AMERICAN FOOTBALL

arizona cardinals

atlanta falcons

baltimore ravens

buffalo bills

carolina panthers

chicago bears

cincinatti bengals

cleveland browns

detroit lions

dallas cowboys

denver broncos

green bay packers

houston texans

indianapolis colts

jacksonville jaguars

kansas city chiefs

miami dolphins

minnesota vikings

new england patriots

new orleans saints

new york giants

new york jets

oakland raiders

philadelphia eagles

pittsburgh steelers

st louis rams

san diego chargers

san francisco 49'ers

seattle seahawks

tampa bay buccaneers

tennessee titans

washington redskins

America’s premier winter sport is also the hardest to get tickets to. Whereas baseball plays just about every other day, the National Football League (NFL) only plays once a week for a relatively small 17 weeks in the regular season.

The NFL season starts in the first week of September – so for one month sport fans have a chance of catching both Baseball and Football on the same weekend. The season quickly unfolds and is completed at the end of December. The playoffs last throughout January, culminating in the world famous Superbowl on the last weekend in January.

The NFL is divided into two divisions – the National League and the American League – which are broken down into geographically based conferences. It is against the teams within each conference that teams play a home and away game but the rest of the season can be played against any other team in the NFL – regardless of their divisional status.

Although you’ll be hard pressed getting tickets to a regualar season game (forget the Superbowl and many playoff games), it may be just as exciting catching the game in a downtown bar or pub and watching the game in a packed alcohol induced atmosphere – it’ll be cheaper and possibly more memorable for a visitor. This is especially true for the Superbowl.

One of the newest sports that has evolved from American Football is Arena Football – basically the indoor version of the outdoor sport. Arena Football is played on a small field in an indoor stadium with fewer players and lots of points - but the rules are basically the same.

Arena Football is taking a while to achieve a profile but it has provided the opportunity for footballers who have not been picked up by the NFL to play some football for money when their college careers finish. The most famous Arena Football product is star St Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner.

Teams in the Arena League are the Arizona Rattlers, Dallas Desperados, Los Angeles Avengers, San Jose SaberCats, Chicago Rush, Detroit Fury, Grand Rapids Rampage, Indiana Firebirds, Buffalo Destroyers, New Jersey Gladiators, New York Dragons, Toronto Phantoms, Carolina Cobras, Georgia Force, Orlando Predators, and the Tampa Bay Storm.

The Canadian Football League also runs a competition that many ex-College players get a run in. Teams included in this competition are the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Montreal Alouettes, the Toronto Argonauts, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the BC Lions, the Calgary Stampeders, the Edmonton Eskimos and the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

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