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The Atlanta Falcons are an Atlanta-based professional American football team. The Falcons are a member of the National Football Conference’s (NFC) South division in the National Football League. The Falcons joined the NFL as an expansion club in 1965, after then-owner Rankin Smith was offered a franchise by the league to prevent him from joining the rival American Football League (AFL).

The Falcons had a 379″487″6 record (369″473″6 in the regular season and 10″14 in the playoffs) in their 55 years of existence, winning division titles in 1980, 1998, 2004, 2010, 2012, and 2016. The Falcons have played in two Super Bowls, the first in 1998, when they fell 34″19 to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII, and the second 18 years later, when they lost 34″28 in overtime to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Falcons’ current home field, debuted for the 2017 season; the team’s offices and practice facilities are located on a 50-acre (20 ha) campus in Flowery Branch, Hall County, northeast of Atlanta.

The American Football League (AFL) held two preseason games in Atlanta in 1962, one involving the Denver Broncos against the Houston Oilers and the other putting the Dallas Texans against the Oakland Raiders. The AFL hosted another exhibition two years later, this time pitting the New York Jets against the San Diego Chargers.

The city of Atlanta decided to pursue professional football in 1965, when the Atlanta”Fulton County Stadium (then known simply as Atlanta Stadium) was completed. One independent organization in Atlanta that had been involved in NFL exhibition campaigns sought for franchises in both the AFL and NFL on its own, with no certainty of stadium rights. Another party said it had put down earnest money for an AFL franchise.

With everyone racing in opposite directions, a group of local businessmen (Cox Broadcasting) made a deal and were given an AFL franchise on June 8, depending on obtaining exclusive stadium rights from municipal officials. The AFL’s interest prompted NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, who had been acting slowly on Atlanta affairs, to board the next jet down to Atlanta to oppose the rival league’s claim to the city. He pushed the city to choose between the two leagues, and the city chose Rankin Smith and the NFL by June 30.

In June 1965, the AFL announced intentions to add two more clubs to the league in 1966, in Atlanta and Philadelphia. In 1966, it became the Miami Dolphins, and in 1968, the Cincinnati Bengals. The NFL planned to add two clubs in 1967, but due to rivalry with the AFL for Atlanta, the first was added a year earlier in 1966. Due to the odd number of teams (15), one team was idle each week (bye), with each team playing 14 games across 15 weeks (similar to 1960: 12 games over 13 weeks). The New Orleans Saints, the NFL’s 16th club, joined the league in 1967 as the second expansion team.

Rozelle gave 40-year-old Rankin Smith Sr., an Executive Vice President of Life Insurance Company of Georgia, ownership of the Atlanta Falcons on June 30, 1965. He spent $8.5 million for the franchise, the most expensive in NFL history at the time. In less than five minutes, Rozelle and Smith had struck a deal, and the Atlanta Falcons had introduced the world’s most popular sport to the city of Atlanta.

The Atlanta expansion club was the 15th NFL franchise, and they were given the first overall pick as well as the last pick in each of the first five rounds in the 1966 NFL Draft. Tommy Nobis, an unanimous All-American linebacker from the University of Texas, was picked as the first-ever Falcon.

Six weeks later, the league held the expansion draft, in which Atlanta chose unprotected players from the 14 current clubs. Despite selecting several strong players in past drafts, the Falcons were unable to win straight away.

On August 29, 1965, the Atlanta club was given its moniker. Many individuals recommended “Falcons” as a moniker for the new team, but Miss Julia Elliott, a school teacher from Griffin, was selected out. She expressed herself as follows: “The Falcon is proud and dignified, with immense bravery and fighting skills. It never lets go of its prey. It is deadly and has a long sports history.”

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