The History Of The Spring League

The Spring League (TSL) was an American football developmental league and scouting event (pro showcase) that played from 2017 to 2021 and was founded by Brian Woods. Aimed at professional athletes but not paying a salary or expenses, the league's goal was to "serve as an instructional league and showcase for professional football talent".

The Spring League was the second football property to be established by Woods, following the Fall Experimental Football League (FXFL) from 2014 to 2015 and preceding the United States Football League revival in 2022. The league consisted of three to eight teams and played an abbreviated four to six game "season" in April or May. During the year, the league arranged additional scouting events, called Spring League Showcases, that began in July 2017.

According to the league records, as of May 2021, more than 100 former players have signed contracts with a National Football League team.

The National Football League has not had an official developmental league since 2007 with NFL Europe. Several other developmental leagues unaffiliated with the NFL have arisen, such as the FXFL, Gridiron Developmental Football League, and the Rivals Professional Football League.

On September 2, 2016, the FXFL, after two abbreviated seasons of operation, announced it had suspended operations in hopes of finding a more effective business model.

A developmental league continued to be an internal NFL discussion as of December 2016 with a decision deadline of February 2017.

Like the FXFL, The Spring League is built upon the concept of serving as a second opportunity to allow players to advance to more established professional leagues,[9] yet The Spring League has some prominent differences from the FXFL. While The Spring League's core player is around 24 years old, it also took in experienced professionals, which the FXFL discouraged. All four teams are brought to one location, and at first not have distinctive identities or home cities/franchises (this began to change beginning in 2019). Rather, the games are more showcases for the NFL and Canadian Football League (CFL) scouts in the spring and summer months.

Unlike the FXFL, which paid a per-game stipend for its players, The Spring League paid only for room and board. Woods said that the lack of payment is out of financial necessity. To be eligible to participate in the league, a player may not be under contract with a pro league nor be eligible for the current year's draft. Players must also pay a $350 application fee. By 2019, the application fee had jumped to $2000, as players now also had to cover room and board as part of the fee; players with professional experience are exempt from this fee. Players must also cover their own health insurance. The league also assists in developing NFL referees.

The Spring League earns additional revenue from a subsidy that the state of Texas provides to hold its events there, as well as from organizations seeking to test equipment and rules changes. In 2019, the XFL served as The Spring League's largest revenue source, paying the league "six figures" to test-run its rulebook, a payment that allowed The Spring League to turn a profit that year for the first time. In October 2020 the league reached a multi-year agreement with FS1 to televise The Spring League along with the option to acquire a minority stake in the league.

CEO Woods founded The Spring League in early 2016. On December 22, 2016, SiriusXM NFL Radio initially reported the league as being owned by the NFL, but retracted that by the end of the day. The NFL informed its teams of the league's existence and its plans to operate from April 5 through April 26, 2017. The Spring League's 2017 season consisted of a four-team, three-week single round-robin tournament in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia at The Greenbrier resort in April, and a two-team "Showcase" game in Napa, California in July. The teams in each tournament were only identified with vague geographic names such as North, South, East, West and California. A game streamed on Facebook received 60,000 views while a practice received 30,000 views.

Coaches with long NFL or College experience included quarterback coach Terry Shea, Steve Fairchild, Donnie Henderson, Dennis Creehan and Art Valero (offensive line). For the April games, the league had four teams and 105 players. Its players included NFL veterans Fred Jackson, Anthony "Boobie" Dixon, Ben Tate, Greg Hardy, Ricky Stanzi, McLeod Bethel-Thompson and Ahmad Bradshaw. The players ranged from two to 10 years out from college.

The league indicated two CFL and 10 NFL teams had their scouts visit the league while another 20 made requests for video footage. Following the April games, roughly two dozen players were invited to NFL rookie mini-camps. The Carolina Panthers picked up six for their rookie mini-camp.

