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90-602: The Fujian Sturgeons made their debut in the 2004–2005 season, and finished in seventh and last place in the South Division, out of the playoffs. In 2005–2006, they tied for fifth, just one win away from making the playoffs . Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA -sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed. Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA -sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed. To appear in this section

180-634: A bracket tournament between the top four teams in the country as determined by a selection committee, which was established as a successor to the Bowl Championship Series and its similar BCS National Championship Game . Unlike the BCS championship, the participating teams in the College Football Playoff National Championship are determined by two semi-final bowls—hosted by two of the consortium's six member bowls yearly—and

270-572: A gentlemen's agreement between the two U.S. leagues that extended even beyond the arrangement the NFL observed with respect to the CFL — specifically, once a player signed with a U.S. professional team, be it from the AFL or NFL, teams in both U.S. leagues were expected to honor each other's player contracts in their entirety (including the respective reserve clauses) and not sign players who were "under contract" with teams in

360-486: A Canadian Football League player developed into a star, only one particular NFL team would have the right to sign him. This ensured that NFL teams did not become embroiled in costly bidding wars for top free agents. Once the American Football League commenced operations, NFL teams extended this policy to cover AFL players as well, and the AFL promptly reciprocated the arrangement. This arrangement soon evolved into

450-549: A capacity of at least 65,000 spectators, and cities cannot host both a semi-final game and the title game in the same year. The winner of the game is awarded a new championship trophy instead of the "Crystal Football" , which has been given by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) since 1986; officials wanted a new trophy that was unconnected with the previous BCS championship system. The new College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy

540-520: A champion at the NCAA Division II level. It was first held in 1973. Prior to 1973, four regional bowl games were played in order to provide postseason action for what was then called the "NCAA College Division" and a poll determined the final champion. The National Championship final was held at Sacramento, California from 1973 to 1975. It was in Wichita Falls, Texas in 1976 and 1977. The game

630-631: A champion in the way they are used in North America. In the EFL Championship (the second tier of English football), teams finishing 3rd to 6th after the regular season compete to decide the third promotion spot to the Premier League . Evidence of playoffs in professional football dates to at least 1919, when the " New York Pro Championship " was held in Western New York (it is possible one

720-548: A feature of the qualification tournaments for the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Football Championship . In the qualification playoffs for the 2006 World Cup , for example: Later World Cup qualifying inter-confederation play-offs were held for 2010 , 2014 , 2018 and 2022 . CONCACAF Nations League and UEFA Nations League hold their respective finals to determine the overall winner at

810-566: A finals series/playoff is standard in Australian sport. The Belgian First Division A (previously known as the "First Division" and "Pro League") has a fairly complex playoff system, currently consisting of two levels and at one time three. Since the 2009–10 season, playoffs have been held to determine the champion and tickets for the Champions League and Europa League. The six highest ranked teams play home-and-away matches against each other;

900-537: A fish bowl (other sources say a flower vase), and the official NFC alignment—Plan 3—was pulled out by Rozelle's secretary, Thelma Elkjer. Of the five plans considered, the one that was put into effect was the only one which had Minnesota remaining in the Central Division and Dallas playing in the Eastern Division. Meanwhile, all three of the major television networks signed contracts to televise games, ensuring

990-571: A legal challenge. These fears ultimately proved well-founded in retrospect, as after the merger in football was finalized the World Hockey Association would successfully challenge the National Hockey League 's similar reserve clause in court. National Football League teams had long adhered to the practice of drafting for and retaining the NFL rights to players who signed with other leagues. This policy ensured, for example, that if

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1080-696: A massive lack of competitive balance, and resulted in the league's strongest team (the Cleveland Browns ) dominating the league and becoming perennial champions. Due to the AAFC's poor financial situation, the league disbanded after the 1949 season. Three AAFC teams—the Cleveland Browns, the San Francisco 49ers , and the original version of the Baltimore Colts —were absorbed into the NFL in 1950 . The league

