Overview
The rival league of 1960–1969 whose success forced the merger that created the modern NFL.
The American Football League operated from 1960 to 1969 as a direct competitor to the NFL. Founded by owners the NFL had refused, led by Lamar Hunt, it began with eight clubs and expanded to ten.
The AFL played a more open, pass-oriented game, signed players the NFL wanted, put names on jerseys and shared television revenue equally among its clubs — a model the merged league adopted. All ten AFL clubs survive in today's NFL.
Season Format
Recent Champions
Most recent first. Seasons still in progress are marked.
History
Lamar Hunt founded the AFL after being refused an NFL expansion franchise. A 1960 television contract with ABC that split revenue equally among the clubs gave the new league the financial stability its predecessors had lacked.
A bidding war for players culminated in the 1965 signing of Joe Namath by the Jets, and the two leagues agreed to merge in 1966. Namath's guarantee before Super Bowl III, and the Jets' win over Baltimore, settled the argument about parity; Kansas City's win a year later confirmed it.
Full merger took effect for the 1970 season. The ten AFL clubs, joined by Baltimore, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, formed the American Football Conference.
Governance
The league was governed by its founding owners, known as the Foolish Club. Its commissioners were Joe Foss and, from 1966, Al Davis.