After the first season, NFL scouts seemed to like the league structure but otherwise gave mixed responses. Value was perceived by scouts as they got updated information on forgotten players or saw a player with a conditioned arm, but otherwise the talent level was below what NFL teams expected for an established developmental league. Some scouts expected younger players that had been to a couple of NFL training camps but in the wrong system. Woods indicated that the older and big names brought attention to the league, which has a secondary purpose of providing a veteran annual showcase.

On July 15, 2017, the Spring League Showcase was held at Napa Memorial Stadium in California between Spring League California, coached by Terry Shea and Spring League East, coached by Donnie Henderson. Flofootball.com's FloPRO subscription service streamed the game. David Ash started the game for the California roster and lead several scoring drives. He had 96 passing yards and 9-of-13 passing, including a 4-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Dixon with an interception and 3 runs for a total of 10 yards with his longest for 9 yards. For the East, two quarterbacks, Casey Pachall and Trenton Norvell, made touchdown passes. Pachall completed 4-of-6 passes for 84 yards and a 67-yard touchdown. The game's top rusher was Paul Harris of the East team, who rushed twice for 74 yards and a 6-yard touchdown. East defeated California 23–19.

The league had try-outs in various cities in October and November 2017 and February 2018. On December 7, 2017, The Spring League announced it would play its second season in Austin, Texas beginning in late March 2018. The league was also to have a football-specific tech forum and a joint internship program with the University of Texas’ Center for Sports Leadership & Innovation. Turner Sports announced in mid-January 2018, while the league games would be on its new streaming service B/R Live, the league was also finalizing a deal to practice and play games at Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas. On February 14, the league announced the signing of Heisman Trophy winner and former Cleveland Browns first round pick Johnny Manziel to the league playing on the South team. Games to be played on April 7 and 14. Other former NFL commitments to the league were former Cleveland Browns first round pick Kellen Winslow Jr. and former Baltimore Ravens running back Lorenzo Taliaferro. On March 3, the league did not execute on the contract to play the 2018 season at the Circuit of the Americas and instead announced events to take place at Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex in Round Rock, Texas.

The Spring League announced a "Fall Showcase" for Miami, Florida to take place November 6–9, 2018, which was intended to prepare players for the then-future AAF and XFL, which were set to play winter/spring seasons.

For 2019, The Spring League tested rules for the XFL. Seen here is the later implemented XFL kickoff formation.

For the 2019 season, The Spring League partnered with the XFL to test rule changes the new league hoped to implement for its own 2020 season. One rule change, originally proposed by Pro Football Talk in 2017, was replacing overtime with a two-point conversion shootout occurring simultaneously at both end zones with five rounds in the TSL.[37] Also tested was the tap rule, which allows a referee to send a player to the sideline for less than a penalty level offense.[38] Both rules and the kickoff formation were later implemented in the XFL. The Spring League was also hired by the XFL to hold three mini-camp style tryouts. With this revenue source, the league's revenue exceeded one million dollars and would have its first profitable year. The two leagues are in preliminary discussions of the Spring League becoming the XFL's official development league.

2019 season practice began March 31, 2019 with double headers on April 6 and 11, 2019. Each of the four teams played two games.[39] For the first time, one of the teams had a brand name; the Austin Generals (formerly South) was named after its host city of Austin, Texas, and used the logo and colors of the former New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League.[39][40] The remaining three teams retained their generic North, East and West brandings.

The league held its two "Summer Showcases" in partnership with the XFL - the first in June in Mission Viejo, California and the second on July 30 in Long Beach, California, 2019 with 100 pay-to-play players in a four-day camp and a six quarter scrimmage. XFL executives and coaches and ESPN and Fox staff were on hand to view rule tests and in-game technologies, with the broadcaster giving feedback on how it would effect broadcast coverage.

A "Fall Showcase" was held in September in Marietta, Georgia, and in November they held another showcase in Miami, Florida.