1170-460: A merger. The talks were conducted without the knowledge of Davis, the new AFL commissioner. On the evening of June 8, 1966, the collaborators announced a merger agreement in New York. Under the agreement: Following the agreement, American Football League owners created the office of AFL President with a mandate to administer the league's day-to-day business in a semi-autonomous manner, much like

1260-542: A one-off match against the fourth- or fifth-place team from the championship playoff (depending on available European slots) for the final Europa League place. In Brazil, the Copa do Brasil , the second most prestigious country-wide competition, is contested in pure "knockout" format since its inception in 1989. While the top two tiers in the Brazilian League – Série A and Série B – are contested in double round robin format,

1350-467: A player must have either: This article about a basketball team in China is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Playoffs The playoffs , play-offs , postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be either

1440-510: A playoff system to determine the champion of the season. When the Football League was first expanded to two divisions in 1892, test matches were employed to decide relegation and promotion between them, but the practice was scrapped in favour of automatic relegation and promotion in 1898. The use of play-offs to decide promotion issues returned to the League in 1986 with the desire to reduce

1530-616: A position affecting promotion, relegation, or European qualification. AFL%E2%80%93NFL merger The AFL–NFL merger was the merger of the two major professional American football leagues in the United States at the time: the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). It paved the way for the combined league, which retained the "National Football League" name and logo, to become

1620-629: A rule, international association football has only had championship playoffs when a league is divided into several equal divisions, conferences or groups ( Premier League ) or when the season is split into two periods (as in many leagues in Latin America). In leagues with a single table done only once a year, as in most of Europe, playoff systems are not used to determine champions, although in some countries such systems are used to determine teams to be promoted to higher leagues (e.g., England) or qualifiers for European club competitions (such as Greece and

1710-604: A series of relegation playoffs. The series starts with a knockout playoff that also consists entirely of two-legged matches. The winner of the playoff remains in the First League for the following season. The losing teams then enter the following series of two-legged promotion/relegation matches: With the creation of the Liga Dominicana de Fútbol in 2014 to replace the Primera División de Republica Dominicana , it introduced

1800-622: A serious challenge to the NFL. Pursuant to the agreement, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers joined the AFC in 1976, and the Seattle Seahawks joined the NFC. The 1976 expansion teams switched conference before their second season in the league, becoming the first NFL teams to change conferences after the merger. In spite of Rozelle's promise that there would be no re-locations involving teams in existence at

1890-435: A single game, a series of games, or a tournament , and may use a single-elimination system or one of several other different playoff formats . Playoff, in regard to international fixtures, is to qualify or progress to the next round of a competition or tournament. In team sports in the U.S. and Canada, the vast distances and consequent burdens on cross-country travel have led to regional divisions of teams. Generally, during

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1980-520: A total of 10 matches each. The 6 participating teams start with the points accumulated during the regular competition divided by two. The first 3 teams after the play-offs get a European ticket. The fourth ranked team (or fifth, when the cup holder is already qualified for European football) plays a knock-out match against the winner of play-off 2. From 2009 to 2010 through 2015–16, teams ranked 7–14 played in two groups; from 2016 to 2017 forward, this playoff will continue to be contested in two groups, but with

2070-432: A total of 12 teams (details below). All points gained from the regular competition are lost. The two group winners play a final match to determine the winner of play-off 2. The winning team plays a final match against the fourth-ranked team (or fifth) for the last European ticket. The play-off system has been criticized because more points per match can be earned in the play-off stage than in the regular competition. This way

2160-447: A winning record against old-line NFL opposition, going 3–2 (defeating Washington, Pittsburgh and Cleveland; losing to Detroit and San Francisco) before losing to the Colts in the AFC championship. Nevertheless, out of the three NFL teams to join the AFC, only the Colts managed to secure a playoff berth. Each of the first 29 games on the new Monday Night Football featured at least one team from

2250-455: Is sponsored by Dr Pepper , which paid an estimated $ 35 million for the sponsorship rights through 2020. The 26.5-inch high, 35-pound trophy was unveiled on July 14, 2014. The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an American college football tournament played each year to determine the champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Prior to 2006, the game

