Editing American Football Conference (section)

==History==
[[File:Oldafclogo.JPG|thumb|right|150px|Original American Football Conference logo, based on the AFL logo with blue stars]]
With the impending [[AFL–NFL merger|merger]] with the [[American Football League]] (AFL) for the [[1970 NFL season]], the league had careful discussion over the nature of which teams would play in the newly instituted conferences. Then-NFL President and owner of the [[Cleveland Browns]] [[Art Modell]] had suggested of a format in which three teams from the NFL would move to the AFC to create two thirteen-team conferences. But negotiations between NFL commissioner [[Pete Rozelle]] and other owners was rampant in who would move (for his part, Modell had first assumed the three most recent expansion NFL teams - [[Minnesota Vikings]], [[Atlanta Falcons]], [[New Orleans Saints]] would be the ones to move to the AFC), since others wanted to simply have no realignment of NFL teams.<ref name="s806">{{Cite web |last=Clayton |first=John |title=When Modell took one for the league |url=http://static.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/clayton_john/1202791.html |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=ESPN.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/WAKI-ViewArticle.aspx?pin=x-fo055624a&article_id=608&chapter_id=13&chapter_title=Sports&article_title=Pro_Football_History|title=Pro Football – History|access-date=April 3, 2009|archive-date=January 4, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100104075832/http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/WAKI-ViewArticle.aspx?pin=x-fo055624a&article_id=608&chapter_id=13&chapter_title=Sports&article_title=Pro_Football_History|url-status=dead}}</ref> The AFL had begun play in 1960 with eight teams before adding two more expansion clubs (the [[Miami Dolphins]] in 1966 and the [[Cincinnati Bengals]] in 1968) before the merger.

Modell was hospitalized for internal bleeding around the time negotiations were still going. Moreover, Modell was struggling to service the debt he incurred from his purchase of the Browns. Furthermore, he realized there was an opportunity to establish a [[Bengals-Browns rivalry|lucrative in-state rivalry]] with the newly established Bengals, who had been founded by [[Paul Brown]] after Modell had forced him out of Cleveland after purchasing the team.

When Modell was visited in the hospital by [[Art Rooney]] (owner of the [[Pittsburgh Steelers]]) and [[Wellington Mara]] (owner of the [[New York Giants]]), Modell offered to have his franchise move to the AFC, provided two other "old guard" franchises did so as well and the three affected teams to move were adequately compensated for joining what was still looked down on in NFL circles as a "junior" or "inferior" circuit. Not wanting to lose his [[Browns-Steelers rivalry|long-established rivalry]] with Cleveland, the equally cash-strapped Rooney quickly agreed to join the Browns in the AFC. The other NFL owner to ultimately agree to move was the [[Baltimore Colts]]' [[Carroll Rosenbloom]].

Thus, in order to equalize the number of teams in each conference, three NFL teams that predated the AFL's launch (the [[Cleveland Browns]], [[Pittsburgh Steelers]], and the then-[[Baltimore Colts]]) joined the ten former AFL teams to form the AFC in exchange for $3 million each in indemnities, with the announcement coming on May 10, 1969.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nfl.com/news/on-this-day-in-1969-a-brand-new-nfl-took-shape-0ap3000001113428 |title=On this day in 1969, a brand-new NFL took shape |publisher=National Football League |date=May 10, 2020 |access-date=February 10, 2025}}</ref> The two AFL divisions [[AFL East]] and [[AFL West]] were more or less intact, while the NFL's [[National Football League Century Division|Century Division]], in which the Browns and the Steelers had played since 1967, was moved from the NFL to become the new AFC Central. Upon the completion of the merger of the AFL and NFL in 1970, the newly minted American Football Conference had already agreed upon their divisional setup along mostly geographical lines for the [[1970 NFL season|1970 season]]; the National Football Conference, however, could not agree upon their setup, and one was chosen from a fishbowl on January 16, 1970.

Since the merger, five expansion teams have joined the AFC and two have left, thus making the current total 16. When the [[Seattle Seahawks]] and the [[Tampa Bay Buccaneers]] joined the league in 1976, they were temporarily placed in the NFC and AFC respectively. This arrangement lasted for one season only before the two teams switched conferences. The Seahawks eventually returned to the NFC as a result of the [[2002 NFL season#Expansion and realignment|2002 realignment]]. The expansion [[Jacksonville Jaguars]] joined the AFC in 1995. There have been five teams that have relocated at least once. In 1984, the [[History of the Baltimore Colts|Baltimore Colts]] [[Baltimore Colts relocation to Indianapolis|relocated]] to Indianapolis. In 1995, the [[Cleveland Browns]] had attempted to move to Baltimore; the resulting [[Cleveland Browns relocation controversy|dispute]] between Cleveland and the team led to Modell establishing the [[Baltimore Ravens]] with the players and personnel from the Browns, while the Browns were placed in suspended operations before they were reinstated by the NFL. The Ravens were treated as an expansion team.

In [[California]], the [[Oakland Raiders]] relocated to [[Los Angeles]] in 1982, back to Oakland in 1995, and then to [[Las Vegas]] in 2020, while the [[History of the San Diego Chargers|San Diego Chargers]] returned to [[Los Angeles]] in 2017 after 56 years in [[San Diego]].

The [[History of the Houston Oilers|Houston Oilers]] moved to [[Tennessee]] in 1997, where they were renamed the Tennessee Oilers. The team would change its name again, two years later, to the [[Tennessee Titans]].

The NFL would again expand in 2002, adding the [[Houston Texans]] to the AFC. With the exception of the aforementioned relocations since that time, the divisional setup has remained static ever since.

Between 1995 and 2022, the AFC has sent only 9 of its 16 teams to the [[Super Bowl]]: [[New England Patriots]] (10 times), [[Pittsburgh Steelers]] (4 times), [[Denver Broncos]] (4 times), [[Baltimore Ravens]] (2 times), [[Indianapolis Colts]] (2 times), [[Kansas City Chiefs]] (3 times), [[Cincinnati Bengals]] (1 time), [[Las Vegas Raiders]] (1 time), [[Tennessee Titans]] (1 time). By contrast, the [[National Football Conference|NFC]] has sent 13 of the 16 NFC teams during that same time frame with only the [[Detroit Lions]], [[Minnesota Vikings]], and [[Washington Commanders]] missing out on an appearance in the [[Super Bowl]]. 17 of the 19 AFC champions from 2001 to 2019 have started one of just three quarterbacks - [[Tom Brady]], [[Peyton Manning]] and [[Ben Roethlisberger]] - in the Super Bowl. The AFC has started 7 quarterbacks in the last 20 Super Bowls, while the NFC has started 16.