For 2020, TSL played a showcase game against the Japan national American football team at the Ford Center at The Star March 1, and the main competition March 7 and 11 at Sam Boyd Stadium. The designated home team (formerly West) was dubbed the Las Vegas Hughes, named after Howard Hughes, who spent much of the end of his life as a recluse in Las Vegas. Mettenberger agreed to return as a quarterback. The registration fee for The Spring League's March 2020 season in Las Vegas was $2,100.

The league was able to get most of its abbreviated 2020 season completed just before social distancing mandates tied to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States took effect, shutting down effectively all in-person sports in the United States.

The league held its annual Summer Showcase in July in Glendale, Colorado with a total of 85 players and another 25 staff members and medical personnel participated. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic all players had to go through 14-day self-quarantine before camp and all meetings were conducted in a video conference.

In October 2020 FS1 reached a multi-year agreement to televise The Spring League along with the option to acquire a minority stake in the league, with initial agreement to play a 6-team fall-season in late October and November 2020. The league began its fall season on Oct. 27 with six teams competing in what was intended to be a 12-game format over four weeks in a bubble environment, based out of the San Antonio Alamodome. Fox Sports 1 aired games on Tuesday and Wednesday. The league stated that this time the players did not pay to attend, but Woods later explained that some players did pay, while select others did not.

All six teams had brands and names, including the returning Generals (originally from Austin), Aviators (re-branded from Las Vegas Hughes), and four new teams: the Blues (modified from the FXFL Blacktips), Alphas (a wolf motif), Conquerors and Jousters.

In November 2020, amid the then-resurgent COVID-19 pandemic, TSL announced that the league would be cancelling the final week of the season. The top two teams met in the final on December 15, at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The Generals finished as the first TSL champions, after beating the Aviators 37–14 in the final.

In March 2021, TSL announced that they reached a partnership agreement with Stephen Austin's American National Combines, and were to hold tryouts for the first time in league history. They also declared that players who were on an active roster during TSL's fall 2020 season were not required to participate in the tryouts. In April, TSL announced the 2021 season was to start on May 6, and would feature two new teams – the Linemen and Sea Lions (eight teams in total), competing in a six-week regular season from two hub cities: The North Division in Indianapolis, Indiana and the South Division in Houston, Texas. For the first time, one game every week will be broadcast on Fox including the championship game, while all other games will be broadcast on FS1 and FS2.

The Linemen beat the Jousters 26–23 in the first and only Mega Bowl, and won the TSL championship. Linemen QB Ryan Willis won both final[86] and regular season MVP awards.

On June 3, 2021, Woods announced that he had acquired the remaining extant trademarks of the United States Football League with intent of launching a USFL-branded league in 2022, with Fox Sports remaining as a partner in the new USFL. What was to become of The Spring League remained, at the time, an unresolved question, but according to the initial announcement TSL was to continue, probably as a scouting showcase or developmental operation. It was later reported that TSL in no longer associated with the new USFL.

On February 18, 2022, Woods stated that TSL was "no longer operational", but later reports indicate that it will continues as a business although the football operations are suspended.

On June 2023 it was announced that Woods is planning to lunch a 11-on-11 spring football league for high school players called the Prep Super League. Games will be played from April 19 through May 24 with teams located in Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, New Jersey, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, and Tampa. Players will pay a player development fee and provide their own insurance to participate. Isos Capital Management is one of the league's investors.

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History Of NFL Europe

NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League. Originally founded in 1989 as the World League of American Football (or WLAF), the league was envisioned as a transatlantic league encompassing teams from both North America and Europe. Initially, the WLAF consisted of seven teams in North America and three in Europe. It began play in 1991 and lasted for two seasons before suspending operations; while the league had been "wildly popular" in Europe, it failed to achieve success in North America. After a two-year hiatus, it returned as a six-team European league, with teams based in England, Germany, the Netherlands, Scotland, and Spain. NFL Europa was dissolved in 2007 due to its continued unprofitability and the NFL's decision to shift its focus towards hosting regular-season games in Europe; at the time of its closure, the league consisted of five German teams and one team based in the Netherlands.