2340-404: Is the winner of that season's Bulgarian Cup, in which case it will not enter the playoff and the team that it would have played receives a bye into the playoff final). The winner of this playoff then contests a one-off match against the third-place (or fourth-place) team from the championship playoff, with the winner claiming the final Europa League place. The bottom two teams from each group begin

2430-721: The Stagg Bowl , has been played annually in Salem , Virginia at Salem Football Stadium since 1993. It was previously played in Phenix City , Alabama at Garrett-Harrison Stadium (1973–1982, 1985–1989), at the College Football Hall of Fame , when the Hall was located in Kings Island , Ohio at Galbreath Field (1983–1984), and Bradenton , Florida at Hawkins Stadium (1990–1992). As

2520-470: The 2008–09 season , the top four teams advanced to the finals series, employed using a modified Page playoff system . The top two teams at the end of league play were matched in one semifinal, with the winner advancing directly to the grand final and the loser going into the Preliminary Final. The next two teams played a semifinal for a place in the Preliminary Final, whose winner took the other place in

2610-505: The most popular sports league in the United States. The merger was announced on the evening of June 8, 1966. Under the merger agreement, the leagues maintained separate regular-season schedules for the next four seasons—from 1966 through 1969 with a final championship game which would become known as the Super Bowl —and then officially merged before the 1970 season to form one league with two conferences. Following its inception in 1920,

2700-486: The " Best Second Place Team" (as it was originally called) would reach the postseason. Fans and media quickly dubbed this team the " wild card " and the NFL soon made that name official. Although the AFC teams quickly decided on a divisional alignment along mostly geographic lines, the 13 NFC owners had trouble deciding which teams would play in which divisions. The 49ers and Rams, both in California, were guaranteed to be in

2790-427: The AFL as fact. Another example was Dallas Cowboys general manager Tex Schramm , a close friend of Rozelle (Schramm hired Rozelle as Rams' GM), who was influential in NFL coverage by its national TV partner, CBS , including the network's employment of former NFL players as game announcers and the absence of AFL scores and reports on the network. The AFL enjoyed one critical advantage over its established rival, which

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2880-453: The AFL at the gate, especially in the AFL's first few seasons, thus ensuring that the older league's franchises remained considerably more lucrative enterprises compared to their AFL rivals. Nevertheless, NFL owners knew they did not have unlimited resources to wage a protracted bidding war with the AFL. Moreover, owners in both leagues feared that the reserve clause written into the standard players' contracts of both leagues would not survive

2970-479: The AFL would consist of players who could not earn a contract in the NFL. The NFL also had the media advantage: for example, in the 1960s, Sports Illustrated ' s lead football writer was Tex Maule , who previously worked with NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle when Rozelle was the general manager of the L.A. Rams and Maule was the team's public relations director; Maule "was certainly an NFL loyalist", and several sports reporters took his deprecatory columns about

3060-429: The AFL. Although Pete Rozelle had not initiated the merger negotiations, he quickly endorsed the agreement. In addition to remaining in his post as NFL Commissioner, Rozelle was duly appointed chief executive of the AFL on July 26, 1966, a post he would hold through to the completion of the merger. In practice, the media often simply referred to Rozelle as the football commissioner or commissioner of football during

3150-709: The Dallas–Fort Worth area, which were rapidly increasing in population and would emerge as media strongholds in the 1970s. Despite AFL triumphs in Super Bowls III and IV, the old-guard NFL was still widely expected to dominate the merged league over the course of an entire season. In 1970, these predictions were proven to be more or less correct: out of 60 regular season games pitting old-line NFL teams versus former AFL teams, former AFL teams went 19–39 (two games, Buffalo at Baltimore in week 9 and St. Louis at Kansas City in week 10, ended in ties). Only Oakland managed to post

3240-665: The NFL absorbed the AAFC in 1950, it had no other rival US leagues throughout the 1950s. The only other professional gridiron football leagues then in operation were the Canadian leagues that would merge to form the present day Canadian Football League in 1958. In 1959, Lamar Hunt , son of Texas oil magnate H. L. Hunt , attempted to either gain ownership of the Chicago Cardinals with Bud Adams and move them to Dallas , or own an NFL expansion franchise in Dallas. The league, however,

