Short answers, pulled from the story.
The American Football Conference was formed as part of the 1970 NFL-AFL merger, with the formal announcement made on the 10th of May, 1969. Ten AFL franchises and three NFL teams joined to form the new conference. Those three NFL teams were the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Baltimore Colts.
Each of the three teams received $3 million in compensation to join the new conference. The deal emerged from a hospital room negotiation led by Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell. He saw an opportunity to establish an in-state rivalry with the Cincinnati Bengals, and Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney agreed rather than break off his long rivalry with Cleveland.
The New England Patriots have won the most AFC championships with twelve, most recently defeating the Denver Broncos in the 2025 AFC Championship Game. The Pittsburgh Steelers are second with eight AFC titles.
Seven AFC teams qualify for the playoffs each season: four division winners and three wild-card clubs with the best records among non-division champions. Those seven teams compete in a bracket ending with the AFC Championship Game, with the winner advancing to the Super Bowl.
As of 2025, AFC teams have won 27 of the 55 Super Bowls played. Between 1995 and 2022, only nine of the AFC's sixteen teams made a Super Bowl appearance, compared to thirteen of sixteen from the NFC.
The Lamar Hunt Trophy is awarded annually to the AFC champion. It bears the name of Lamar Hunt, the AFL's founder. Hunt's descendants still own the Kansas City Chiefs, who continue to display the original AFL logo on their jerseys.