The NFL waited 36 years for the two-point conversion
College adopted it in 1958. The AFL used it for its entire existence. The NFL held out until 1994, then made it harder than everyone else.
The two-point conversion feels like a modern, analytics-era idea. It is older than the Super Bowl.
Everyone else had it first
- 011958: college football adopts the two-point conversion
- 021960: the AFL uses it for all ten of its seasons
- 031994: the NFL finally adopts it
The AFL merged into the NFL in 1970 and the rule simply did not come with it. The league went another twenty-four years before allowing it. Tom Tupa of the Cleveland Browns scored the first one in NFL history in week one of 1994, against Cincinnati.
College and the AFL ran it from the three. The NFL put it on the two.
Harder on purpose
College football and the AFL both spotted the try at the three-yard line. The NFL chose the two — a shorter field, but a more compressed one, with less room to run a route and less space behind the defense.
That decision has aged into relevance. Since the extra point moved back to a 33-yard attempt in 2015 and its success rate fell from 99.3% to around 94%, the arithmetic of going for two has become a live question on every scoring drive rather than a desperation move.
Quick answers
- When did the NFL add the two-point conversion?
- 1994. College football had it from 1958 and the AFL used it throughout its ten seasons from 1960.
- Where is the two-point conversion spotted?
- The two-yard line in the NFL. College football and the old AFL used the three.
Sources
- 2-point conversion turns 30 years old — Pro Football Hall of Fame
- The day Tom Tupa scored the NFL's first-ever 2-point conversion
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