3330-509: The NFL added its 32nd team, the Houston Texans , and significantly reshuffled its divisional alignment. The league went from 6 division winners and 6 wild-card spots to 8 division winners and only 4 wild-card qualifiers; by 2020 , the number of wild-card qualifiers returned to six. The winners of each division automatically earn a playoff spot and a home game in their first rounds, the three top non-division winners from each conference also make

3420-476: The NFL expanded and created four divisions under the two conferences, which led to the institution of a larger playoff tournament. After the 1970 AFL–NFL merger brought the American Football League into the NFL, the NFL began to use three divisions and a single wild-card team in each conference for its playoffs, in order to produce eight contenders out of six divisions; this was later expanded in 1978 and 1990 so that more wild-card teams could participate. In 2002

3510-490: The NFL fended off several rival leagues. Before 1960, its most important rival was the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), which began play in 1946 . The AAFC differed from the NFL in several ways. Despite relatively strong backing at the league's inception, it ultimately proved an unsustainable venture. The AAFC's most serious weakness resulted from its refusal to implement an initial draft ; this caused

3600-425: The NFL had given up on: so-called "NFL rejects" who turned out to be superstars that the NFL had mis-evaluated. These included Jack Kemp , Babe Parilli , George Blanda , Ron McDole , Art Powell , John Tracey , Don Maynard , and Len Dawson . The AFL introduced many policies and rules to professional football which the NFL later adopted, including: At first, the NFL ignored the AFL and its eight teams, assuming

3690-573: The NFL), the AFL signed stars such as Elbert Dubenion ( Bluffton ), Lionel Taylor ( New Mexico Highlands ), Tom Sestak ( McNeese State ), Charlie Tolar and Charlie Hennigan ( Northwestern State of Louisiana), Abner Haynes ( North Texas State ), and a host of others. From major colleges, it signed talented players like LSU's Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon , Arkansas's Lance Alworth , Notre Dame's Daryle Lamonica , Kansas' John Hadl , Alabama's Joe Namath , and many more. The AFL also signed players

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3780-465: The Netherlands), usually between teams that didn't perform well enough to earn an automatic spot. A test match is a match played at the end of a season between a team that has done badly in a higher league and one that has done well in a lower league of the same football league system . The format of a test match series varies; for instance it can be a head-to-head between one of the worse finishers of

3870-440: The New York league's playoff format, opting for a championship based on regular-season record for its first twelve seasons; as a result, four of the first six "championships" were disputed. Technically, a vote of league owners was all that was required to win a title, but the owners had a gentlemen's agreement to pledge votes based on a score (wins divided by the sum of wins and losses, with a few tiebreakers). When two teams tied at

3960-499: The Royal Belgian Football Association (KBVB) also introduced Christmas football in order to complete the extra matches in time. This posed some problems because a few matches had to be cancelled due to snowy pitches. The delays will probably cause the tight schedule to fail and postpone the end of the season. Some structural changes were instituted in 2015–16 : From 1974 through 2015, the 15th team out of 16 in

4050-669: The Second Division, to determine which team was promoted to the highest level together with the division champions. From the 2005–06 season on, only one team was relegated directly from the First Division, with the 17th team taking part in the playoff. As a result, this playoff was still called the Belgian Second Division final round , although one team from the Pro League took part each year. Starting in 2015–16, this playoff

4140-509: The Super Bowl has featured the champions of the AFC and NFC. Both are determined each season by the league's playoff tournament . With the creation of the new conferences of equal size, it was deemed necessary that they each be aligned into three divisions of four or five teams each. The 1970 playoff format combined elements of both leagues' playoff formats. Four teams would qualify for the postseason from each conference (same as in 1969), thus only

4230-559: The bidding war after the Gogolak transfer, signing notable NFL players, including John Brodie , Mike Ditka , and Roman Gabriel to contracts with AFL teams. Both leagues spent a combined $ 7 million signing their 1966 draft picks. The NFL initiated discussions for a merger between the two leagues through a backchannel: Tex Schramm , the general manager of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys since 1960 , secretly contacted AFL owners, led by Lamar Hunt of Kansas City, and asked if they were interested in

