The Norwegian Bandy Premier League Norwegian : Eliteserien is the top level of bandy in Norway . National bandy champions have been named yearly since 1912, but the league was only founded in 1932.
88-479: The league consists of eight teams. After the regular league, the leading teams goes to a play-off which decides what team will be the Norwegian champion . Since 1976, the winner of the league is formally awarded the title league champion (Norwegian: seriemester ), a title which however is not counted to be worth as much as the national championship title. Stabæk Idrettsforening won the final in 2016. [1] All
176-665: 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
264-523: A 14–7 defensive struggle over the 10–0 49ers. They met again two weeks later in San Francisco, with the Browns now 12–0 and the 49ers 11–1. The Browns again won narrowly, this time 31–28, clinching first place. The rematch concluded an AAFC Thanksgiving week promotion: the Browns played three games in eight days. New Dodgers' part-owner Branch Rickey (of baseball fame) suggested this experiment, and
352-613: A ball first", would be long remembered. Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall was perhaps the NFL's hardest-liner regarding the AAFC. In 1945, he commented "I did not realize there was another league, although I did receive some literature telling about a WPA project". Later he declared, "The worst team in our league could beat the best team in theirs." After the AAFC put a team in Baltimore , Marshall's opposition to it would be
440-564: 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
528-535: 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
616-661: 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
704-569: 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
792-580: 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;
880-545: A lot have gone broke thinking they could." At a time when the World Series had long been a national institution, and the Rose Bowl drew crowds of 90,000, the NFL's title game typically drew about 35,000 fans. Across the U.S., a growing number of college stadiums designed or retrofitted for football were being built and expanded across the U.S. Most pro football teams in contrast shared stadiums (and sometimes names) with
968-533: A major obstacle to interleague peace. Not coincidentally, his team was badly hurt by the AAFC. A top team from 1936 to 1945, the Redskins began a decades-long title drought after coach Ray Flaherty and many key players defected in 1946. Layden's successor, Bert Bell , pursued a policy of official non-recognition, generally answering "no comment" to queries about the other league. In 1947, Pro Football Illustrated previewed both leagues in its annual publication and
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#17327837119391056-554: 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,
1144-521: 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
1232-442: A position affecting promotion, relegation, or European qualification. All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference ( AAFC ) was a major professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the nation's best players, and introduced many lasting innovations to
1320-709: A professional football record crowd of more than 60,000 fans. This historic game would prove a microcosm of much about the league: Other than New York, all of the quality teams were in the Western Division. In the West, Cleveland led with a 12–2 record, three games ahead of San Francisco, followed by Los Angeles and Chicago. In the East, New York was the only team to win more than three games, finishing 10–3–1. Brooklyn and Buffalo were seven games behind, followed by Miami. Despite Brooklyn's record, its tailback Glenn Dobbs led
1408-599: A record 14 games (a double round-robin ). The NFL's 10 teams played 11 games, its standard since 1937. Again acting ambitiously, the AAFC chose stadiums larger than the NFL's in Chicago, New York, and Cleveland. The two leagues’ franchises and home fields for 1946 were: NFL AAFC In the AAFC's first game, on September 6, 1946, the Cleveland Browns hosted the Miami Seahawks, winning 44–0 before
1496-636: 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
1584-751: A season. The Boston Yanks had played only one season as an independent entity. Meanwhile, the AAFC had advantages not enjoyed by many challengers: Yet it remained to be seen if there was a market for this much pro football. Since achieving stability in the early 1930s, the NFL had never fielded more than 10 teams. No competitor had endured for more than two years. In 1946, there would be 18 teams, including three in Chicago, three in New York, and two in Los Angeles. Baseball and college football were substantially more popular. Longtime NFL president Joe Carr had said, "No owner has made money from pro football, but
1672-625: 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
1760-507: A similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be either 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
