AFL–NFL merger facts for kids
The AFL–NFL merger was when two major professional American football leagues in the United States, the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL), decided to join together. This merger made the combined league, which kept the name "National Football League," the most popular sports league in the U.S. The merger was announced on June 8, 1966. For the next four seasons (1966-1969), the leagues played separately. Then, before the 1970 season, they officially became one league with two conferences.
Contents
How It Started
Early Football Rivals
After the NFL began in 1920, it faced off against several other leagues. Before 1960, its biggest rival was the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), which started playing in 1946. The AAFC was different from the NFL. Even though it had good support at first, it didn't last. One big problem for the AAFC was that it didn't have a player draft system. This meant one team, the Cleveland Browns, was much stronger than the others and won almost every championship.
Because of money problems, the AAFC stopped playing after the 1949 season. Three AAFC teams—the Cleveland Browns, the San Francisco 49ers, and the original Baltimore Colts—joined the NFL in 1950. The Browns surprised many by dominating the NFL and winning the championship in their first NFL season. This showed they were among the best football teams at the time.
The 1950s Football Scene
After the NFL took in the AAFC teams, it didn't have any other rival leagues in the U.S. during the 1950s. The only other professional football leagues were in Canada. These Canadian leagues would later combine to form the Canadian Football League (CFL) in 1958.
During the 1950s, NFL teams sometimes played preseason games against Canadian teams. NFL teams usually won these games by a lot. Back then, most of the money for professional football teams came from selling tickets. NFL teams were financially strong, but their advantage wasn't as huge as it is today. There wasn't much pressure to pay players very high salaries, so team owners tried to spend as little as possible on players to make more profit.
The AFL Arrives
In 1959, Lamar Hunt, whose father was a rich oil businessman, tried to buy part of an NFL team or start a new NFL team in Dallas. At that time, the NFL didn't have many teams in the southern or western U.S. However, the NFL wasn't interested in adding new teams. So, Hunt decided to create his own rival league, the American Football League (AFL).
By 1960, the new AFL had eight teams: Boston (Patriots), Buffalo (Bills), New York City (Titans), Houston (Oilers), Denver (Broncos), Dallas (Texans), Oakland (Raiders), and Los Angeles (Chargers). Some of these teams shared cities with NFL teams, but others like Boston, Buffalo, Denver, and Houston brought professional football to new places. Later, the Chargers moved to San Diego (1961) and the Texans moved to Kansas City (1963). Two more teams, the Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals, also joined the AFL.
The AFL found many talented players from smaller colleges and historically black colleges, which the NFL often overlooked. They also signed famous players from big colleges like Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon and Joe Namath. The AFL even signed players the NFL had given up on, who then became superstars. In its first year (1960), AFL teams signed half of the top players chosen in the NFL's 1960 NFL Draft.
The AFL brought many new ideas and rules to professional football that the NFL later adopted:
- A 14-game regular season schedule. The NFL adopted this in 1961, increasing from 12 games.
- Players' last names on the back of their jerseys (NFL adopted in 1970).
- A more exciting, offensive style of play.
- This was helped by a slightly narrower and longer football, which was easier to throw.
- The two-point conversion rule, where a team could score two points after a touchdown instead of one.
- The AFL stopped using this rule after 1969, but the NFL brought it back in 1994.
- Official game time shown on the scoreboard clock, instead of being kept by officials on the field.
- One network television deal for all league games, first with ABC and then with NBC.
- Sharing money from ticket sales and TV deals between home and visiting teams.
Competition Between Leagues
At first, the NFL ignored the AFL, thinking it would fail. They believed AFL players weren't good enough for the NFL and that fans wouldn't watch the AFL. The NFL also had more media support. For example, many sports reporters wrote negative stories about the AFL, often influenced by people connected to the NFL.
However, the AFL had a key advantage: its owners were generally wealthier than NFL owners. Most AFL owners were patient and willing to lose money in the early years. Because of this, the AFL survived and started to do well in the mid-1960s. This was helped when the New York Titans became the Jets and signed quarterback Joe Namath for a huge amount of money ($427,000). The AFL's financial situation also improved greatly with NBC's $36 million TV contract starting in 1965.
As the rivalry grew, both leagues started a huge bidding war for the best college players. They paid large sums of money to new players to get them to sign. This bidding war became very intense in the mid-1960s. For example, Mike Garrett, a top college player, signed with the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs even though the NFL's Los Angeles Rams drafted him earlier.
Many NFL owners didn't have as much money outside their teams. Even though the NFL made more money from ticket sales, NFL owners knew they couldn't keep up the expensive bidding war forever. Also, both leagues worried that their player contracts, which tied players to their teams, might not hold up in court.
There was an unspoken agreement between the two leagues: once a player signed with a team, neither league would try to sign players under contract with the other league. This agreement was broken in May 1966 when the NFL's New York Giants signed Pete Gogolak, a kicker from the AFL's Buffalo Bills. In response, Oakland Raiders co-owner Al Davis became the AFL Commissioner in April 1966 and increased the bidding war. He tried to sign several NFL stars, but after the merger agreement, these players stayed in the NFL. In 1966, both leagues spent a combined $7 million just to sign their draft picks.