The league operated under rules nearly identical to the NFL, but featured some differences and experimental rules changes designed to appeal to fans of association football (soccer) and rugby football. NFL teams were incentivized to allocate players through the granting of additional training camp positions for each allocated player, and each team in NFL Europe was required to employ a number of "local" players. Most of the league's players were American, with "local" players tending to be converted rugby or soccer players playing at the punter or placekicker positions. Several NFL Europe alumni – including quarterbacks Brad Johnson, Kurt Warner, and Jake Delhomme – went on to have successful careers in the NFL, and two NFL Europe alumni (Adam Vinatieri and Dante Hall) made the National Football League 2000s All-Decade Team.

The league's schedule went through several formats throughout its existence, but each season always culminated in the championship World Bowl game. In its initial run, each team played a ten-game schedule, and the winners of each of the three divisions (Europe, North America East, and North America West), along with the team with the best record that didn't win a division, would play in a four-team playoff. Following its revival as a six-team European league, the ten-game schedule was retained as double round-robin regular season. From 1995 to 1997, the World Bowl was played between the team with the best record in the first half of the season and the team with the best record in the second half of the season; from 1998 on, the two teams with the best records across the entire season played in the World Bowl. The Frankfurt Galaxy – the only team to play all 15 seasons of the league's existence – won the most World Bowl titles (four) and recorded the most World Bowl appearances (eight), while the final league title was won by the Hamburg Sea Devils.

In 1974, the National Football League announced plans to launch a professional American football league in Europe, the Intercontinental Football League (IFL). Aiming for a launch in the spring of 1975, the IFL would feature six teams (located in Istanbul, Rome, Munich, Berlin, Vienna, and Barcelona, respectively) and would be a satellite league of the NFL, with initial funds made by the NFL owners and the rosters consisting of "second-line athletes and rookies from established NFL teams". The brainchild of Bob Kap, the proposed league had already sold six franchises and had secured the rights to loan players from the NFL. The league had also pre-selected four more cities for expansion teams, and Al Davis and Tex Schramm were assigned to head the committee that would put the league together. The IFL did not materialize – the Pro Football Researchers Association attributed this failure to Europe not being ready for American football, potential competition with the World Football League (WFL), a players' strike during the summer of 1974, and the recession. Another factor was the turmoil in Europe in 1974: Turkey had invaded Cyprus, the American ambassador to Cyprus had been assassinated, Basque separatists had assassinated the prime minister of Spain, and terrorist groups like the Red Brigades had engaged in kidnapping. The State Department discouraged NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle from pursuing the league, and the IFL also suffered a potentially fatal blow when Pan American World Airways, who Kap had brought on as a sponsor, pulled out of the project. Ultimately, Rozelle deemed the creation of the league "impractical".

By 1980, the popularity of American football was increasing in Europe without any push by the NFL. The NFL capitalized on this newfound interest by holding American Bowl games (pre-season exhibition contests held overseas), and the popularity of these games, particularly in London, led to a renewed interest from Rozelle in creating an American football league in Europe. In 1989, the NFL announced plans to create an international spring football league. The NFL initially wanted the new league to be known as the International Football League, but it had to change the name after discovering that the name was already owned by Donald Trump and Charley Finley, who were allegedly in the process of forming their own league (which would never come to fruition). The name World League of American Football (WLAF) was eventually settled on; this name was chosen to avoid associating it with the dissolved World Football League, and the term "American football" was included in the league's name because "football" in Europe typically refers to association football, known in the United States as soccer. The NFL and WLAF attempted to downplay its status as a minor league and refused to acknowledge the WLAF as a farm league of the NFL. The NFL approved the creation of the WLAF in July 1989, with Schramm to head up the project and the league expected to begin play in 1990 or 1991. The league was expected to have 12 teams (six in the United States, four in Europe, one in Canada and one in Mexico), and it secured a two-year television deal with ABC and a four-year television deal with USA Network to air regular and post-season games. Schramm was fired as league president in October 1990 due to differences between him and the NFL as to the direction the WLAF would take; Schramm had wanted the WLAF to be an "independent, major international league which would be strong enough to stand on its own feet", while the NFL had wanted the WLAF to be a small league with close ties to the NFL.

