American Football League (1940)
| Sport | American football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1940 |
| First season | 1940 |
| Ceased | 1941 |
| Claim to fame | 3rd competitor of National Football League |
| No. of teams | 6 (1940), 5 (1941) |
| Country | United States |
| Last champion(s) | Columbus Bullies |
The American Football League, also known retrospectively as the AFL III to distinguish it from earlier organizations of that name,
The organization was the third major league to bear the name
Origin
Although the third American Football League was not directly connected to any previous
In the spring of 1940, the former American Professional Football Association announced intentions of turning itself into a major league with the addition of a
As the teams prepared for the upcoming season, the announcement of a rival major league resulted in the collapse of this edition of the American Football League. On July 14, 1940, a press conference introduced a new American Football League - not a continuation of the former minor league, but a new one with franchises in
The group of businessmen based on the
The move fractured the APFA as two of its members decided not to field teams for 1940, while one the Los Angeles Bulldogs had already resigned from the league, and there were only three teams left with only two months to go before the start of the new season. After the Kenosha Cardinals and St. Louis Gunners applied to join the new league (and were subsequently rejected), the APFA went out of business.[4]
After a 30-hour-long meeting of the owners (and other representatives) of the six invited teams in Buffalo's Hotel Lafayette, the bylaws and officials of the new league were determined. Each team was scheduled to play a double round robin schedule (five home games, five away games), with games on either Sunday or Wednesday to reduce the likelihood of conflicts with baseball teams sharing the stadium in five of the six AFL cities (all except Buffalo).[5] The agreement was signed by the team owners on October 5, 1940.
While Bill Edwards did not take over the league as previously announced (that job eventually went to former Ohio State University publicity director William D. Griffith),[3] the 1940 season began with six teams owned by people who were, for the most part, in better financial standing than their NFL counterparts. In the NFL, many of the owners had their franchise as their primary investment and source of income, while the AFL of 1940 had most of the owners with money invested in many other fields, such as local newspapers.[2][6]
