The game of football in New York predates the formation of the National Football League. Early versions of the sport were largely based on getting a ball in a goal zone by any means necessary.

Though this version involved a pig-skin (or, in early days a canvas and rubber covered ball), no one really kept score. The winner was decided by how many opponents had been sufficiently mangled.

This evolved into a college sport that was a mix of rugby and soccer. The rules were fragmented with individual versions being played at each school. In 1873, representatives from Yale, Columbia, Princeton, and Rutgers drafted 12 primary rules for the game.

Though none of these rules are still actively in use, this codification paved the way for football to become one of America's most popular sports.

In 1923, the now-famous Army/Navy Game became the first football game played at Yankee Stadium. Played by players from the academies, professional football teams wouldn't rise to prominence until the late 1930s. However, one of the NFL Teams would eventually call Yankee Stadium home. From 1956 to 1973, the New York Giants played in the same field as the Yanks.

The early games that were played outside of colleges were in athletic clubs. Though teams were not meant to be made up of professional players, clubs devised a way around this: star players received trophies, and watches, as a prize for winning games which were in turn, pawned for cash.

In 1934, a game known as the "Sneaker's Game" was played between the New York Giants and the Chicago Bears. Frigid temperatures had turned the grass of the Polo Grounds into ice. Mid-game, the Giants swapped their spikes for sneakers to win the game, 27-0.

New York Jets faced off against the Oakland Raiders at Shea Stadium on December 29th, 1968 to win the AFL Championship, which placed them in their first Superbowl in 1969.

The Jets would eventually leave New York (and Shea) in 1983 to share a stadium in New Jersey with the Giants. Though both teams might be located in the Meadowlands, they've stayed the New York Jets and the New York Giants, and, in doing so, secured the loyalty of New York's football fans.