Football NFL Franchise Team

What is a Football NFL Franchise Team?

An NFL franchise team is a team that plays in the National Football League. There are 32 teams in the NFL, each of which belongs to a division within a conference. NFL franchises fall into the North, South, East, or West division of the National Football Conference or the American Football Conference. Four teams make up each division and four divisions make up a conference.

NFL Franchise Teams

Throughout the life of the NFL, numerous franchise teams have moved, merged, or in some other way have developed into today's teams. The league's current franchise teams are:

• Arizona Cardinals
• Atlanta Falcons
• Baltimore Ravens
• Buffalo Bills
• Carolina Panthers
• Chicago Bears
• Cincinnati Bengals
• Cleveland Browns
• Dallas Cowboys
• Denver Broncos
• Detroit Lions
• Greenbay Packers
• Houston Texans
• Indianapolis Colts
• Jacksonville Jaguars
• Kansas City Chiefs
• Los Angeles Chargers
• Los Angeles Rams
• Miami Dolphins
• Minnesota Vikings
• New England Patriots
• New Orleans Saints
• New York Giants
• New York Jets
• Oakland Raiders
• Philadelphia Eagles
• Pittsburgh Steelers
• San Francisco 49ers
• Seattle Seahawks
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Tennessee Titans
• Washington Redskins

Schedules

Because football is a physically demanding sport, an NFL franchise team plays only 16 games during the regular season, meaning it cannot play every team in the league. Instead, it plays a specific schedule that consists of:

• two games each against the other three teams in its conference (six games total).
• one game against every team from another division in its own conference (four games total).
• one game against every team from a division in the other conference (four games total).
• one game each against two teams from the other two divisions in its conference (two games total). These last two games are scheduled based on the teams' rankings in their respective divisions from the last season.

Important Personnel

The success of an NFL franchise team can be attributed to any number of people within the organization, whether that be players on the field or personnel in the front office. Though this may vary among teams, the most important members of an NFL franchise's success often comes down to the team's owner, general manager, head coach, and quarterback for various reasons.

Home Territory

NFL franchise teams operate within their home territory, which is the city a team plays in. This territory includes a 75-mile radius from the outer limits of the city. There are a few exceptions to what constitutes a team's home territory and what their rights are, especially pertaining to franchises that operate in the same city or whose cities are within 75 miles of each other.