4320-578: The champion of the National League (formerly known as Conference Premier) are also automatically promoted. In EFL playoffs, the four clubs finishing below the automatic promotion places compete in two-legged semi-finals with the higher-placed club enjoying home advantage in the second leg. In the National League however, the six clubs finishing below the champions compete in playoffs - the lower four competing in an elimination match to decide who plays in

4410-487: The combined league's stability. CBS agreed to broadcast all games where an NFC team was on the road, NBC agreed to broadcast all games where an AFC team was on the road, and ABC agreed to broadcast Monday Night Football , making the NFL the first league to have a regular series of national telecasts in prime time . Many observers believe that the NFL got the better end of the bargain, as Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis and New York Jets owner Sonny Werblin resisted

4500-464: The commercial rivalry between the leagues intensified, both leagues entered into a bidding war over the top college prospects , paying unprecedented amounts of money for the best players coming out of college. The bidding wars escalated in the mid-1960s, with the respective drafts held on the same day in the late fall. By contrast, many NFL owners had comparatively little wealth outside the value of their respective franchises. The NFL consistently outdrew

4590-579: The end of the league, CONCACAF Nations League Finals and UEFA Nations League Finals . In Argentine football, playoffs in the style of the English leagues occur in the Primera B Metropolitana , part of the third tier, and leagues below it ( Primera C Metropolitana and Primera D Metropolitana ). All Primera Metropolitana tourneys cover the area in and around Buenos Aires , the capital city. The Torneo Reducidos (reduced tournaments), however, involve 8 teams below

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4680-468: The end of the season (which, effective in 2016–17, changed from a February–December format to an August–June format). The Australian A-League , which also features a team in New Zealand , has determined its champions via a playoff system, officially known as the "Finals Series" (reflecting standard Australian English usage), since its inception in the 2005–06 season . From the league's inception through

4770-470: The final standings was involved in a playoff pool with three teams from the Belgian Second Division after each season, to determine which of these teams played in the First Division/Pro League the oncoming season. The lowest ranked team of the First Division/Pro League was relegated and replaced by the Second Division champion. Originally, these playoffs were introduced in 1974 and were part of

4860-422: The four years following the merger agreement. The pre-existing office of NFL President continued effectively unchanged following the agreement. Then occupied by Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell , the NFL presidency was (both before and after the merger agreement) essentially an honorary title. Many of the conditions of the merger were designed to ensure passage of a law by the 89th U.S. Congress , exempting

4950-921: The games have been broadcast on ESPN . The NCAA Division III Football Championship began in 1973 . Before 1973, most of the schools now in Division III competed either in the NCAA College Division or the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). NCAA Divisions II and III were created by splitting the College Division in two, with schools that wished to continue awarding athletic scholarships placed in Division II and those that did not want to award them placed in Division III. The Division III playoffs begin with 32 teams selected to participate in them. The Division III final, known as

5040-437: The grand final. Both semifinals were two-legged, while the Preliminary Final and Grand Final were one-off matches. When the league expanded to 10 teams beginning in 2009–10 , the finals expanded to six teams. The format of the six-team playoff established at that time was: Starting with the 2012–13 season , the finals format has been changed to a pure knockout tournament consisting entirely of one-off matches: The concept of

5130-434: The higher league and one of the better finishers of the lower league, or it can be a mini league where all participants play each other or teams only play those from the other league. The winner of the test match series play in the higher league the following season, and the loser in the lower league. In international football , playoffs were a feature of the 1954 and 1958 FIFA World Cup final tournaments. They are still

5220-456: The home-and-away season. Each team in the championship playoff plays the others home and away one additional time. At the end of this stage: Each group within the qualifying playoff also plays home and away within its group; after this stage, teams enter another level of playoffs depending on their positions in the group. The top two teams in each group enter a knockout playoff consisting entirely of two-legged matches (unless one of these teams

