Talk:National Football League

Highest Level Source?
In the first paragraph there is an opinion, being "the highest professional level of American football in the world.". This is clearly just someone's opinion and due to the competition not being open to any other countries, I don't see how this claim can be made. John arneVN (talk) 02:29, 24 February 2024 (UTC)


 * There's nothing stopping another country to pick up American football and organize a high-level professional league. Its just that no body has done it. So by reduction, the NFL is the highest professional level of American football in the world. Removing the "in the world" part would imply that there was another league higher or same level as NFL and that is simply not true. JackFromWisconsin (talk &#124; contribs) 16:20, 25 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Heck, it's the only fully professional American football league in the world, save the newly merged UFL, which is by its own admission a lower tier. This is approaching WP:BLUE territory. oknazevad (talk) 16:46, 25 February 2024 (UTC)
 * There's also a source already in the lead backing the claim up. Toa Nidhiki05 01:58, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Requested move 3 March 2024

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: All articles except main article and timeline article moved.. Upon review, there is general support for almost all of these moves, many contingent on not moving the main article, and some contingent on not moving the timeline article. Therefore, I believe sufficient consensus has been established based on the discussion below for the movement of all articles as proposed except for the main National Football League article, and the Timeline of the National Football League article. (closed by non-admin page mover) EggRoll97 (talk) 23:59, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

– In response to the ongoing move discussion on the NBA page, I request this set of page moves in order to meet WP:COMMONNAME and WP:CONCISE.  Scarlet Violet  (talk • contribs) 12:39, 3 March 2024 (UTC) — Relisting. JML1148 ( talk &#124; contribs ) 10:10, 13 March 2024 (UTC)
 * National Football League → NFL
 * List of National Football League awards → List of NFL awards
 * List of cable television National Football League over-the-air affiliates → List of cable television NFL over-the-air affiliates
 * List of defunct National Football League franchises → List of defunct NFL franchises
 * National Football League franchise moves and mergers → NFL franchise moves and mergers
 * List of National Football League games played outside the United States → List of NFL games played outside the United States
 * List of National Football League head coaches → List of NFL head coaches
 * List of 500-yard passing games in the National Football League → List of 500-yard passing games in the NFL
 * List of current National Football League defensive coordinators → List of current NFL defensive coordinators
 * List of largest National Football League trades → List of largest NFL trades
 * List of most consecutive games with touchdown passes in the National Football League → List of most consecutive games with touchdown passes in the NFL
 * List of National Football League longest winning streaks → List of NFL longest winning streaks
 * List of National Football League players who spent their entire career with one franchise → List of NFL players who spent their entire career with one franchise
 * List of National Football League mascots → List of NFL mascots
 * List of National Football League longest losing streaks → List of NFL longest losing streaks
 * List of National Football League records (individual) → List of NFL individual records
 * List of National Football League records (team) → List of NFL team records
 * List of current National Football League offensive coordinators → List of NFL offensive coordinators
 * List of National Football League officials → List of NFL officials
 * National Football League records → NFL records
 * National Football League rivalries → NFL rivalries
 * List of National Football League seasons → List of NFL seasons
 * Lists of National Football League team seasons → Lists of NFL team seasons
 * Timeline of the National Football League → Timeline of the NFL


 * Oppose league article, fine with the others in line with the discussion at Talk:National Basketball Association oknazevad (talk) 13:19, 3 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Oppose all – The NFL is not only called the NFL and it's not beneficial to move it to the short form acronym. Then, for consistency, it doesn't make sense to use the acronym for the rest of the pages. Hey man im josh (talk) 13:32, 3 March 2024 (UTC)
 * The status quo actually isn't consistent. For example, there's the existing season pages (e.g. 2023 NFL season) and the drafts (2023 NFL draft), among others. —Bagumba (talk) 14:46, 3 March 2024 (UTC)
 * , thoughts on 's comment above, the discussion below and the close at NBA? Possibility of reconsidering? « Gonzo fan2007  (talk)  @ 21:52, 12 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Note: WikiProject National Football League has been notified of this discussion. Vanderwaalforces (talk) 13:49, 3 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Note: WikiProject American Football League has been notified of this discussion. Vanderwaalforces (talk) 13:49, 3 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Note: WikiProject American football has been notified of this discussion. Vanderwaalforces (talk) 13:50, 3 March 2024 (UTC)