On November 14, 1990, the WLAF announced it would begin play in 1991 with ten teams (six of them in the United States, three of them in Europe, and one in Canada) split into three divisions (North America West, North America East, and Europe). A 50-game schedule stretching from March 23, 1991, to May 27, 1991, was agreed upon, and a draft was held from February 14, 1991, to February 24, 1991.[6] Unlike the NFL draft, the World League draft was a position-by-position draft – potential draftees were divided into ten position groups, meaning each of the ten teams would have the number-one pick at a position group. All players were to receive a base salary of $20,000, but players could receive more money by meeting performance-based incentives with a maximum total salary of $100,000. Each NFL team could allocate up to four players to the WLAF, although only two, the New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs opted to do so.

The World League of American Football, described by The New York Times as the "first trans-Atlantic major sports league", began play on March 23, 1991, with three games held in Frankfurt, Germany, Birmingham, Alabama, and Sacramento, California, respectively. After the conclusion of the regular season, the WLAF playoffs were held, featuring the three division champions (London Monarchs, New York/New Jersey Knights, and Birmingham Fire) and one wild-card team (Barcelona Dragons). London and Barcelona won their playoff games to meet in World Bowl '91 at Wembley Stadium, which London won 21–0.

Following its first season, the World League of American Football was at risk of folding. It suffered a loss of nearly $7 million, and none of its teams made a profit. In addition to the monetary loss for the league, television ratings on ABC and USA network were poor. According to Dan Rooney, the NFL chairman of the World League, cost estimates were accurate, but the league overestimated the amount of revenue the WLAF would make. The league's television contracts were also at risk due to poor ratings, with USA Network having lost money. The WLAF averaged around 26,000 fans a game in its first season; the European teams had a higher attendance than the North American teams, bolstering the average. Ultimately, the NFL decided to bring the league back for a second season in 1992. The league name was shortened to World League by league officials, who felt the surprising success of the league in Europe made the "American football" part unnecessary, and the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks folded, replaced by the Ohio Glory.

Although the league was "wildly popular" in Europe, with attendance averaging 45,000 for the London Monarchs, it was "ignored" in the United States. The World League suspended play for the 1993 and 1994 season before returning in 1995 as a six-team, exclusively European league. All three of the original European teams returned along with three new teams (the Amsterdam Admirals, Rhein Fire, and Scottish Claymores). Each team was required to have seven "local" players on their 40-man roster. Fox became a co-owner of the WLAF and a major financial contributor in return for broadcasting rights. The league was renamed the NFL Europe League (NFLEL) in 1998, and the London Monarchs were renamed the England Monarchs in an attempt to spur attendance, which had fallen below 10,000 per game. The Monarchs would fold the following season and were replaced by the Berlin Thunder.

NFL Europe commemorated its 10th season in 2002, but still remained far from being profitable. The league announced a three-year with the soccer club FC Barcelona to jointly promote American football in Europe and soccer in the United States; the Barcelona Dragons franchise was renamed FC Barcelona Dragons. The collaboration with FC Barcelona would prove to be unsuccessful, however, and the Barcelona Dragons would fold after the 2003 season due to declining attendance. The team's attendance had fallen to under 7,000 per game, a 50% decline since the 1997 season, when the team had won the World Bowl. The Dragons were replaced by the Cologne Centurions in 2004, and the following year the Scottish Claymores folded; although the team boasted the largest following of any Scottish sports team outside the Old Firm, averaging 10,799 per game, the league had determined an additional German team could bring in 30,000 per game.

