American Football League

• 1. Founding And Formation

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  On the 14th of August 1959, the first league meeting was held in Chicago. Eight charter memberships were granted to teams that would become the Boston Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Dallas Texans, Denver Broncos, Houston Oilers, Los Angeles Chargers, Titans of New York, and Oakland Raiders. Lamar Hunt, son of millionaire oilman H.L. Hunt, conceived the idea of a new league after being rejected by NFL commissioner Bert Bell for expansion franchises. Hunt approached Bud Adams, Bob Howsam, and Max Winter to join him. The group had previously tried to buy the Chicago Cardinals but failed because the Bidwill family refused to move the team or sell controlling interest. On the 30th of November 1959, Joe Foss, a World War II Marine fighter ace and former governor of South Dakota, was named the AFL's first commissioner. Hunt was elected President of the AFL on the 26th of January 1960.

• 2. Early Struggles And Survival

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  Attendance for the 1960 season averaged about 16,500 per game, hovering between 10,000 and 20,000 fans. This figure paled compared to the NFL average of more than 40,000 fans per game. The Oakland Raiders suffered league-worst attendance of just 9,612 and lost $500,000 in their first year. They survived only after receiving a $400,000 loan from Bills owner Ralph Wilson. The Titans of New York faced similar financial ruin. Owner Harry Wismer could no longer afford his payroll and had fans move closer to the field to create an illusion of fullness on television. On the 8th of November 1962, the AFL took over operations of the Titans. Sonny Werblin purchased the team on the 28th of March 1963, renaming them the New York Jets. Despite these struggles, the league did not lose any teams after its first year of operation.

• 3. Television Contracts And Rivalry

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  On the 9th of June 1960, the league signed a five-year television contract with ABC that brought in revenues of approximately $2.125 million per year for the entire league. A second deal followed on the 29th of January 1964, when NBC agreed to a lucrative $36 million contract starting with the 1965 season. This funding allowed the AFL to compete aggressively for top college talent. Joe Namath signed a $427,000 contract with the Jets on the 2nd of January 1965, which included a new car. That sum was the highest amount ever paid to a collegiate football player at the time. The bidding war escalated until Al Davis persuaded seven NFL quarterbacks to sign with the AFL within two months. Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney remarked after receiving news of the TV deal that the AFL no longer had to be called Mister anymore.

• 4. The Merger Negotiations

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  Secret meetings commenced in Dallas between NFL owners and Lamar Hunt to discuss rapidly increasing player salaries and poaching practices. On the 7th of April 1966, Joe Foss resigned as AFL commissioner. Oakland Raiders head coach Al Davis became his successor. By May, Dallas Cowboys general manager Tex Schramm and Hunt completed basic groundwork for a merger. On the 8th of June 1966, the agreement was officially announced. Under the terms, the leagues would hold a common draft and play a title game between their champions. The two leagues were set to fully merge by 1970. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle remained chief executive from the 26th of July 1966, through completion of the merger. In protest, Davis resigned as AFL commissioner on July 25 rather than remain until the end. Milt Woodard was named president of the AFL, and the commissioner title was vacated due to Rozelle's expanded role.

• 5. Super Bowl Legitimacy

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  On the 12th of January 1969, the AFL champion New York Jets shocked the heavily favored NFL champion Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. The Colts entered the contest favored by as many as 18 points and had completed the 1968 season with a 13, 1 record. Jets quarterback Joe Namath declared three days before the game that they would win Sunday and guaranteed victory. The Jets won 16, 7, holding the Colts scoreless until late in the fourth quarter. This upset is considered one of the greatest in American sports history. One year later, the Kansas City Chiefs upset the Minnesota Vikings 23, 7 in Super Bowl IV. That game marked the last championship played between the two separate leagues. The AFL finally achieved parity with the NFL and legitimized the merger of the two leagues.

• 6. Social Impact And Integration

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  The AFL actively recruited from small and predominantly black colleges while the NFL emerged from thirty years of segregation influenced by Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall. Players such as Oilers' George Blanda, Chargers/Bills' Jack Kemp, and Raiders/Patriots/Jets' Babe Parilli proved to be standouts. In 1964, after numerous black players were refused service by area hotels during an All-Star game scheduled for New Orleans, players called for a boycott. Led by Bills players like Cookie Gilchrist, the group successfully lobbied to move the game to Houston's Jeppesen Stadium. Abner Haynes told how his father forbade him to accept being drafted by the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers because head coach Buddy Parker and quarterback Bobby Layne had visited their home drunk. The league's color-blindness led to the explosion of black talent on the field and eventual entry of blacks into scouting and coaching positions long after the league merged out of existence.

• 7. Legacy And Modern Influence

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  On the 17th of January 1970, the last game in AFL history was played at Houston's Astrodome. Western All-Stars defeated Eastern All-Stars 26, 3. Buffalo rookie running back O.J. Simpson carried the ball for the final play. The AFL ceased to exist as an unincorporated organization on the 1st of February 1970. Today, two of the NFL's eight divisions are composed entirely of former AFL teams: the AFC West and the AFC East. The NFL adopted innovations introduced by the AFL including names on player jerseys and using stadium scoreboard clocks instead of referee stopwatches. The AFL also introduced the two-point conversion 34 years before the NFL instituted it in 1994. Kevin Sherrington of The Dallas Morning News argued that the presence of the AFL saved the Pittsburgh Steelers from stinking. The $3 million indemnity the Steelers received helped them rebuild into a contender winning four Super Bowls in the 1970s.