<P> Franchise moves became far more controversial in the late twentieth century when a vastly more popular NFL was free from financial instability and allowed many franchises to abandon long - held strongholds for perceived financially greener pastures . This was done in spite of the promises to Congress by Pete Rozelle in 1966 that if the AFL--NFL merger were allowed, no city would lose its franchise . Those promises were made to ensure passage of PL 89 - 800, which granted anti-trust immunity to the merged professional football leagues . While owners invariably cited financial difficulties as the primary factor in such moves, many fans bitterly disputed these contentions, especially in Cleveland (the Rams and the Browns), Baltimore (the Colts), Houston (the Oilers), and St. Louis (the Cardinals), each of which eventually received teams some years after their original franchises left (the Browns, another Browns, Ravens, Texans, and Rams, respectively). Notably, the second - largest media market in the United States, Los Angeles, did not have an NFL team from 1994, after both the Raiders and the Rams relocated elsewhere, until 2016, when the Rams returned . The San Diego Chargers, who played their inaugural season in Los Angeles before spending the next 55 years in San Diego, returned to Los Angeles following the 2016 season . The Oakland Raiders (who themselves relocated to Los Angeles for a time in the 1980s and early 1990s) have a pending relocation to Las Vegas, Nevada that will take effect in 2019 or 2020 . The driving force behind the 2010s relocations was not directly related to finances, as the league was lucrative and stable by this point; instead, the promise of better stadiums drove those relocations . </P> <P> While baseball is known as "America's national pastime," football is the most popular spectator sport in the United States . According to the Harris Poll, professional football moved ahead of baseball as the fans' favorite in 1965, during the emergence of the NFL's challenger, the American Football League, as a major professional football league . Football has remained America's favorite sport ever since . In a Harris Poll conducted in 2008, the NFL was the favorite sport of as many people (30%) as the combined total of the next three professional sports--baseball (15%), auto racing (10%), and hockey (5%). Additionally, football's American television viewership ratings now surpass those of other sports, although football season comprises far fewer games than the seasons of other sports . </P> <P> However, the Harris Poll only allows one unaided selection of a "favorite sport ." Other studies and polls such as the ESPN Sports Poll and the studies released by the Associated Press (AP) and conducted by Sports Marketing Group (SMG) from 1988 to 2004, show far higher levels of popularity for NFL football since they list from thirty to over 100 sports that each respondent must rate . According to the AP, the SMG polls from 1988 to 2004 show NFL football to be the most popular spectator sport in America . The AP stated that "In the most detailed survey ever of America's sports tastes" researching "114 spectator sports they might attend, follow on television or radio or read about in newspapers or magazines, the NFL topped all sports with 39 percent of Americans saying they loved it or considered it one of their favorites ." In a 2003 study conducted by SMG and released by the AP, the NFL was loved or liked a lot by 42.8% of Americans over 18 . </P> <P> The NFL has the highest per - game attendance of any domestic professional sports league in the world . The NFL's overall attendance, however, is only approximately 20 percent of Major League Baseball, because of the latter's longer schedule (162 - game scheduled regular season). </P>

What was the first nfl team to be created