5310-651: The indemnity payments. Long-time sports writer Jerry Magee of the San Diego Union-Tribune wrote: "Al Davis taking over as commissioner was the strongest thing the AFL ever did. He thought the AFL–NFL merger was a detriment to the AFL." However, other observers consider those scenarios far-fetched: the NFL had a richer television contract at the time of the merger, in large part because of market exclusivity in such leading population centers as Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, Atlanta and

5400-541: The lower tiers Série C and Série D include knockout rounds in their final stages. Bulgaria instituted an elaborate playoff system in its top flight, the First League , in the 2016–17 season. After the league's 14 teams play a full home-and-away season, the league splits into two playoffs—a 6-team "championship playoff" and an 8-team "qualifying playoff", with the latter split into two 4-team groups. Each playoff begins with teams carrying over all goals and statistics from

5490-518: The merged league from antitrust sanctions. When NFL Commissioner Rozelle and other professional football executives appeared before the Congress' Subcommittee on Antitrust, chaired by New York Representative Emanuel Celler , three points were repeatedly made: In October, Congress passed the new law to permit the merger to proceed. As 1970 approached, three NFL teams (the Baltimore Colts , Cleveland Browns , and Pittsburgh Steelers ), agreed to join

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5580-603: The mid-1960s after the relocation of the Chargers and Texans to non-NFL markets, the sale and rebranding of the New York Titans (to the Jets ), and the Jets' signing of University of Alabama quarterback Joe Namath to an unprecedented $ 427,000 contract. The league's financial survival was further buoyed by NBC's $ 36 million, five-year contract to televise AFL games beginning in 1965 . As

5670-617: The number of mid-table clubs with nothing to play for at the end of the season. The Football Conference, now known as the National League , introduced play-offs in 2002 after the Football League agreed to a two-club exchange with the Conference. The top two teams in the EFL Championship and in EFL League One are automatically promoted to the division above and thus do not compete in the play-offs. The top three teams in EFL League Two and

5760-493: The old-guard NFL, with the first nationally televised prime time game between two former AFL teams being Oakland at Houston on October 9, 1972. The merger paved the way for a new era of prosperity for the NFL. While a number of rival professional football leagues have commenced play since 1970 including the XFL , WFL , USFL and UFL , and while the CFL once experimented with U.S.-based teams , none of these ventures came close to being

5850-640: The other four teams (Boston, Buffalo, Denver, and Houston) widened the nation's exposure to professional football by serving markets that had no NFL team. In the following years, this additional exposure was widened via the relocation of two of the original eight franchises (the Chargers to San Diego in 1961 and the Texans to Kansas City in 1963 ), and the addition of two expansion franchises (the Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals ). From small colleges and predominantly black colleges (a source mainly ignored by

5940-411: The play-off semi-finals are two leg ties with the final being a single match played at the home ground of the highest placed of the two teams. At levels seven and eight, all of the ties are single matches played at the home ground of the team with the highest league position. In 2003, Gillingham proposed replacing the current play-off system with one involving six clubs from each division and replacing

6030-428: The playoffs as wild-card teams. The division winner with the best record in the regular season gets a first-round bye, and each of the other division winners plays one of the three wild-card teams. In the divisional round, the lowest-seeded winner of a wild-card game then plays the lone bye team; the two wild-card winners also advance to play each other. The winners of these two games go to the conference championships, and

6120-510: The proposal, it was blocked by The FA and soon abandoned. The championship of every division in English football is determined solely by the standings in the league. However, a championship play-off would be held if the top two teams were tied for points, goal difference, goals scored in both their overall league record, and identical head-to-head record (including head-to-head away goals scored); to date, this has never happened. A play-off would also be scheduled if two teams are tied as above for

6210-563: The regular season, teams play more games in their division than outside it, but the league's best teams might not play against each other in the regular season. Therefore, in the postseason a playoff series is organized. Any group-winning team is eligible to participate, and as playoffs became more popular they were expanded to include second- or even lower-placed teams – the term " wild card " refers to these teams. In England and Scotland, playoffs are used in association football to decide promotion for lower-finishing teams, rather than to decide