1848-520: 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
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#17327837119391936-432: 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
2024-402: A year as World War II continued. As the eight franchises built their teams, no move was more far-reaching than Cleveland's choice of Paul Brown as its head coach. Brown had won six Ohio state championships in nine years at Massillon High School and the 1942 national championship at Ohio State , and had also coached successfully at the military's Naval Station Great Lakes . As coach of
2112-462: 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
2200-404: 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
2288-756: 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
2376-478: 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
2464-439: The third American Football League of 1940–1941) to have its teams play in a double round robin format in the regular season: each team had a home game and an away game with each of the other AAFC teams. The Cleveland Browns were the AAFC's most successful club, winning every annual championship in the league's four years of operation. The AAFC was founded by Chicago Tribune sports editor Arch Ward on June 4, 1944. Ward
2552-471: The AAFC. Having already lost Topping, the NFL reconsidered and approved the Los Angeles move. It was unprecedented for the NFL champion to move at all, let alone partly to avoid an unproven rival. On the other hand, the NFL would now face the AAFC as a national rather than regional league, and the AAFC would not have a West Coast monopoly. Rather than hold a collegiate draft, Crowley encouraged his owners to sign as many good players as possible to compete with
2640-399: The Browns were chosen as the guinea pigs. They survived unscathed, and went on to complete an unprecedented 14–0 regular season. The 49ers finished a heartbreaking second (and out of the postseason) at 12–2. Los Angeles followed at 7–7, and Chicago again finished last at 1–13. The quarterbacks of the two outstanding teams, Cleveland's Otto Graham and San Francisco's Frankie Albert , shared
2728-766: The Dodgers, Rockets, and to a lesser extent the Colts were having serious problems. Playing near the Yankees and the NFL Giants, the Dodgers drew fewer than 12,000 fans per game, least in both leagues. The Rockets faced the NFL's flagship Bears and a Cardinals team enjoying rare success. After a decent start in 1946, the Rockets collapsed on the field and found themselves playing before tens of thousands of empty seats in huge Soldier Field. The first-year Colts did reasonably well at
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2816-411: The East with an 11–2–1 record, 2½ games ahead of Buffalo, with Brooklyn and Baltimore far back. Cleveland, led by MVP quarterback Otto Graham , won the West with a 12–1–1 record, 3½ games ahead of San Francisco. Los Angeles followed, and Chicago was last at 1–13. Former Commissioner Crowley would not return either as coach or owner. The title game was a defensive struggle, with the Browns again defeating
2904-469: The MVP. In the East, Buffalo and Baltimore tied at a mediocre 7–7, just ahead of 6–8 New York. Brooklyn was last at 2–12. Buffalo won a playoff and the dubious privilege of meeting Cleveland for the title. Cleveland won the title in a predictable rout, 49–7. With pro football's second perfect season (after the 1937 Los Angeles Bulldogs of the second American Football League ) and an 18-game winning streak and
2992-516: 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
3080-552: 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
3168-454: The NFL owners fired Commissioner Layden, replacing him with Pittsburgh Steelers co-owner Bert Bell . Bell had already made a major contribution to the league: the NFL draft , begun in 1935, was his idea. Meanwhile, Dan Reeves ' Cleveland Rams had consistently lost money, despite winning the 1945 NFL title. Compounding his problems, the local AAFC competition already looked strong: Arthur McBride
3256-407: The NFL. However, this open market favored Paul Brown, who had built the most extensive recruitment network in all of football. He thus had a head start in signing top players coming out of the colleges and military. Years later, Crowley acknowledged this was a fatal mistake, as it planted the seeds for the Browns' near-total dominance of the league. For 1946, the AAFC began play with 8 teams playing
3344-471: 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
3432-440: 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
3520-513: 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
3608-699: 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
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3696-417: The Yankees, 14–3. By this time a pattern had emerged among the franchises. The Browns, Yankees, 49ers, Dons, and Bills all had stable ownership and at least one winning season. The Browns led both leagues in attendance by a wide margin, the Yankees and Dons outpaced their crosstown NFL rivals on the field and at the gate, and the 49ers and Bills (despite a small stadium) also enjoyed good attendance. However,
