The City of Rochester will be part of a major NFL celebration to mark the 100th anniversary of the league.
Among the activities the NFL is taking part in is to honor eight of the original 13 communities that were home to the 14 teams in the inaugural season, by hosting live telecasts in those locations on Day 3 of the NFL Draft in Nashville. The draft will be held April 25– 27.
The Rochester Jeffersons were one of the original NFL franchises. That team was formed in 1898 and played in the national league from 1920-1925. The Jeffs began as a group of Rochester-area teenagers who played on a field on Jefferson Avenue. The team played other amateur and semi-pro teams in Upstate NY before going professional.
And on the third day of the NFL draft, April 27, Mayor Lovely Warren will join a Buffalo Bills’ player or NFL alumni to take the 6th round pick. The place and time of that event has not been disclosed yet.
Among the other “original towns” in the league that the NFL is honoring is Buffalo, which had been home to the Buffalo All-Americans.
“We are very excited and proud, to be included in the 2019 “NFL100” as one of the league’s ‘Original Towns,’” said Mayor Warren. “This national recognition is a testament to the greatness of our city’s people as well as to our rich history.”
“There’s no better way to bring the League’s hundred years of history full circle than to partner with these communities and recognize their important place in history as part of the NFL’s centennial celebration,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
