardinals Rams 49ers Seahawks
The NFL consists of thirty-two clubs. Each club is allowed a maximum of fifty-three players on their roster, but may only dress forty-five to play each week during the regular season. Reflecting the population distribution of the United States as a whole, most teams are in the eastern half of the country: seventeen teams are in the Eastern Time Zone, nine in the Central Time Zone, four in the Pacific, and only two in the Mountain Time Zone.
Most major metropolitan areas in the United States have an NFL franchise, although Los Angeles, the second-largest metropolitan area in the country, has not hosted an NFL team since 1994.
Further information: History of the National Football League in Los AngelesThe Rams and the Raiders called the Los Angeles area home from 1946–1994 and 1982–1994 respectively. On August 9, 2011, the LA City Council approved plans to build Farmers Field which could be home to an NFL team. Potential candidates for relocation are the San Diego Chargers, St. Louis Rams, and the Oakland Raiders.
Unlike Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League, the league has no full-time teams in Canada, although the Buffalo Bills play the Bills Toronto Series in Toronto, the largest city in Canada and there have been discussion of possibly bringing the NFL there permanently. In addition, as of 2013, the Jacksonville Jaguars will begin hosting one of its regular season games in London, England as part of the International Series, making the NFL the first U.S.-based sports league to have one of its teams establish a home stadium outside North America.
The Dallas Cowboys, at approximately $2.1 billion, are the most valuable NFL franchise. This also makes them the most valuable sports franchise in the United States, and second worldwide to the soccer club Manchester United, which has a value of $2.23 billion at current exchange rates. The New England Patriots and Washington Redskins are the second and third most valuable NFL teams, with respective values of $1.64 billion and $1.6 billion. All 32 NFL teams rank among the top 50 most valuable sports teams in the world.
Since the 2002 season, the teams have been aligned as follows:
Division | Team | Stadium | City/Area | Founded | Joined | Head Coach | Owner |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
American Football Conference | |||||||
East | Buffalo Bills | Ralph Wilson Stadium 1 | Orchard Park, NY | Oct 28, 1959 | 1970 | Chan Gailey | Ralph Wilson |
Miami Dolphins | Sun Life Stadium | Miami Gardens, FL | Aug 16, 1965 | 1970 | Joe Philbin | Stephen M. Ross | |
New England Patriots | Gillette Stadium | Foxborough, MA | Nov 22, 1959 | 1970 | Bill Belichick | Robert Kraft | |
New York Jets | MetLife Stadium | East Rutherford, NJ | Aug 14, 1959 | 1970 | Rex Ryan | Woody Johnson | |
North | Baltimore Ravens | M&T Bank Stadium | Baltimore, MD | Feb 9, 1996 | 1996 2 | John Harbaugh | Steve Bisciotti |
Cincinnati Bengals | Paul Brown Stadium | Cincinnati, OH | May 23, 1967 | 1970 | Marvin Lewis | Mike Brown | |
Cleveland Browns | Cleveland Browns Stadium | Cleveland, OH | June 4, 1944 | 1950 2 | Pat Shurmur | Jimmy Haslam | |
Pittsburgh Steelers | Heinz Field | Pittsburgh, PA | July 8, 1933 | 1933 | Mike Tomlin | Dan Rooney | |
South | Houston Texans | Reliant Stadium | Houston, TX | Oct 6, 1999 | 2002 | Gary Kubiak | Bob McNair |
Indianapolis Colts * | Lucas Oil Stadium | Indianapolis, IN | Jan 23, 1953 | 1953 | Chuck Pagano | Jim Irsay | |
Jacksonville Jaguars | EverBank Field1 | Jacksonville, FL | Nov 30, 1993 | 1995 | Mike Mularkey | Shahid Khan | |
Tennessee Titans * | LP Field | Nashville, TN | Aug 14, 1959 | 1970 | Mike Munchak | Bud Adams | |
West | Denver Broncos | Sports Authority Field at Mile High | Denver, CO | Aug 14, 1959 | 1970 | John Fox | Pat Bowlen |
