Portal:American football/News

• The 2006 Canadian Football League regular season concludes and the CFL playoffs, to culminate with the contesting at Canad Inns Stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, of the 94th Grey Cup, begin. Having earned first place in the West and East Divisions respectively, the British Columbia Lions and Montreal Alouettes, the latter in view of its two season victories over the Toronto Argonauts, which also finish the regular season having won ten games and having conceded eight, earn byes into division finals, whilst the Argonauts, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Calgary Stampeders, and Saskatchewan Roughriders also earn playoff qualification; the Edmonton Eskimos, in 2005 the 93rd Grey Cup titlists, earn just fourteen points across eighteen games and fail to qualify for postseason play.
• In the third quarter of a game betwixt his team and fellow Atlantic Ten Conference side University of Richmond Spiders, University of New Hampshire Wildcats wide receiver David Bell catches, whilst situated in the end zone, a one-yard pass from quarterback Ricky Santos to record the fifty-first receiving touchdown of his collegiate career; he supplants Jerry Rice of Mississippi Valley State University Delta Devils atop the list of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I-AA players by career touchdown receptions and Rice and Troy Edwards—with the Louisiana Tech University Bulldogs the 1998 Fred Biletnikoff Award winner—atop that of all Division I players.
• Having two weeks thither surpassed Art Monk and one week thither surpassed Andre Reed to claim clear fourth place on the enumeration of National Football League players by total career receptions, Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison, in his team's game against the Tennessee Titans, catches a three-yard pass from quarterback Peyton Manning to extend to 159 the number of consecutive regular season games, dating to the 1996 season, in which, having been selected ninteenth overall by the Colts in the league draft, he started sixteen games, to begin his career in which he has at least one reception, which mark is better by one than that of Colts and Saint Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk and is greater than that of any other player in league history.
• Placekicker Morten Andersen, having apparently retired subsequent to the league's 2004 season, returns to the National Football League (NFL) prior to the third week of its 2006 season. Andersen, aged forty-six years and most recently employed as a television analyst for NFL Europe games, agrees to a contract with the Atlanta Falcons, with whom he previously played betwixt the 1995 and 2000 seasons and for whom he will attempt all extra points and those field goals of fewer than fifty yards; Andersen replaces Michael Koenen. He returns to the NFL having over his career tallied more points (2,358) and converted more field goals (520) than any player save Gary Anderson, who, having, as Andersen, been a member of the league's 1980s and 1990s All-Decade Teams, leads the latter by 73 career points and 17 career field goals.
• At Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Toronto Argonauts quarterback Damon Allen, the reigning Canadian Football League (CFL) Most Outstanding Player Award winner, formerly of the Edmonton Eskimos, Ottawa Rough Riders, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and British Columbia Lions, in his team's eleventh game of the 2006 season and in his twenty-second CFL season, having three weeks thither become the first player in league history to have totalled more than 70,000 career passing yards, completes a 29-yard shovel pass to wide receiver Arland Bruce III to surpass Warren Moon for first place in the ranking of players by career CFL-National Football League passing yards.
• Outside linebacker Junior Seau, having played thirteen seasons for the San Diego Chargers and three for the Miami Dolphins and having, over his career, been named to the National Football League's 1990s All-Decade Team and, on twelve occasions, to the Pro Bowl, announces his retirement; four days thence, he elects to sign a contract to play the 2006 season for the New England Patriots. Seau's brief retirement follows by three weeks that of offensive tackle Willie Roaf, who joined Seau on the 1990s All-Decade Team and, in his thirteen seasons with the New Orleans Saints, who selected Roaf from Louisiana Tech University with the eighth overall pick in the 1993 NFL Draft, and Kansas City Chiefs, started 189 regular season games and earned Pro Bowl honors eleven times.
• Fifteen players and five coaches are inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as the 2006 enshrinement class in a ceremony in South Bend, Indiana, United States. Amongst the twenty inductees are Notre Dame University quarterback John Huarte, the 1964 winner of the Heisman Memorial Trophy Award as the most outstanding player in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I; University of Idaho quarterback John Friesz, the 1989 winner of the Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player in Division I-AA; Mississippi Valley State University quarterback Willie Totten and wide receiver Jerry Rice, who helped the Delta Devils average 59 points per game during the 1984 season, for which each earned All-America honors; and Saint John's University head coach John Gagliardi, the winningest-ever coach in college football who, between 1952 and 2005, led the Johnnies to 24 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships, two National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics titles and two Division III national championships.
• Chief operating officer Roger Goodell is elected by the owners of the teams of the National Football League to be that league's commissioner; Goddell, who helped to negotiate the league's collective bargaining agreement and establish the league's cable specialty channel NFL Network, will assume control on or about September 7, when the 2006 NFL season begins, replacing Paul Tagliabue, who has led the league since 1989.
• In Canton, Ohio, United States, the Pro Football Hall of Fame inducts its 2006 class, comprising six players.