6300-421: The regular-season table. The First Division B qualifiers will be the top three teams from that league's regular-season table, excluding the division champion, which instead earns promotion to First Division A. As in the previous format, the teams will be divided into two groups, each playing home-and-away within the group, and the two group winners will play a one-off final, with the winner of that match advancing to

6390-560: The rival league. This unwritten agreement was broken in May 1966, when the NFL's New York Giants signed placekicker Pete Gogolak , who had played out his option in 1965 with the AFL's Buffalo Bills . The NFL's contravention of the gentlemen's agreement resulted in retaliation by the AFL: Oakland Raiders co-owner Al Davis took over as AFL Commissioner in April 1966, and he stepped up

6480-1167: The same division as the only NFC teams west of the Rocky Mountains . One early proposal would have put the two California teams together with the three Northeast teams—the New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins—reminiscent of the Western Conference's Coastal Division which had put L.A. and S.F. together with Baltimore and Atlanta from 1967 to 1969. The final five proposals were as follows: PLAN 1: East: NYG, PHI, WAS, ATL, MIN; Central: CHI, GB, DET, NO; West: LA, SF, DAL, STL. PLAN 2: East: NYG, PHI, WAS, MIN; Central: ATL, DAL, NO, STL; West: LA, SF, CHI, GB, DET. PLAN 3: East: NYG, PHI, WAS, DAL, STL: Central: CHI, GB, DET, MIN; West: LA, SF, ATL, NO. PLAN 4: East: NYG, PHI, WAS, STL, MIN; Central: CHI, GB, DET, ATL; West: LA, SF, DAL, NO. PLAN 5: East: NYG, PHI, WAS, DET, MIN; Central: CHI, GB, DAL, STL; West: LA, SF, ATL, NO. These five combinations were written up on slips of paper, sealed into envelopes and put into

6570-484: The semifinals (the top two receive a bye into the semifinals). The away goals rule does not apply for the semi-finals. The Football League play-off finals were originally played in two legs, at both teams' home grounds, but were later changed to one-off affairs, which are played at Wembley Stadium in London. Teams are also promoted using a play-off tournament from levels six to eight of the football pyramid . At level six,

6660-401: The team who wins the most matches isn't automatically the national champion. The biggest upside in favor of the play-off system is the higher number of matches (40 instead of 34 compared to the previous season) and more top matches. The extra matches also generate higher revenues for the teams. Nonetheless, the higher number of matches takes an extra toll on teams and players. Besides play-offs,

6750-577: The ten AFL teams to form the American Football Conference (AFC). The other thirteen NFL teams ( Atlanta Falcons , Chicago Bears , Dallas Cowboys , Detroit Lions , Green Bay Packers , Los Angeles Rams , Minnesota Vikings , New Orleans Saints , New York Giants , Philadelphia Eagles , St. Louis Cardinals , San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins ) became part of the National Football Conference (NFC). Since 1970,

6840-510: The time of its first opening day in 1960 : Boston ( Patriots ), Buffalo ( Bills ), New York City ( Titans ), Houston ( Oilers ), Denver ( Broncos ), Dallas ( Texans ), Oakland ( Raiders ), and Los Angeles ( Chargers ). While the Los Angeles, New York, Oakland, and Dallas teams shared media markets with NFL teams (the Rams , Giants , 49ers , and the expansion Dallas Cowboys , respectively),

6930-404: The top of the standings in 1932, an impromptu playoff game was scheduled to settle the tie. The NFL divided its teams into divisions in 1933 and began holding a single playoff final between division winners. In 1950 the NFL absorbed three teams from the rival All-America Football Conference , and the former "divisions" were now called "conferences", echoing the college use of that term. In 1967,

7020-413: The top two teams as determined by the selection committee do not automatically advance to the game in lieu of other bowls. The game is played at a neutral site, determined through bids by prospective host cities (similarly to the Super Bowl and NCAA final four ). When announcing it was soliciting bids for the 2016 and 2017 title games, playoff organizers said that the bids must propose host stadiums with