Kansas City Chiefs * | Arrowhead Stadium | Kansas City, MO | Aug 14, 1959 | 1970 | Romeo Crennel | Clark Hunt et al. | |
Oakland Raiders * | O.co Coliseum | Oakland, CA | Jan 30, 1960 | 1970 | Dennis Allen | Mark Davis et al. | |
San Diego Chargers * | Qualcomm Stadium | San Diego, CA | Aug 14, 1959 | 1970 | Norv Turner | Alex Spanos | |
National Football Conference | |||||||
East | Dallas Cowboys | Cowboys Stadium | Arlington, TX | Jan 28, 1960 | 1960 | Jason Garrett | Jerry Jones |
New York Giants | MetLife Stadium | East Rutherford, NJ | Aug 1, 1925 | 1925 | Tom Coughlin | J. Mara & S. Tisch | |
Philadelphia Eagles | Lincoln Financial Field | Philadelphia, PA | July 8, 1933 | 1933 | Andy Reid | Jeffrey Lurie | |
Washington Redskins * | FedEx Field | Landover, MD | July 9, 1932 | 1932 | Mike Shanahan | Daniel Snyder | |
North | Chicago Bears * | Soldier Field | Chicago, IL | Sep 17, 1920 3 | 1920 | Lovie Smith | V. Halas McCaskey |
Detroit Lions * | Ford Field | Detroit, MI | 1929 | 1930 | Jim Schwartz | Bill Ford | |
Green Bay Packers | Lambeau Field | Green Bay, WI | Aug 11, 1919 | 1921 | Mike McCarthy | Incorporated | |
Minnesota Vikings | Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome | Minneapolis, MN | Jan 28, 1960 | 1961 | Leslie Frazier | Zygi Wilf | |
South | Atlanta Falcons | Georgia Dome | Atlanta, GA | June 30, 1965 | 1966 | Mike Smith | Arthur Blank |
Carolina Panthers | Bank of America Stadium | Charlotte, NC | Oct 26, 1993 | 1995 | Ron Rivera | Jerry Richardson | |
New Orleans Saints | Mercedes-Benz Superdome | New Orleans, LA | Nov 1, 1966 | 1967 | Sean Payton | Tom Benson | |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Raymond James Stadium | Tampa, FL | April 24, 1974 | 1976 | Greg Schiano | Malcolm Glazer | |
West | Arizona Cardinals * | University of Phoenix Stadium | Glendale, AZ | 1898 4 | 1920 | Ken Whisenhunt | Bill Bidwill |
St. Louis Rams * | Edward Jones Dome | St. Louis, MO | 1936 | 1937 | Jeff Fisher | Stan Kroenke | |
San Francisco 49ers | Candlestick Park | San Francisco, CA | June 4, 1944 | 1950 | Jim Harbaugh | Jed York | |
Seattle Seahawks | CenturyLink Field | Seattle, WA | June 4, 1974 | 1976 | Pete Carroll | Paul Allen |
- Chart notes
- An asterisk (*) denotes a franchise move. See the respective team articles for more information.
- "Owner" refers to primary or majority owner; i.e. the owner that represents the team in league owners' meetings. See List of NFL franchise owners for more details.
- This team plays one of its home games outside the United States. The Buffalo Bills play at least one game each year from 2008–2017 at Rogers Centre in Toronto. The Jacksonville Jaguars play one regular season game each year from 2013–2016 at Wembley Stadium in London.
- As the result of a relocation controversy in 1996, the league officially suspended operations of the Cleveland Browns while its players and personnel moved to Baltimore to become a new franchise called the Baltimore Ravens. As per an agreement with the two cities, the Ravens are officially regarded as a new 1996 team while the league's official history and records views the Browns as one continuous franchise that began in 1946, suspended operations from 1996–1998, and resumed play in 1999 with new players.
- Although the club was originally established in 1919 as the company team of the A. E. Staley food starch company, the Chicago Bears official team and league records instead cite George Halas as the founder after he took over control in 1920.
- The club, in its current form, was not founded until 1913, but claims in its history an earlier (amateur) team that played from 1898 to 1906.
Read more about this topic: National Football League, Teams
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