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In 1926, the NFL had 22 clubs, just 10 fewer than it has today.
But by the beginning of the 1927 season, there were just 12 teams — 10 holdovers and two that weren’t in the league the previous year.
A dozen clubs, meanwhile, had exited stage left, never to play again in the NFL.
Eighty-eight years ago Thursday, the NFL finalized a plan to cull some of its weaker teams, per the Record and Fact Book, an official accounting of league history. The idea was strengthen the league by contraction.