American Football League

The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL) and became that league's American Football Conference (AFC). The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence. It was more successful than earlier rivals to the NFL, including not only the organizations founded under the AFL name in 1926, 1936, and 1940, but also the later All-America Football Conference (AAFC), which existed between 1944 and 1950 but conducted operations only between 1946 and 1949.

This fourth version of the AFL was the most successful, created by a number of owners who had been refused NFL expansion franchises or had minority shares of NFL teams. The AFL's original lineup consisted of eight clubs — the Boston Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Dallas Texans, Denver Broncos, Houston Oilers, Los Angeles Chargers, Titans of New York, and Oakland Raiders. The Patriots, Bills, Oilers, and Titans comprised the league's Eastern Division, while the Texans, Broncos, Chargers, and Raiders made up its Western Division. The league first gained attention by signing 75% of the NFL's first-round draft choices in 1960, including Houston's successful signing of college football star and Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon.

While the AFL's first years saw uneven competition and low attendance, the league was buttressed by a generous television contract with the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), followed by a contract with the competing National Broadcasting Company (NBC) for games starting with the 1965 season, that broadcast the more offense-oriented football league nationwide. By continuing to attract top talent from colleges and the NFL by the mid-1960s, as well as successful franchise shifts of the Chargers from Los Angeles to San Diego and the Texans from Dallas to Kansas City (becoming the Kansas City Chiefs), the AFL established a dedicated following. The transformation of the struggling Titans into the New York Jets under new ownership, including the signing of University of Alabama star quarterback Joe Namath, further solidified the league's reputation among the major media.

As fierce competition made player salaries skyrocket in both the AFL and NFL, especially after a series of "raids", the leagues agreed to a merger in 1966. Among the merger conditions were a common draft and a championship game played between the two league champions, first played in early 1967, which would eventually become known as the Super Bowl. The AFL and NFL continued to operate as separate leagues until 1970, with separate regular season and playoff schedules except for the championship game. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle also became chief executive of the AFL from July 26, 1966, through the completion of the merger.^[1] During this time, the AFL expanded, adding the Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals. After losses by the Chiefs and Raiders to the NFL champion Green Bay Packers in the first two AFL–NFL World Championship Games, the Jets and Chiefs won Super Bowls III and IV, respectively, cementing the league's claim to being an equal to the NFL.

In 1970, the NFL absorbed the AFL. The ten former AFL franchises joined three existing NFL teams — the Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers — to form the merged league's American Football Conference (AFC).