What is the reason for the extra point after a touchdown is scored in football?

Answer 1

The extra point reduces the chance of tie games. The two point conversion was added for the same reason. The extra point was once the only purpose of scoring a touchdown, as the touchdown itself granted no points. That's because the emphasis in the early game was on scoring by means of kicking the ball, rather than running it past the goal line. The origin of the extra point lies in the game of Rugby. In that sport, when a player carries the ball into the end zone, he has to press the ball down to the ground -- which, incidentally, is where the term "touchdown" comes from. His team then has to kick the "extra point" from a spot directly out on the field from where the ball was touched down. In the early days of rugby, the touchdown didn't count for any points -- it merely gave the attacking team the opportunity to take a kick at the goalposts. That's why rugby's version of a touchdown is called a "try" -- it originally meant "try for goal."

American football borrowed this concept from rugby. Just as in rugby, the touchdown originally conferred no points; it only granted the right to kick a goal. The emphasis on scoring by kicking continued to be emphasized for several years -- in 1883, touchdowns were worth 4 points and the extra point worth 2, but the field goal still counted for 5 points. It wasn't until 1904 that the touchdown by itself conferred more points than kicking a field goal. By that time, the "extra point" was an established part of the game, and so it remained.

So basically, the extra point is a relic of a game that once emphasized kicking.