Before the Draft

At first, football was just played in college. Mostly in the prestigous schools. Colleges like Harvard, and Yale were dominant in this era. The college football scene was popular way before the NFL. Before the NFL Draft was set in place, the league was a way different organization. The best teams were the ones with the most money. The bad teams were getting worse not being able to bring players in because of their lack of money or overall performance. This was a significant problem the league was trying to fix. A man by the name of Bert Bell, who at the time was the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, proposed an idea that would create league balance while also being efficient for all teams.
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During this time, there was one major problem, The Great Depression. The Great Depression affected the league heavily during this time, in 1929 12 teams called the league home, but in 1932 the league was down to 8. In 1930 three teams moved to help them stay on their feet. The NFL never really got back together until 1937 when the surviving ten teams decided to rebuild. The league had moved the surviving NFL teams from small towns to big cities to ensure survival. The young league was heavily affected financially, as it was not a popular sport at the time. Players' contracts were getting smaller and smaller as money grew shorter. The league was able to save enough money to keep itself going through this tough time. The NFL was able to survive The Great Depression and started thriving after it.