About Football
The National Football League (NFL) was established in 1920 and it quickly grew into the largest sports organization in the Untied States.
How many NFL teams are there?
There are 32 NFL teams divided into two conferences: 16 in the National Football Conference (NFC) and 16 in the American Football Conference (AFC). Each team plays 17 regular season games over 18 weeks before 7 teams (4 division winners and 3 wild cards) from each conference progress to the playoffs and compete for a spot in the coveted NFL championship - The Super Bowl.
How many NFL stadiums are there?
There are 30 active NFL stadiums in the US. While there are 32 teams in the NFL, there are two stadiums shared by two teams each — SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles area and MetLife Stadium in the New York City area.
Which state has the most NFL teams?
Currently, California, Florida, and New York are tied for the most NFL teams, with three each. Prior to 2020, when the Raiders left for Las Vegas, California held the title of most NFL teams, with four. New York may not belong on the list, though, as the two teams representing New York City (the Giants and the Jets) play their home games in New Jersey. Which would leave the Buffalo Bills as the only NFL team to play in the state of New York.
What NFL stadiums have real grass?
15 NFL teams play on natural grass: Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers*, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles*, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Washington Commanders
*Of the 15, two (Philadelphia and Green Bay) play on a hybrid turf that incorporates artificial fibers into a natural grass surface.
How many NFL stadiums are domes?
There are only four true domed stadiums in the NFL. New Orleans’s Caesars Superdome is the oldest (opened in 1975) with Detroit’s Ford Field (2002), Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium (2016), and Las Vegas’s Allegiant Stadium (2020) all also featuring permanent indoor playing environments.
Five stadiums feature retractable roofs: Dallas’s AT&T Stadium, Indianapolis’s Lucas Oil Stadium, Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium, Houston’s NRG Stadium, and Arizona’s State Farm Stadium.
Three NFL stadiums are partially covered: Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, with a roof over the stands and a rectangular opening over the playing field, Los Angeles’s SoFi stadiumhas a fixed roof, but open endzones, and Seattle’s Lumen Field, which features a partial roof covering about 70% of the stands, open air above the field, and open endzones.
With so many teams and stadium names to remember, we decided to put together this helpful list of NFL teams and stadiums. You can usethis list of all 32 NFL teamsto help you track which stadiums you've visited or to learn more about each NFL team and their specific stadium.
GeoJango NFL Football Stadium Map
Fun Facts About NFL Teams & Stadiums
- The first televised NFL game took place in 1939, between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Brooklyn Dodgers.
- The first Super Bowl took place in Los Angeles in 1967, where the Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs.
- NFL players weren't required to wear helmets until 1943. Dick Plasman is known as the last NFL player to play without a helmet, for Chicago in 1940.
- MetLife & SoFi Stadiums are the only NFL Stadiums shared by two teams each.
- The NFL has the shortest regular season out of any major American professional sport, at 18 weeks.
- Each NFL game is officially 60 minutes long, but the typical television run time is about 3 and 1/2 hours, and the actual playing time in any given football game is only about 11 minutes, on average.
- No founding NFL team remains in their original city as originally named.
- Every football used in NFL games comes from the same factory located in Ada, Ohio.
- There are 9 NFL Stadiums located in cities that aren't reflected by the team name.
- The Las Vegas Raiders are the "newest" team, since they moved from Oakland at the start of the 2020 NFL season.The previous newest teams in the league both returned to the Los Angeles area after playing in other cities for multiple decades. The Chargers (originally founded in LA in 1960, before moving to San Diego) moved back in 2017, and the Rams (played in LA between 1946 and 1994, before moving to St. Louis) returned in 2016.
- Over 123 million viewers watched the Super Bowl in February of 2024, making it the most viewed televised broadcast ever in the United States.
- Sofi Stadium & Allegiant Stadium are the newest stadiums in the league (both opened in 2020), whereas Chicago's Soldier Field is the oldest (opened in 1924).
- The largest NFL stadium capacity is 82,500 people seated in New Jersey's MetLife Stadium.
- Chicago's Soldier Field is the smallest stadium in the NFL, with a capacity of 61,500.
