Back to the NFL Newsfeed

Recalling when the NFL went from 22 to 12 teams

Getty Images

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.