The Merger Agreement
It was actually the NFL, not the AFL, that started talking about a merger. The NFL was worried that Al Davis's aggressive tactics would hurt their league's profits and talent pool. Tex Schramm, the general manager of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, secretly contacted AFL owners, including Lamar Hunt. They discussed a merger without Al Davis knowing. On the evening of June 8, 1966, they announced the merger agreement in New York.
Here are the main points of the agreement:
- The two leagues would combine to form one league with 24 teams. This would grow to 26 teams by 1969 and 28 by 1970 or soon after. This promise of expansion helped get support from the U.S. Congress.
- All existing teams would stay in their cities. No new teams would be placed in cities that already had a team from the other league.
- AFL teams in cities shared with NFL teams would pay money to the NFL teams. For example, the New York Jets would pay the New York Giants.
- Both leagues would hold a "Common Draft" for college players. This stopped the expensive bidding wars. The first combined draft was in March 1967.
- The leagues would play separate regular seasons until 1969. However, they agreed to play an annual AFL-NFL World Championship Game starting in January 1967. This game later became known as the Super Bowl.
- The two leagues would officially merge in 1970 to form one league with two conferences. The new league would be called the National Football League. The AFL's history and records would become part of the NFL.
- The AFL Commissioner's job would end immediately, and the NFL Commissioner would lead all professional football. This meant the AFL was no longer an independent league.
After the agreement, AFL owners created the job of AFL President to manage the league's daily business. They hoped Al Davis would take this role, but he refused because he was angry about the merger talks happening without him. Milt Woodard then became the AFL President.
The merger needed a law from the U.S. Congress to allow it, as it might otherwise violate antitrust (fair competition) laws. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle told Congress three important things:
- No existing team would move from its city because of the merger.
- The combined league would eventually expand to 28 teams.
- Stadiums seating less than 50,000 people were not good enough for professional football. Teams in smaller stadiums would need to expand or move to bigger ones. This led to new stadiums for many teams in the early 1970s.
In October, Congress passed the new law. As a result, the New Orleans Saints were added as an expansion team less than a month later. The tenth and final AFL team was given to Paul Brown in Cincinnati, who started the Cincinnati Bengals. He paid $10 million for the team, much more than the original AFL teams paid.
As 1970 approached, three NFL teams (the Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers) agreed to join the ten AFL teams to form the American Football Conference (AFC). The other thirteen NFL teams became part of the National Football Conference (NFC).
Since 1970, the Super Bowl has been played between the champions of the AFC and NFC. Both conferences were divided into three divisions. The playoff format also changed, allowing more teams to reach the postseason, including a "wild card" team (the best second-place team).
The AFC teams quickly decided on their divisions, mostly based on geography. However, the 13 NFC owners had trouble deciding which teams would play in which divisions. They wanted to avoid stronger teams and hoped to be in a division with weaker teams. After much discussion, the final NFC alignment was chosen by drawing a slip of paper from a fish bowl. This plan kept rivalries like the Cowboys with the Redskins, Eagles, and Giants.
All three major television networks signed deals to show games. CBS showed NFC road games, NBC showed AFC road games, and ABC started Monday Night Football. This made the NFL the first league to have regular national TV broadcasts during prime time.
What Happened After
Many people thought the NFL got the better deal in the merger. Some AFL owners, like Al Davis, were unhappy with the payments they had to make to NFL teams.
At first, many expected the old NFL teams to dominate the merged league. In 1970, former AFL teams won 19 games and lost 39 against old NFL teams. Only the Oakland Raiders had a winning record against old NFL teams. However, the Baltimore Colts, an old NFL team that joined the AFC, won Super Bowl V in 1971, becoming the first AFC champion.
The undefeated Miami Dolphins, a former AFL team, won Super Bowl VII in 1973, completing the only perfect season in NFL history. They were also the first former AFL team to win a Super Bowl after the merger. It took until Super Bowl XI in 1977 for an original AFL team, the Oakland Raiders, to win a post-merger NFL championship.
Eventually, the AFC teams became very strong. The Pittsburgh Steelers, an old NFL team that joined the AFC, became a powerhouse, winning four Super Bowls between 1974 and 1979. Before the merger, the Steelers were often one of the worst teams in the NFL. The money they received from the merger, a new stadium, and getting the number one draft pick (future Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw) helped them become a winning team.
The merger led to a very successful era for the NFL. While other professional football leagues have tried to compete since 1970, none have seriously challenged the NFL.
The league also made a rule that all NFL teams must use stadiums that seat over 50,000 fans. This led many teams to build new stadiums or upgrade existing ones. The Super Bowl is often awarded to cities that build new stadiums, which encourages local governments to support construction.
Similar Changes in Other Sports
Other sports leagues in North America later followed the AFL's example of competing with established leagues:
- Baseball: In 1959, the Continental League was proposed as a third major baseball league. To stop it, the existing leagues agreed to add new teams, including in cities where the Continental League wanted to play.
- Basketball: In 1967, the American Basketball Association (ABA) was formed with the goal of merging with the National Basketball Association (NBA). In 1976, four ABA teams joined the NBA.
- Ice Hockey: In 1972, the World Hockey Association (WHA) formed to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL). The two leagues merged in 1979, with four WHA teams joining the NHL.
See also
In Spanish: Fusión de la AFL-NFL para niños