3784-592: 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
3872-429: The eight teams plays the other teams three times during a season. At the end of the season, each team will have played 21 matches. The teams are ranked according to the following: The two bottom teams play a qualification round against the two top teams in the second highest division. The two teams which win the qualification round will play in the premier league in the next season. The six top teams go to play-off for
3960-589: 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
4048-474: 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
4136-481: 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
4224-544: The first time, the division races were close. One featured excellence, the other mediocrity. The 1948 AAFC draft was held on December 16, 1947, in New York City . Tony Minisi was the first overall selection. In the West, San Francisco and Cleveland both remained undefeated far into the season. On November 14, nearly 83,000 (a record) in Cleveland Municipal Stadium watched the 9–0 Browns win
4312-657: The game. However, the AAFC was ultimately unable to sustain itself in competition with the NFL. After it folded, three of its teams were admitted to the NFL: the San Francisco 49ers , the Cleveland Browns and the original Baltimore Colts (not to be confused with the later Baltimore Colts team, now the Indianapolis Colts ). The AAFC was the second American professional football league (the first being
4400-959: 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
4488-414: The gate but finished last. All of these teams were at the bottom of the standings and all were sold after the 1947 season, the Rockets for the second time. Although 1947 had been a successful season for the AAFC in many respects, the league still lost money. In 1948, attendance in both leagues declined, and negotiations to end the war became serious. One factor affecting AAFC attendance was the gap between
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#17327837119394576-437: 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
4664-434: 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
4752-456: 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
4840-500: The league in passing and was named the MVP. The title game was a tight affair, with the Browns coming from behind late in the fourth quarter to defeat the Yankees 14–9. Despite the fiasco in Miami, the AAFC had enjoyed a successful debut, establishing a high level of play and doing well at the gate. The NFL likewise set attendance highs for both its season and title game. However, as salaries shot up with two leagues competing for players:
4928-406: The league's best and worst teams. To counter this, Commissioner Ingram attempted to get the strongest teams to distribute some players to the weakest. He was modestly successful: the Browns sent rookie quarterback Y. A. Tittle to the Colts, who enjoyed their first good season, and the Yankees were generous enough to fall into mediocrity. However, 1948 featured extremes despite Ingram's efforts. For
5016-521: The local baseball team, and as such had to make do in facilities designed for another sport with mediocre sight lines for football. Both leagues saw fit to choose college football legends as their commissioners. There was even a sense that collegians could defeat pros. 1946 saw the famous Army–Notre Dame scoreless tie in Yankee Stadium . At season's end, Arch Ward (the AAFC founder) opined that both teams were superior to either pro champion. It
5104-547: 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
5192-485: The military to permit them to play during their post-graduation furloughs. In other highlights, a Yankees–Dons game in the Los Angeles Coliseum drew a pro record of more than 82,000, and division leaders New York and Cleveland locked horns on November 23 in the most famous game in AAFC history. Before more than 70,000 fans at Yankee Stadium, the Browns rallied from a 28–0 deficit to tie 28–28. New York won
5280-420: The national championship. Teams 3 and 4 in the table play against team 5 or 6. The winners of these matches meet team 1 and 2 in semifinals. The winners of the semifinals meet in the national championship final. Play-off 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
5368-399: The new Cleveland franchise, Brown would become one of American football's greatest innovators and eventually have the team named for him. As might be expected, the NFL did not welcome its new rival. In 1945, Layden remarked that the AAFC, still a year from its first game, should "first get a ball, then make a schedule, and then play a game". This insult, often paraphrased as "Tell them to get
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#17327837119395456-399: The next months, the AAFC's plans solidified. The league initially issued franchises for Buffalo , Chicago , Cleveland , Los Angeles , New York , and San Francisco . Brooklyn and Miami were later added. A group representing Baltimore was considered for admission, but could not secure use of Baltimore's stadium. The league planned to begin to play in 1945, but postponed its opening for