 * Oppose, especially the main article per WP:ACRONYMTITLE. As an encyclopedia, we should use the actual name of a topic as our title, rather than an abbreviation of that name, unless "NFL" was used exclusively, which is not the case. The other articles are less important because those are names we made up, but I see no compelling reason to change them. As long as one version redirects to the other, it makes little difference. Station1 (talk) 14:57, 3 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Support all except standalone National Football League The main National Football League page's existing name is consistent with MOS:ACROTITLE and its Central Intelligence Agency example (...in view of arguments that the full name is used in professional and academic publications). The full "National Football League" expansion can be seen on The New York Times, for example. For the others, where NFL is part of a longer descriptive title, the WP:CONCISE policy seems more applicable. The desciptive titles aren't ambiguous, as they are American football specific.  There are other longstanding examples such as NFL playoffs, NFL preseason, NFL lockout and the individual seasons (2023 NFL season), and drafts (2023 NFL draft) where the meaning is clear, and the primary topic of NFL is anyways the football league.—Bagumba (talk) 15:27, 3 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Support all except the standalone National Football League page, per Bagumba's reasoning. After all, we've got National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, Canadian Football League, American Football League etc. GoodDay (talk) 15:28, 3 March 2024 (UTC)
 * yeah i was gonna say by scarletviolet's logic, we'd have to abbreviate every sports league title too EricDoesEdits (talk) 12:30, 4 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Oppose changing the main article as well as 'Timeline of the National Football League' and Support the rest per the above comments as well as reasoning at the NBA requested move. The timeline is a historical record of the league and its development and ongoing heritage, so the full name seems historically significant there. Randy Kryn (talk) 15:36, 3 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Oppose National Football League → NFL. Srnec (talk) 16:27, 3 March 2024 (UTC)
 * , do you mind clarifying, do you just oppose NFL, but support the other proposed moves? « Gonzo fan2007  (talk)  @ 21:55, 12 March 2024 (UTC)
 * I oppose the first move. I do not have an opinion on the others. Srnec (talk) 22:08, 12 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Support all but NFL (and neutral on the timeline) for the sake of concision. Hameltion (talk &#124; contribs) 18:55, 3 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Oppose main article per Britannica, unsure on others.  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 22:26, 3 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Support all but NFL (and maybe Timeline of the National Football League) per WP:SHORTFORM and the examples therein:
 * Central Intelligence Agency, but CIA activities in Vietnam and List of CIA station chiefs, not Central Intelligence Agency activities in Vietnam or List of Central Intelligence Agency station chiefs
 * Federal Bureau of Investigation, but FBI files on Elvis Presley and FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, not Federal Bureau of Investigation files on Elvis Presley and Federal Bureau of Investigation Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
 * —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 06:06, 4 March 2024 (UTC)


 * Support all but NFL (and maybe Timeline of the National Football League) per nominator and for reasons listed by others above. Paintspot Infez (talk) 15:07, 4 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Weakly Oppose – What about the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, National Football League (Ireland) & the National Basketball Association, for instance. They don't use Acronyms. Although, The XFL & USFL Use Acronyms. PlaneCrashKing1264 (talk) 02:56, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * @PlaneCrashKing1264: Most people are also opposing moving the standalone National Football League. What is your opinion on the other titles? —Bagumba (talk) 05:07, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * @Bagumba: I like the title of Natonal Hockey League, Major League Baseball etc. But, i have mixed feelings about XFL, USFL etc. PlaneCrashKing1264 (talk) 13:50, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * @PlaneCrashKing1264: Sorry, I meant to ask you about all the other longer NFL titles in the above nomination (e.g. List of NFL awards, etc.) —Bagumba (talk) 13:54, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * @Bagumba: Lite what? PlaneCrashKing1264 (talk) 13:56, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Like* PlaneCrashKing1264 (talk) 13:57, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * @BagumbaBagumba Well, I do like the title of those articles. PlaneCrashKing1264 (talk) 13:43, 6 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Completely unnecessary and adds needless ambiguity. Abbreviations are usually best avoided for article titles. -- Necrothesp (talk) 14:14, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Sometimes... PlaneCrashKing1264 (talk) 14:23, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * ... and adds needless ambiguity: By the same token, "National Football League" is also ambiguous, see the others at National Football League (disambiguation).—Bagumba (talk) 15:39, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Indeed. Although I would suspect an attempt to rename it would fail as it would be considered primary topic. -- Necrothesp (talk) 14:13, 6 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Support all except main article National Football League - reading the full name takes up too much space and distracts from what everyone is attempting to decipher. We want to know the specific contents of the article and NFL is self-explanatory. Is the opposition assuming the readers are 2 years old and learning world sports culture for the first time? If so, it does not take a rocket scientist to put two and two together or maybe these newcomers should avoid these one-off pages and start out at the main articles then to learn the basics first before diving into these more esoteric topics. - BeFriendlyGoodSir (talk) 18:49, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Oppose the renaming of all of the above articles. Catfurball (talk) 19:01, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Comment FWIW, the similar move request at has been closed, moving all pages to its concise "NBA" counterpart, except for the base page National Basketball Association.—Bagumba (talk) 15:54, 6 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Ok@Bagumba PlaneCrashKing1264 (talk) 16:52, 6 March 2024 (UTC)


