The practice of paying players was formalized in 1920 with the creation of the American Professional Football Association. Two years later, it was renamed the National Football League. William ...

The National Football League was founded in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association. The league adopted its current name in 1922. Only two of the founding teams -- the Decatur ...

In fairness, they played for the American Professional Football Association, which was the precursor to the NFL. And while they dipped out extremely quickly, it was not that uncommon at the time ...

In the early 1900s, the NFL — then named the American Professional Football Association (APFA) — was largely segregated, and very few Black athletes could play professional football.

and the club used the “Acme Packers” title on the players’ jerseys in their first year in the American Professional Football Association, the precursor to the National Football League (NFL).

the birthplace of the NFL in its previous guise as the American Professional Football Association. The sport's earliest repeat champion, the now-defunct Canton Bulldogs, hailed from the city ...

starting with six American Professional Football Association (APFA) matchups. Those six games marked the first Thursday games in professional football history, per the Pro Football Hall of Fame.