Sorry in advance!

[ladyzac]

Hi you guys!
Okay...I have a really stupid question to ask and well...it isn't really that it's stupid, I just don't watch football that much. Anyway...my husband is from England and he is trying to get into the sport and he asked me what the difference was between NFC and AFC? I tried looking for it on the web but I can't find anything? Can anyone explain it to me so I can tell him?
Thanks!
Zac :tng: (j.k.)

 

[Zhukov]

Hi you guys!
Okay...I have a really stupid question to ask and well...it isn't really that it's stupid, I just don't watch football that much. Anyway...my husband is from England and he is trying to get into the sport and he asked me what the difference was between NFC and AFC? I tried looking for it on the web but I can't find anything? Can anyone explain it to me so I can tell him?
Thanks!
Zac :tng: (j.k.)

They used to be two seperate leagues. Sometime, a long long time ago, they joined together to form the NFL. I think back then they each had slightly different rules, but nowadays there is no real difference.

 

[Zhukov]

OK, I looked it up because I wasn't sure.

There used to be the NFL and the AFL. Two seperate competing football leagues.

In 1970, the two leagues aligned their schedules. A few teams from the NFL went to the AFL. The AFL changed it's name to the AFC. The remaining teams in the NFL became the NFC. Collectively the two leagues became the new NFL.

http://www.rauzulusstreet.com/football/profootball/nflhistory.htm

 

[insein]

Another way of separating the teams. 2 conferences each with 4 divisions that has only 4 teams in each helps to create rivalries.

The history is as zhokov linked above. The NFL and AFL were 2 separate competing leagues in the 1960's. The first Super Bowl's were contests to show the coutnry who was the better league. NFL vs AFL were held for 3 straight years. NFL destroyed in the first 2 games and it was thought that the AFL would fold if another bad showing occured. Super Bowl 3, the AFL Jets beat the dominant NFL Colts. Thus the 2 talked about a merger and the NFL as we know it today was born.

Since then, many expansion teams have been added in cities that have shown interest in having a team. Many teams have moved to different cities in that time as well. Today both conferences consist of 16 teams. The top 4 division winners and the next best 2 teams make the playoffs from each conference. The winner from each conference plays each other in the Super Bowl.