5544-637: 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
5632-605: The only teams to make a profit were the two champions, the Browns and the NFL Bears. The Chicago Rockets had experienced some disorganization in 1946. In a remarkable move, Commissioner Crowley (a successful former college coach) gave up a five-year contract to become their part-owner and coach. Admiral Jonas H. Ingram was named to replace him as commissioner. To replace the Seahawks, the Baltimore group turned down in 1945
5720-411: 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
5808-428: 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
5896-510: 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
5984-563: 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
6072-421: 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
6160-488: 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,
6248-401: 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,
6336-404: 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,
6424-471: 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
6512-622: 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;
6600-537: 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
6688-513: 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
6776-479: 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 ,
6864-455: Was aggressively marketing the Browns, and coach Paul Brown was an Ohio icon. Accordingly, Reeves proposed to move the Rams to Los Angeles. With two teams planned for California, the AAFC had national aspirations. The NFL's thinking was more modest: it rejected Reeves' move because of travel expenses. After the NFL refused to consider his second choice (Dallas), Reeves threatened to move his team to
6952-422: Was also the originator of baseball's All-Star Game and football's College All-Star Game . Ward brought together a number of wealthy pro football enthusiasts, some of whom had previously attempted to purchase NFL franchises. Ward had previously encouraged the NFL to expand, but now he hoped to bring about a permanent second league and a championship game with the NFL, similar to baseball's World Series . The idea
7040-418: Was banned from NFL stadiums. The AAFC posed a formidable challenge. In most interleague sports wars, the established league had major advantages over the challenger in prestige, finance, size, and public awareness. The NFL-AAFC war differed in several respects. The NFL was just emerging from its wartime retrenchment. The Cleveland Rams had suspended operations for 1943, and on three occasions teams merged for
7128-564: 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
7216-600: Was in this landscape that the AAFC prepared to compete with the NFL. Dan Topping , owner of the NFL's Brooklyn Tigers , wished to move his team from Ebbets Field to the much larger Yankee Stadium . New York Giants owner Tim Mara used his territorial rights to block the move. He had good reason: the Yankees had displaced the Giants as New York's premier baseball team after moving into The House That Ruth Built , three rival football leagues had planted teams there hoping to duplicate that feat, and Topping (of Anaconda Copper )
7304-723: Was issued a franchise. The new Baltimore Colts would play in Municipal Stadium . Meanwhile, the Bisons were renamed the Bills and the NFL added a 12th game to its schedule. The AAFC enjoyed its most successful season in 1947. Some notable guests watched the Browns' opening game: the entire coaching staff of the 1946 NFL champion Chicago Bears. The 49ers obtained the rights to Army's legendary Heisman Trophy winners Felix Blanchard ("Mr. Inside") and Glenn Davis ("Mr. Outside"), and amid great publicity unsuccessfully attempted to get
7392-620: 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
7480-492: Was not originated in vacuum, as two other upstart leagues were trying to challenge the NFL in 1944: On November 21, 1944, the AAFC chose James "Sleepy Jim" Crowley , one of the " Four Horsemen of Notre Dame ", as its commissioner. Not coincidentally, the NFL commissioner at this time was Elmer Layden , another member of Knute Rockne 's legendary 1924 "Fighting Irish" backfield at the University of Notre Dame . During
7568-587: 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,
7656-476: 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
7744-521: Was significantly wealthier than Mara. Topping responded by buying into the baseball Yankees and transferring his club to the AAFC. Most of his players followed. His renamed New York Yankees were rewarded with $ 100,000 from each of the other seven AAFC teams while the AAFC's initial New York investor withdrew. (Note that the AAFC Brooklyn Dodgers were a separate entity never associated with Topping's team.) Shortly after Topping defected,
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