 * Oppose, for the main article, Support, for the other subpages, per oknazevad and Bagumba. JParksT2023 (talk) 15:59, 14 March 2024 (UTC)


 * @Bagumba FYI, I can't move List of National Basketball Association general managers to shortened version for some reason. - BeFriendlyGoodSir (talk) 18:12, 6 March 2024 (UTC)
 * @BeFriendlyGoodSir-- Me neither. PlaneCrashKing1264 (talk) 21:24, 6 March 2024 (UTC)
 * I think we have to go through Requested moves/Technical requests unless Bagumba can assist. - BeFriendlyGoodSir (talk) 21:42, 6 March 2024 (UTC)
 * I just requested it at WP:RMTR. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 21:44, 6 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Not again! PlaneCrashKing1264 (talk) 23:01, 6 March 2024 (UTC)
 * If you're thinking that would result in another week-long discussion, that's not the case. It was moved in response to my request (see Talk:List of National Basketball Association general managers). —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 23:09, 6 March 2024 (UTC)


 * Support renaming except for the league article itself and Timeline of the National Football League. The name "NFL" is globally ubiquitous, like "FIFA", and the most logical search terms. Redirects will be maintained for the 0.5% of users typing in the full name of the league as a search term. Carrite (talk) 17:02, 11 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Support renaming except National Football League per the reasoning and consensus established for professional basketball at Talk:National Basketball Association. « Gonzo fan2007  (talk)  @ 21:40, 12 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Comment there are probably a lot of downstream resulting tecnical moves, like to categories and templates, if this passes. I.e. -> .  « Gonzo fan2007  (talk)  @ 14:34, 13 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Support all except for National Football League. Regarding the added ambiguity, I believe that NFL is a sufficiently-common acronym to be generally understood.  Any added ambiguity is, in my opinion, worth the shorter article names.  Useight (talk) 23:21, 13 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Support per WP:SHORTFORM, which notes that we use Central Intelligence Agency, but CIA activities in Vietnam and List of CIA station chiefs, and Federal Bureau of Investigation, but FBI files on Elvis Presley and FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. BD2412  T 02:15, 17 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Comment I think consensus has been reached here. Should this be closed soon? Majority seems to support shortened form (NFL) for all except main article and Timeline article. - BeFriendlyGoodSir (talk) 06:07, 20 March 2024 (UTC)
 * It was relisted on the 13th (arguably, there was even consensus then, as the "opposes" were mostly just regarding a single page—the main National Football League page), so it is scheduled to be reviewed again soon.—Bagumba (talk) 06:16, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

What's your opinion?
So, should we split the NFL teams section into it's own article? PlaneCrashKing1264 (talk) 16:58, 4 March 2024 (UTC)


 * Try requesting a move, see how that works. 75.176.73.120 (talk) 02:31, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * I don't know how to, though. PlaneCrashKing1264 (talk) 02:43, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Is this referring to the section ?—Bagumba (talk) 05:09, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Yeah. PlaneCrashKing1264 (talk) 13:51, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * It's not particularly large. What would be added?  Consider the guideline WP:AVOIDSPLIT: —Bagumba (talk) 14:40, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * It's useful for this page and doesn't need a split. Remember that for every split a large percentage of readers are lost, so best to keep everything in this article presentable and in one place. Randy Kryn (talk) 14:46, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * It's not got too much detail, it's a good amount to summarise the main points of how teams, conferences and TV blackouts work, which are all key concepts to understanding the NFL (particularly for readers that don't watch much NFL). Joseph2302 (talk) 15:06, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Ok, just asking PlaneCrashKing1264 (talk) 17:15, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 17 April 2024
Can someone please update the regular season section of the season format section of this page to include the 2023–24 NFL standings? Please. 2601:40A:8400:1820:75F2:A114:503F:13FC (talk) 22:04, 17 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. GrayStorm(Talk&#124;Contributions) 23:27, 17 April 2024 (UTC)
 * The standings are stuck in 2021-22, which had already passed. That's why it needs to be updated. 2601:40A:8400:1820:75F2:A114:503F:13FC (talk) 23:35, 17 April 2024 (UTC)

