Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Anyone who has read a news story from before 1950 has seen the National Football League referred to by its full name, or as the "National League" after the baseball season was finished, but at some point, readers began mentally pronouncing it as "the en-eff-ell".
I had figured that it first got that label back during the New Deal, when President FDR was introducing things like the CCC, the NRA, the WPA and the like, but I couldn't find "NFL" earlier until 14 years later, in 1947.

Arguably, the term became "official" on November 12, 1947, when AP Newsfeatures first published a letter to the public from Bert Bell, under the headline "Bell Scores Critics Who Claim NFL Players 'Are Getting Old", and he began using the reference when discussing the league's policy against the signing of college football players who had graduated in the fall semester. "The move was made to further strengthen ties between the NFL and colleges", Bell wrote, and he used the abbreviation several more times ("excellent salaries that are being paid to players in the NFL", "an honorable career in the NFL", "reference has been made that the NFL players are getting old", etc.). I'm curious to see what researchers have found in the way of earlier references to "the NFL".

Really?? I never knew this! I always just assumed it was referred to by the initials all along. Ya learn something new every day.
That being said, during the first two years ('20-'21) did they go out of their way to say "American Professional Football Association"? That would have been quite a mouthful.

Also, it was almost always AAC not AAFC. When did it become AAFC?

As a former newspaperman, I have to wonder how anyone could write headlines about the league without using "NFL." But I guess the league didn't rate many headlines before 1947.

by rhickok1109 » Sat Nov 01, 2014 10:58 am
"As a former newspaperman, I have to wonder how anyone could write headlines about the league without using "NFL." But I guess the league didn't rate many headlines before 1947."

I would bet it was used in conjunction with WWII many times? And, in newsreels as well...

The UNIFORM PLAYERS CONTRACT of 1941 included the complete The National Football League (BOLD) FIVE times -
no NFL and none of the "hereinafter called the League" nonsense.

There are stories in the Chicago Tribune Archives that mention the NFL abbreviation in 1944, 45 & 46: -

December 19, 1944 (page 17) - "...declaring that any N. F. L. player who plays in any other league would be suspended for five years."

April 12, 1945 (page 25) - "N.F.L. Prepares for Rivals..."

January 12, 1946 (page 15) - "N.F.L. RESTRICTS MEMBERS TO TEN"

There are a number of other NFL referencess in these years too.

Haven't found any earlier ones, yet.

N.F.L. using periods was The New York Times style and accepted by other publishing entities as well. It was used when the letters are individually pronounced as opposed to something like NASA where the acronym is pronounced as a word.
As a nation, we did not become afflicted with the acronymic need until - say - the late-'50s to mid-'60s when air travel caused things like the OAG to designate LGA to ORD or LAX so that such data could fit on the constantly changing screens in airport waiting areas.
Hey! There's a sure sign of old age... a guy that can remember when a little fella with a step-ladder and a box of letters changed the arrival/departure signs at airports and railroad stations.

LJP wrote:There are stories in the Chicago Tribune Archives that mention the NFL abbreviation in 1944, 45 & 46: -

December 19, 1944 (page 17) - "...declaring that any N. F. L. player who plays in any other league would be suspended for five years."

April 12, 1945 (page 25) - "N.F.L. Prepares for Rivals..."

January 12, 1946 (page 15) - "N.F.L. RESTRICTS MEMBERS TO TEN"

There are a number of other NFL referencess in these years too.

Haven't found any earlier ones, yet.

It's interesting that it took until the 1940s for "N.F.L." or "NFL" to catch on. I wonder if that was being used in game programs before then? Or correspondence sent out by Bert Bell. As OldeCapeCod noted, even in official league contracts, they didn't abbreviate, but those were printed en masse -- I pity the secretary who had to spell out "National Football League" regularly.

Not surprising if it started with the Chicago Tribune... I remember that they went for years with phonetic spelling on certain words, such as writing "thru" instead of "through", or "altho" instead of "although" in stories. It would be interesting if they now refer to Foxborough instead of Foxboro...

Mark L. Ford wrote:

LJP wrote:There are stories in the Chicago Tribune Archives that mention the NFL abbreviation in 1944, 45 & 46: -

December 19, 1944 (page 17) - "...declaring that any N. F. L. player who plays in any other league would be suspended for five years."

April 12, 1945 (page 25) - "N.F.L. Prepares for Rivals..."

January 12, 1946 (page 15) - "N.F.L. RESTRICTS MEMBERS TO TEN"
Haven't found any earlier ones, yet.

There are a number of other NFL referencess in these years too.


It's interesting that it took until the 1940s for "N.F.L." or "NFL" to catch on. I wonder if that was being used in game programs before then? Or correspondence sent out by Bert Bell. As OldeCapeCod noted, even in official league contracts, they didn't abbreviate, but those were printed en masse -- I pity the secretary who had to spell out "National Football League" regularly.

Not surprising if it started with the Chicago Tribune... I remember that they went for years with phonetic spelling on certain words, such as writing "thru" instead of "through", or "altho" instead of "although" in stories. It would be interesting if they now refer to Foxborough instead of Foxboro...

Here in Massachusetts, the official spelling is Foxborough. In fact, all of the "boro" towns are officially "borough" so far as the Commonwealth is concerned.