The Claymores were replaced the following year by the Hamburg Sea Devils, which left the Amsterdam Admirals as the only team in the league not to be based in Germany. This was part of a strategic pivot to Germany, which had been the most receptive country to the league and the sport in general. Accordingly, the league changed its name to NFL Europa in 2006, ahead of the league's 15th season, to reflect the league's focus on Germany and the Netherlands.

On July 29, 2007, less than a week after World Bowl XV, the NFL announced the closure of NFL Europa. The league had been losing a reported US$30 million a year, and the NFL had decided to shift their strategy in marketing football abroad towards holding NFL regular-season games outside the United States. The NFL owners who funded the league were reportedly dissatisfied with NFL Europa's lack of revenue as well as its decreasing success in player development. The league had nearly folded in 2003, when eight of the 32 NFL owners voted against funding it, one short of the nine votes needed to end the league, and its gradual progression into a German-dominated league had run counter to the NFL's goals of selling merchandise throughout the European continent. The league's inability to garner a live television contract with local media markets also played a role in its demise, as the potential revenue from a deal could have helped the league financially.

Andrei S. Markovits and Lars Rensmann described the league as an "abysmal failure", noting its poor quality of play, frequent name changes, and franchise relocations as well as the accessibility of regular NFL games in Europe as reasons for its collapse. Len Pasquarelli of ESPN.com noted that the league had strayed from its original goal, with the allocation system of players gradually being abused to amass training camp exemptions rather than to develop players. John Mara, the co-owner of the New York Giants, said that the league "had some useful purpose in developing players" and that it helped the NFL determine that there was an interest in American football in Europe.

Looking back on NFL Europe in 2017, Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com noted its strong record in developing quarterbacks: Kurt Warner (a Super Bowl champion and two-time MVP), Brad Johnson (who won a Super Bowl in 2002 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Jake Delhomme (who led the Carolina Panthers to an NFC championship in 2003), and journeyman quarterback Jon Kitna all spent time in NFL Europe. Two NFL Europe alumni (kicker Adam Vinatieri and return specialist Dante Hall) were included on the NFL's 2000s All-Decade Team. The league also provided an opportunity for the NFL to experiment with rules and to develop officials and coaches. Some NFL coaches and executives have suggested reviving the concept of a developmental league, and several independent leagues have been created to fill the need, but with little success. At a press conference before Super Bowl LI, league commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL had been "actively considering" creating a new developmental league.

Since the closure of NFL Europa, the NFL has held regular-season games annually in London and has also hosted regular-season games in Mexico City and Toronto. The league is pursuing the goal of a franchise in London, as well as potential regular-season games in China. In 2021, the NFL announced it was looking for partners to host a regular-season game in Germany. In 2022, the league announced four regular-season games would be held in Germany, the first set for November 13, 2022 between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks to be played at Munich's Allianz Arena. NFL.com writer Judy Battista noted Germany was the "fastest-growing international community" for the league, and attributed this in part to the popularity of the former NFL Europe's German teams, but argued the large number of expats as well as the American military presence were greater factors.

In 2007, fans and former members of the Frankfurt Galaxy – the most successful of NFL Europe's teams on the field and in crowd attendance – created the Frankfurt Universe. The new team was promoted to the German Football League 2 in 2011, and won promotion to the German Football League (GFL) in 2015. The European League of Football (ELF), a pan-European league that began play in 2021, signed an agreement with the NFL allowing them to utilize the branding of the former teams of NFL Europe. The ELF's Barcelona Dragons, Berlin Thunder, Cologne Centurions, Hamburg Sea Devils, Frankfurt Galaxy, and Rhein Fire all share the names and imagery of their NFL Europe predecessors.

