Football has been a beloved sport in Nashville, Tennessee since the Tennessee Titans, then known as the Houston Oilers, became the first franchise in the history of professional football to play most of their games in the Houston Astrodome. According to a survey, 37% of American adults chose football as their favorite sport to watch, followed by basketball (11%) and baseball (9%).The history of American football dates back to the early versions of rugby and association football. In 1873, representatives from Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Rutgers met at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City to codify the first set of intercollege football rules. George Petrie organized the first Auburn football team that year and arranged for them to play against the University of Georgia team in Piedmont Park in Atlanta.
Walter Camp is widely regarded as the most important figure in the development of American football. He was responsible for introducing several innovations such as the line of scrimmage and forward pass. Small cities such as Massillon, Akron, Portsmouth and Canton supported professional teams in a flexible coalition known as the Ohio League, which was the direct predecessor of the current National Football League. Jim Thorpe became the first professional football superstar after winning a medal at the 1912 Summer Olympics. The mission of NFL Football Operations is to establish a culture of clarity, consistency and credibility in every aspect of the best game.
After nearly a decade of sometimes questionable BCS results, college football qualifiers were implemented with a system plus one called “college football qualifier”. Other innovations that occurred immediately after 1932 were the introduction of the AP poll in 1934, the gradual reduction of soccer tips in 1934, the award of the first Heisman Trophy in 1935, the first NFL draft in 1936 and the first televised game in 1939. The betting scandal between the Canton Bulldogs and Massillon Tigers became the first major professional football scandal in 1906. Parents of children under 18 are nearly as likely as others to choose soccer as their favorite sport despite concerns about concussion risks faced by soccer players. As college football gained greater national attention in 1930s, it became less popular than NFL domestically after 1958 National Football League championship game. Despite this, football remains one of Nashville's most beloved sports.
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