Professional American football championship games

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Below is a list of professional football Championship Games in the United States, involving:

Contents

Prior to 1920, no national professional football league existed, and play was scattered across semi-pro and professional leagues in the upper midwest. The first efforts at pro football championships were the World Series of Professional Football, featuring teams from and around New York City and the 1902 "National" Football League in Pennsylvania; two of the three "N"FL teams participated as one team in the World Series of Pro Football.

The Ohio League and New York Pro Football League were two prominent regional associations in the 1910s (the NYPFL held an actual championship game in 1919).

In 1920, teams from the Ohio League and New York Pro Football League, along with other midwestern teams, formalized into the American Professional Football Association (APFA), and the league was later renamed the National Football League (NFL).

The NFL conducted play for thirteen years before creating a "Championship Game": from 1920 through 1932, league "champions" were determined by won-loss record with ties excluded, but the schedules and rules were so ill-defined that conflicts exist to this day over who the actual champions were: some teams played more games than others, while some played against college or semi-pro teams, some played after the season was over, and some stopped play before a season was over. For example, in 1921, the Buffalo All-Americans disputed the Chicago Staleys' title, and in 1925, the Pottsville Maroons claimed the championship was theirs, not the Chicago Cardinals'. The APFA also had no official Championship Games before it changed its name to the NFL in 1922.

Boston/Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall, who credited with significant innovations by the NFL, convinced the NFL in 1933 to play a Championship Game between the two Division winners following the success of the 1932 Playoff Game.

Thus, 1933 was the year of the first national professional football Championship Game in the United States. See National Football League championships: note that game scores marked with a † (1921 and 1932) were defacto Championship Games, as these were the deciding games in determining a Championship, and also the last game played in that season - further, the Portsmouth Spartans, who were defeated in the 1932 Game, finished third as the Game counted in the season standings.

All games are listed under the year in which the majority of regular season games were played: especially since the 1960s, many championship games have been played in the January or, since 2002, February of the following year (i.e. the Championship Game of the 2011 NFL season was played in February 2012, but is listed here under 2011).

Prior to 1920

(WSF) – All-Syracuse 36, Orange AC 0 [1]
(OIC) – Akron East Ends
(WPC) - Latrobe Athletic Association 6, Pennsylvania Railroad YMCA 0
(WSF) – Franklin Athletic Club 12, Watertown Red & Black 0
(WPC) - Latrobe Athletic Association 5, Steelton Athletic Club 0
(NYPFL) – All-Tonawanda 9, Rochester Jeffersons 7
(Buffalo Semi-Pro FL) – Buffalo Niagaras 5-0-0, did not play outside Buffalo due to 1918 flu pandemic
(NYPFL) – Buffalo Prospects 20, Rochester Jeffersons 0
(Self proclaim) - Rock Island Independents

1920-1932

(NFL-AFL26 challenge) – New York Giants 31, Philadelphia Quakers 0 [6]

1933-1959

1960-1969

1970–present

Spring football Champions

(USFL) Birmingham Stallions 28 vs. Pittsburgh Maulers 12
An interleague championship was played March 30, 2024 as the inaugural game of the UFL. [11]
  • Birmingham Stallions 27, Arlington Renegades 14 [12]

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References

  1. ↑ Official championship game of the tournament, though historically considered unimportant. The game often considered to be the true championship of the series was when the Syracuse team defeated a combined Athletics-Phillies team known as "New York" by a score of 6-0.
  2. ↑ The Blues and Tigers had so many players in common that it was impossible to stage a championship between the two teams. The two teams were thus jointly given the title and merged operations the next year, with the Tigers name being spun off to another team.
  3. ↑ Buffalo-Phoenixville (the team, though having ostensibly different owners, was effectively the same team that played as Buffalo on Sundays and as Phoenixville on most Saturdays) petitioned the league for a share of the title, citing a greater win–loss differential with Akron and the fact that their lone loss was partially nullified under league rules by virtue of a later win against the same team. (The team played Akron under the Buffalo name; under the Buffalo name, the team was 9-1-1, under Phoenixville, 11-0-0.) However, Joseph Carr moved to give Akron the sole title, which was officially accepted in April 1921. The Decatur Staleys, at 10-1-2 and who also tied Akron 0-0 in their final game a week later, also petitioned for a share of the title.
  4. ↑ A post-season game that would have given the title to the Chicago Bears was struck out as being illegal by league officials.
  5. ↑ The Pottsville Maroons also claimed the title; see 1925 NFL championship controversy for more details.
  6. ↑ While not quite a true Championship Game, the Quakers won the AFL title, and attempted to arrange a game between both League's Champions. After the top six teams declined due to scheduling and other issues, the challenge was accepted by the Giants, who finished seventh (out of 22) in the NFL standings.
  7. 1 2 Deciding game in a three-game series between the two teams.
  8. ↑ "Semi-Pro Football Hall of Fame: The First 100 (or so) Members, 1981-1989" (PDF).
  9. ↑ Fawkes, Ben (April 4, 2019). "FanDuel to pay out all AAF futures bets for $10K". ESPN . Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  10. ↑ "USFL Championship: Stallions top Stars in thriller, 33-30".
  11. ↑ Russell, Jake (December 31, 2023). "XFL, USFL announce merger to form the United Football League". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Stallions vs. Renegades final score, results: Reigning USFL champion Birmingham handles Arlington in UFL's first game". The Sporting News . 2024-03-30. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
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