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https://www.profootballarchives.com/index.html

https://americanfootballdatabase.fandom.com/wiki/Football_Wiki

https://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/controller/controller.php?action=main

https://www.profootballhof.com/hall-of-famers/

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The Beginnings Of The Seattle Seahawks

 As per one of the agreed parts of the 1970 AFL–NFL merger, the NFL began planning to expand from 26 to 28 teams. In June 1972, Seattle Professional Football Inc., a group of Seattle business and community leaders, announced its intention to acquire an NFL franchise for the city of Seattle. In June 1974, the NFL gave the city an expansion franchise. That December, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle announced the official signing of the franchise agreement by Lloyd W. Nordstrom, representing the Nordstrom family as majority partners for the consortium.

In March 1975, John Thompson, former Executive Director of the NFL Management Council and a former Washington Huskies executive, was hired as the general manager of the new team. The name Seattle Seahawks was selected on June 17, 1975 after a public naming contest which drew more than 20,000 entries and over 1,700 names.

The Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers each selected 39 players in an expansion draft held on March 30-31, 1976. The other 26 NFL teams each froze 29 players from its roster. Seattle and Tampa Bay alternated selections from the remaining pool of players. When the first player was chosen from a team, that team then froze two new players. The Buccaneers and Seahawks continued with their selections until three players had been picked from each of the existing teams.

Thompson recruited and hired Jack Patera, a Minnesota Vikings assistant coach, to be the first head coach of the Seahawks; the hiring was announced on January 3, 1976. The expansion draft was held March 30–31, 1976, with Seattle and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers alternating picks for rounds selecting unprotected players from the other 26 teams in the league. The Seahawks were awarded the 2nd overall pick in the 1976 draft, a pick they used on defensive tackle Steve Niehaus. The team took the field for the first time on August 1, 1976 in a pre-season game against the San Francisco 49ers in the then newly opened Kingdome.

The Seahawks are the only NFL team to switch conferences twice in the post-merger era. The franchise began play in 1976 in the aforementioned NFC West but switched conferences with the Buccaneers after one season and joined the AFC West. This realignment was dictated by the league as part of the 1976 expansion plan, so that both expansion teams could play each other twice and every other NFL franchise once (the ones in their conference at the time) during their first two seasons. The Seahawks won both matchups against the Buccaneers in their first two seasons, the former of which was the Seahawks' first regular season victory.

However, before the Seahawks even played their first game, tragedy struck, as the team's owner Lloyd W. Nordstrom died from a heart attack while vacationing in Mexico. Nordstrom had been instrumental in landing an NFL team in the Pacific Northwest, and hiring the front office, but he never had a chance to see his team take the field. The Seahawks, coached by Jack Patera, played their first game on September 12 in a sold-out Kingdome. The Seahawks played a solid game, but had their desperation final pass intercepted in the endzone in a 30–24 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. The Seahawks would go on to lose their first five games, before beating the 

Buccaneers, their brothers in expansion, 13–10 in Tampa on October 17. Three weeks later, the Seahawks would earn their first home victory by beating the Atlanta Falcons 30–13 behind the 124-yard effort of running back Sherman Smith. These two wins would be the only ones in the season, as the first-year team compiled a record of 2–12, making them the worst team in the NFC. The only team they were better than was the 0-14 Buccaneers.

The strike-shortened 1982 season proved to be a transitional year for all of pro football, but no club fit the transitional description better than the Seahawks. Patera was removed after six-plus years as head coach. Mike McCormack finished the season as interim head coach and then was replaced in 1983 by Chuck Knox, who guided the Seahawks to an 83-67-0 record in nine seasons up through the 1991 campaign.

Knox led the Seahawks to the AFC championship game his first season. Seattle won an AFC West wild-card berth for the first time in its eight-year history and then knocked off Denver and Miami before losing to the Los Angeles Raiders 30-14 in the title game. The team would be competitive the next two years but it took until 2005 for the team to reach its first Super Bowl and in 2013 the team won Super Bowl 48.

The Seattle Seahawks are now one of the most respected franchises in the NFL and in the 21st century the team has compiled one of the best records in the National Football League.

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https://www.pro-football-reference.com/

https://www.profootballarchives.com/index.html

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