Understanding football is the main course in understanding why it is so popular. Many other sports cannot compare to the impact football has on its players and fans. We live in such a diverse world and any entertainment comes naturally to us. Gambling seems to be the most present entertainment in our human society today. We crave Gladiator-type sports and games for public entertainment. To better understand why soccer is popular today, we must first look back at the history of the sport. The first vestiges of what would become American football can be found in the 19th century. century in games played by students at elite colleges and universities across the United States. A particularly violent running game was played at Princeton University around 1820, and a kicking game was also played by students at Dartmouth College around this time. The rules for the Dartmouth game, known as “Old Division Football,” were published in 1871. The first running game to codify its rules was the popular English sport, rugby, and did so in 1845 (“A Brief History of Football” para .2). Today, the NFL has the highest viewership of any American sport. Over the years it has grown to astronomical proportions and continues to grow every day. According to the Encyclopedia of International Sports Studies, overall annual attendance increased from three million at the start of former Commissioner Pete Roselle's tenure in 1960, to seventeen million by the end of his tenure in 1989, and 400 million spectators have watched Super Bowl XXIII in 1989. pp. 932–933). Crazy right? Yes, I thought so. But, if it weren't for Pete, I really don't think the NFL would be as popular today. According to one reporter, "Unlike most professional sports... middle of paper... he is paid $6 million a year by the state of Louisiana as an incentive not to move his team. Now, this was something I didn't know, that makes you wonder where your NFL tax money will go makes all teams, regardless of where they come from, be put on equal footing (K., Jack, par.10) The 16-match season of football is crucial to the success of its business. Since sport has less supply of football matches, the demand for them increases (k.par.4 No matter how good a person is, if the rest of his team does not reach the level, he will never win MANY different teams and so many different play styles mean that no game is ever the same. Everything around is just an amazing thing to look at. It truly is the ultimate team sport.