7110-617: The top two, as opposed to 4. Before the top-flight Argentine Primera División abandoned its traditional Apertura and Clausura format in 2015 in favor of an expanded single season, there was no playoff between the Apertura and Clausura winners. As a result, the league crowned two champions each year. After each Clausura, the two teams with the lowest points-per-game total for the previous six tournaments (three years, counting only Primera División games) were relegated to Primera B Nacional to be replaced by that league's champion and runner-up teams;

7200-524: The two teams immediately above contested promotion/relegation series with the third and fourth places in Primera B Nacional, counted by its aggregate table. In Primera B Nacional, the same procedure continues in use for relegation to either Primera B Metropolitana or Torneo Argentino A for non-Buenos Aires clubs. From 2015 onward, relegation from the Primera División will be based solely on league position at

7290-507: The two-legged ties with one-off matches. If adopted, the two higher-placed clubs in the play-offs would have enjoyed first-round byes and home advantage in the semi-finals. It was a controversial proposal — some people did not believe a club finishing only in eighth position in the League could (or should) compete in the Premiership while others found the system too American for their liking. Although League chairmen initially voted in favour of

7380-424: The way the constituent leagues of Major League Baseball operated at the time. The owners had hoped Davis would continue to serve in that role, but Davis flatly refused to consider serving as a subordinate to Pete Rozelle. After Davis resigned as AFL Commissioner on July 25, 1966, Milt Woodard (who was assistant commissioner under the original commissioner Joe Foss and Davis) was appointed to serve as President of

7470-469: The winners of those conference finals then face each other in the Super Bowl . The College Football Playoff National Championship is a post-season college football bowl game , used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), which began play in the 2014 college football season . The game serves as the final of the College Football Playoff ,

7560-485: Was briefly known as the National-American Football League during the offseason, but reverted to the traditional name of "National Football League" by the time the 1950 season began. The Browns went on to shock NFL loyalists by dominating the older league and winning the championship in their first NFL season, thus proving themselves to be among the best professional football teams of that time. After

7650-488: Was held in 1917, but that is not known for sure). The Buffalo and Rochester metropolitan areas each played a final, the winners of which would advance to the "New York Pro Championship" on Thanksgiving weekend. The top New York teams were eventually absorbed into the National Football League upon its founding in 1920, but the league (mostly driven by an Ohio League that did not have true finals, though they frequently scheduled de facto championship matchups) did not adopt

7740-592: Was known as the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship . The FCS is the highest division in college football to hold a playoff tournament sanctioned by the NCAA to determine its champion. The four-team playoff system used by the Bowl Subdivision is not sanctioned by the NCAA. The NCAA Division II Football Championship is an American college football tournament played annually to determine

7830-416: Was not interested in expansion at the time. Rebuffed in his attempts to gain at least part-ownership in an NFL team, Hunt conceived the idea of a rival professional football league, the American Football League . In September 1959, Hunt was approached by the NFL about an expansion team in Dallas, but by then Hunt was interested only in the AFL. The new league had six franchises by August 1959 and eight by

7920-623: Was played in Longview, Texas in 1978. For 1979 and 1980, Albuquerque, New Mexico hosted the game. McAllen, Texas hosted the finals from 1981 to 1985. From 1986 to 2013, the Division II final was played at Braly Municipal Stadium near the campus of the University of North Alabama in Florence, Alabama . Between 2014 and 2017, it was played at Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas . Since 1994,

8010-469: Was scrapped and replaced with direct relegation for the bottom Pro League/First Division A team only. Further changes will be introduced to the Europa League playoffs from 2016 to 2017 forward. The playoff will involve a total of 12 teams—nine from First Division A, and three from First Division B (the renamed Second Division). The First Division A qualifiers will be those finishing between 7th and 15th on

8100-437: Was that its owners on average were wealthier than their NFL counterparts. With a few exceptions, Hunt had successfully recruited owners who not only had deep pockets, but more importantly, the patience and willingness to absorb the inevitable financial losses of the fledgling league's early years. Therefore, in spite of the bad press, and unlike the NFL's previous rivals, the AFL was able to survive and grow, and began to prosper in

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