Change the term club back to team
The is American football this is not soccer we did not use the term club. Every fan and every player also every owner reference there club as team. 2601:2C6:8400:DCF0:A6E7:21:B52A:912D (talk) 07:44, 25 April 2024 (UTC)


 * I agree with this and have made the change, although another person then reverted it on the theory that the NFL uses "clubs." As anyone who edits Wikipedia knows, the league's usage is not controlling—the rule is to use the terminology most seen in common usage. I don’t see how anyone can seriously dispute that in American English the normal term is "teams," except perhaps among some soccer fans who persist in using other odd terminology like "kit" when they mean "uniform" and "match" when they mean "game." 1995hoo (talk) 01:02, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
 * This has been "Club" for over a decade now, as a good article. The proper term is "Club". The league always uses this term when referring to the organizations. We need to be accurate when referring to things - it's not a matter of WP:COMMONNAME, it's a matter of basic accuracy. "Club", "franchise", "team" - all of these have meanings. Using them incorrectly can confuse, but more importantly, it's simply not accurate. "Club" is the organization itself, "franchise" is the slot in the league, and "team" is the actual team out on the field; see, for example, the Carolina Panthers website, where "Team" links to the roster listing. See, as an example, this recent NFLPA report, which uses "club" to refer to the organization and "team" to refer to the team on the field. Team and club are not the same thing. That being said - the article, as it is right now, is inconsistent in usage, and this should be corrected. <i style="color: green; font-family: Mistral;">Toa</i> <i style="color: green; font-family: Mistral;">Nidhiki05</i> 01:54, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
 * It’s 10:00 at night, so I’m not going to think about it further tonight. But I believe your analysis, while "technically" accurate as a matter of word definitions, is unnecessarily hypertechnical because there is no doubt that the commonly used, and widely understood, term is "teams." No reader will be remotely confused by the use of "teams," which is also consistent with the usage in all the other North American major leagues' articles (even MLS, where I’d expect people to be militant about using British terminology). I sincerely doubt this word is even remotely relevant to good article status. 1995hoo (talk) 02:06, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
 * It's not British terminology. It's the terminology the league uses, and has always used. There are exceptions - we don't call the "extra point" the "try", for example - but it's not like "club" is unknown. <i style="color: green; font-family: Mistral;">Toa</i> <i style="color: green; font-family: Mistral;">Nidhiki05</i> 02:16, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
 * The NBA, NHL, MLB, and MLS pages all have a section titled Teams, not Clubs. So, using the definition that teams only refers to the actual players on the field, then shouldn't the other pages be updated too?  After all,  why should the NFL page be unique in this sense? Alielmi1207 (talk) 17:16, 6 July 2024 (UTC)


 * I agree with using "teams" as the common term. Overly technical pedantry is irrelevant in what word to use in the header, as it'll both are completely accurate. That is to say, even if we conceded a distinction between the organization and the playing squad, the material in the chart is applicable to both. Consistency with other major North American sports leagues should be maintained (yes, even the CFL uses "teams"). The fact that this gets changed periodically and is changed back by one editor tells me that there's some WP:OWN going on here. oknazevad (talk) 17:43, 6 July 2024 (UTC)
 * It's not an accurate term. A handful of Wikipedia editors who genuinely do not know what they are talking about doesn't make a commonname. <i style="color: green; font-family: Mistral;">Toa</i> <i style="color: green; font-family: Mistral;">Nidhiki05</i> 22:48, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

NFL Sunday Ticket lawsuit
Should NFL Sunday Ticket lawsuit be mentioned here? It's mentioned on NFL Sunday Ticket but given that NFL could potentially have to pay $4B, seems significant enough to mention here. https://frontofficesports.com/nfl-sunday-ticket-trial-jury-ruling/ Sawitontwitter (talk) 12:59, 28 June 2024 (UTC)