80 Sporty Facts about NFL

According to a Wall Street Journal study in 2010 based on four broadcasts, a standard NFL game features just 10 minutes and 43 seconds of action. Commercials account for nearly 60 minutes of the three-hour affairs. When the networks are showing the game, the bulk of the time is spent either on replays or shots of players huddling.

2. According to a 2009 Sports Illustrated article, about 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress, after just two years of retirement.

3. Larry Izzo of New England Patriots once took a sh*t while on the sideline and got the game ball for his trouble because he did it without anybody noticing.

4. NFL cheerleaders are only paid $50 a game.

5. The actress who plays Phyllis in The Office was once an NFL cheerleader

In the NFL playoff between Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears of 1988, the fog was so thick that the players weren’t even able to see the sidelines and the fans couldn't see the field. The refs had to announce what happened after every play.

7. The longest recorded field goals in college football (69 yards) and high school football (68 yards) are each longer than the NFL's professional record (64 yards).

8. There are no white cornerbacks on any NFL roster and there haven't been any for the past 10 years

9. Deion Sanders is the only player to hit a major league home run and score a touchdown in the NFL in the same week (1989 season). Sanders is also the only man to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series.

10. When Darren Sproles played peewee football, his league instituted a rule that he was not allowed to run sweeps anymore because he literally scored every single time he ran a sweep.

Hypothetically, if every NFL team finishes in a tie, the playoffs would be determined by a coin flip.

12. NFL is considered a not-for-profit organization and does not pay any taxes.

13. The Green Bay Packers are the only non-profit, community-owned NFL team. The owners are its 112,000 fans.

14. The NFL will hold a 'disaster draft' should a disaster or near-disaster occur to a team. The NFL defines the word 'near-disaster' as less than 15 player casualties; the word 'disaster' as greater than 15 player casualties. There are similar provisions for other sports leagues.

15. NFL wide receiver Brandon Marshall was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder in 2011 and is an advocate for the mentally ill

There were an ESPN show Playmakers. It was their first original drama series depicting the lives of an American football team. Despite its high ratings, the show had to be canceled after 11 episodes due to the pressure from NFL, who thought the show negatively portrayed pro football players.

17. Darrell Green, one of the fastest men in the history of the NFL used to stuff tootsie rolls into his socks before games, claiming that it made him run fast.

18. During the 1958 NFL Championship Game, an NBC Employee posing as a fan ran onto the field to delay the game because the national television feed went dead.

19. The last starting white cornerback in the NFL was Jason Sehorn who retired in 2003.

20. The Centurylink Field of Seattle Seahawks is so loud that NFL investigated whether the team was broadcasting artificial crowd noise to disrupt the visiting teams.

It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year’s supply of footballs.

22. NFL wide receiver Steve Smith leaves his cleats on the field after every game to raise awareness about homeless people without shoes

23. Cincinnati Bengals punter Pat McInally was the only player to ever score a perfect 50 on the NFL's Wonderlic Cognitive Ability test. His score actually hurt his draft stock because it was believed that players who were intelligent would "challenge authority too much".

24. If some NFL teams don't sell enough tickets for a home game, they won’t broadcast the game within a certain radius of the stadium, thereby forcing people nearby to buy tickets to see the game.

25. NFL Players have been fined up to $5000 for giving a game ball to a fan.