80 Sporty Facts about NFL

It is rumored that Minnesota Vikings are supposedly "cursed" for losing the NFL Championship trophy by the spirit of Ed Thorp.

27. The Pittsburgh Steelers were the first NFL team to have cheerleaders.

28. Men from American Samoan ethnicity are estimated to be 56 times more likely to become NFL players than other Americans

29. The NFL split $7.24 billion in revenue with 32 teams last season, and the one reason we know that is because the Green Bay Packers put out an annual financial report. They are the only non-profit team.

30. The NFL making more than $9 billion annually, projected to make more than $25 billion a year by 2027, pays its CEO more than $30 million a year, 68% of NFL stadium construction costs since 1923 coming from taxpayer money.

Jason Brown, the highest paid center in NFL in 2009, quit after making $25M to become a farmer and donates his crops to food pantries.

32. Alex Smith took so many AP tests in high school that he entered the university as a junior. The quarterback received his bachelor's degree in two years and began working on a master's degree, before becoming the first overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft.

33. NFL defensive tackle Amobi Okoye is the youngest player ever to play in the NFL. After testing into 9th grade at 12 and graduating at 16, he chose to play NCAA football at Louisville (though he was accepted to Harvard) before graduating early and being drafted by the Texans at the age of 19.

34. NFL quarterback Russell Wilson can trace his family lineage back to 524 A.D. to Arnulf of Metz, the patron saint of beer.

35. The shortest-lived team in NFL history was the Tonawanda Kardex Lumbermen, who played in one NFL game in 1921

In 2011, tens of thousands of Detroiters petitioned to prevent Nickelback from playing at the NFL Thanksgiving Day football game halftime show

37. John Matuszak known as Sloth from "The Goonies" was a #1 Overall Pick in the NFL Draft and won 2 Super Bowls with the Oakland Raiders.

38. Although the NFL is 60% black, the top 33 scorers of all time are white (because they are kickers)

39. The NFL owns and enforces the trademark for the term "Super Bowl," almost all ads and commercial uses will instead reference "The Big Game" or something similar. Colbert even used "The Supurb Owl" in 2014.

40. There's a group called "Science Cheerleaders", made up of NBA and NFL cheerleaders who also work or study in STEM fields, that encourage girls to get into science studies

In the '60s and '70s, professional bowlers were international celebrities who made twice as much money as NFL stars.

42. The NFL owns the licensing rights to every team except the Cowboys. In 1995 Cowboy's owner Jerry Jones started to make his own deals, NFL sued him for 300 million, to make the league back down, Jerry counter-sued them for 750 million.

43. Rocky Bleier, an NFL football player with the Pittsburgh Steelers who was drafted into the US Army and served in Vietnam. Badly wounded in a leg and foot by a grenade, he needed four years to return to the team's roster, but became a star and helped the Steelers win four Super Bowls.

44. After failing to make the NFL, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was broke, suffering from depression, and was living with his parents at age 24. At this point, he decided to start training for wrestling

45. Tom Brady's wife Gisele Bundchen, has earned more money in modeling and business than he has in the NFL at near 300 Million Dollars next to his 120 Million, not only that but she has made more money than just about every other Pro-Athlete in History.

The NFL actually made EA sports remove certain features from its Madden game including end zone celebrations and realistic stadium attendance

47. Randall Cobb, the Packers' rookie is the first person to play in the NFL born in the 1990's.

48. NFL is recognized as an "entertainment" business rather than a sport, legally, like the WWE

49. NFL player Malcom Floyd's parents allowed his older brother to name him. The older brother, Malcolm, named him after himself.

50. John Madden was offered unlimited stock to the first Madden NFL video game but declined and later called it "the dumbest thing (he) ever did in (his) life."