• Warren Moon, who played seventeen seasons in the National Football League having first completed a six-year career in the Canadian Football League, during time which he led the Edmonton Eskimos to five consecutive Grey Cup championships, garnering two Grey Cup Most Valuable Player Awards, in view of which he was enshrined into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2001, becomes the first African American quarterback to earn entry into the Hall; Moon retired from the NFL in 2000, having, over his career, earned selection to the Pro Bowl nine times, and ranking amongst the top five quarterbacks in NFL history in total passing yards, total touchdowns thrown, and total passes completed.
• Offensive tackle Rayfield Wright, a seventh-round pick from Fort Valley State University by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1967 NFL Draft, having, over his career of thirteen years, during seven of which he was team co-captain, earned election to the Pro Bowl six times, participated in five Super Bowl and six National Football Conference Championship Games, and been selected to the 1970s All-Decade Team and the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor, is enshrined, having retired subsequent to the 1979 season, as a senior nominee.
• Linebacker Harry Carson is inducted two years after he disclaimed interest in being elected, having objected to the role of print media in the selection process, and is recognized for his having earned election to nine Pro Bowls over his thirteen years with the New York Giants, during ten of which he was defensive captain and over which he made eleven interceptions and forced fourteen fumbles.
• Nearly two years after his death, defensive end Reggie White, who, over his career, recorded 198 quarterback sacks, more than any other player save Bruce Smith, earned election to 13 Pro Bowl games, won, with the Philadelphia Eagles, the 1986 Pro Bowl MVP, 1987 Defensive Player of the Year, and 1987 and 1991 United Press International NFL Defensive Player of the Year Awards, and, with the Green Bay Packers, the 1995 Defensive Player of the Year and 1998 UPI Defensive Player of the Year Awards, and was selected to the 1980s and 1990s All-Decade Teams and the 75th Anniversary All-Time Team, is enshrined; his wife Sara accepts on his behalf.
• John Madden, like Wright a senior nominee, is inducted as a coach, having, between 1969 and 1978, led the Oakland Raiders to the Super Bowl XI championship and seven American Football Conference Championship Games (including the final American Football League title game, and having accumulated the best regular season winning percentage (75.0%, with 103 wins, 32 losses, and 7 ties) of any head coach in league history to have won at least 100 games.
• Three-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Troy Aikman, the Super Bowl XXVII Most Valuable Player and also a six-time Pro Bowl selection with the Dallas Cowboys, for whom he played all twelve of his NFL seasons, having retired subsequent to the 2000 season and thus in his first year of eligibility for election, is, one year subsequent to his selection to the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor and the attendant de facto retirement of his jersey, inducted, having, after having entered the league as the first overall selection in the 1989 NFL draft, passed for 141 regular season and 24 playoff touchdowns.

For other recent American football news, see current sports events, 2006 in sports, and the Wikinews American football portal.