Editing American Football League (section)

==Legacy==

===Overview===
The American Football League stands as the only professional traditional outdoor football league to successfully compete against the NFL. When the two leagues merged in 1970, all ten AFL franchises and their statistics became part of the new NFL. Every other professional league that had competed against the NFL before the AFL–NFL merger had folded completely: the three previous leagues named "American Football League" and the [[All-America Football Conference]] (AAFC). From an earlier AFL (1936–1937), only the Cleveland Rams (now the [[Los Angeles Rams]]) joined the NFL and are currently operating, as are the [[Cleveland Browns]] and the [[San Francisco 49ers]] from the AAFC. A third AAFC team, the [[Baltimore Colts (1947–1950)|Baltimore Colts]] (not related to the 1953–1983 Baltimore Colts or to the current Indianapolis Colts franchise), played only one year in the NFL, disbanding at the end of the 1950 season.<ref name="cross" /> The league resulting from the merger was a 26-team juggernaut (since expanded to 32) with television rights covering all of the [[Big Three television networks]] (and since the 1990s, the newer [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox network]]) and teams in close proximity to almost all of the top 40 metropolitan areas, a fact that has precluded any other competing league from gaining traction since the merger; failed attempts to mimic the AFL's success included the [[World Football League]] (1974–75), [[United States Football League]] (1983–85), the [[United Football League (2009)|United Football League]] (2009–2012) and the [[Alliance of American Football|AAF]] (2019), and two iterations of the XFL ([[XFL (2001)|2001]] and [[XFL (2020)|2020]]), in addition to the NFL-backed and created [[NFL Europe|World League of American Football]] (1991–92).

The AFL was also the most successful of numerous upstart leagues of the 1960s and 1970s that attempted to challenge a major professional league's dominance. All nine teams that were in the AFL at the time the merger was agreed upon were accepted into the league intact (as was the tenth team added between the time of the merger's agreement and finalization), and none of the AFL's teams have ever folded. For comparison, the [[World Hockey Association]] (1972–79) managed to have four of its six remaining teams merged into the [[National Hockey League]], which actually caused the older league to contract a franchise, but WHA teams were forced to disperse the majority of their rosters and restart as expansion teams. The merged WHA teams were also not financially sound (in large part from the hefty expansion fees the NHL imposed on them), and three of the four were forced to relocate within 20 years. Like the WHA, the [[American Basketball Association]] (1967–76) also managed to have only four of its teams merged into the National Basketball Association, and the rest of the league was forced to fold following a troubled [[1975–76 ABA season|final season of existence]]. Both the WHA and ABA lost several teams to financial insolvency over the course of their existences. The [[Continental League]], a proposed third league for [[Major League Baseball]] that was to begin play in 1961, never played a single game, largely because MLB responded to the proposal by expanding to four of that league's proposed cities. Historically, the only other professional sports league in the United States to exhibit a comparable level of franchise stability from its inception was the [[American League]] of [[Major League Baseball]], which made its debut in the early 20th century and later prompted the [[National League (baseball)|National League]] to allow for competition with the American League to eventually result in the modern-day MLB that we know of to this day.

===Rule changes===
The NFL adopted some of the innovations introduced by the AFL immediately and a few others in the years following the merger. One was including the names on player jerseys. The older league also adopted the practice of using the stadium scoreboard clocks to keep track of the official game time, instead of just having a [[stopwatch]] used by the referee. The AFL played a 14-game schedule for its entire existence, starting in 1960. The NFL, which had played a 12-game schedule since 1947, changed to a 14-game schedule in 1961, a year after the American Football League instituted it. The AFL also introduced the [[two-point conversion]] to professional football 34 years before the NFL instituted it in 1994 (college football had adopted the two-point conversion in the late 1950s). All of these innovations pioneered by the AFL, including its more exciting style of play and colorful uniforms, have essentially made today's professional football more like the AFL than like the old-line NFL. The AFL's challenge to the NFL also laid the groundwork for the [[Super Bowl]], which has become the standard for championship contests in the United States of America.

===Television===
The NFL also adapted how the AFL used the growing power of televised football games, which were bolstered with the help of major network contracts (first with [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], later with [[NBC]] after the latter network lost NFL rights to [[CBS]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nbcsports.com/our-history#decade_4|title=NBC gains broadcast rights to American Football League|website=NBC Sports History Page|access-date=2017-08-06|archive-date=2017-08-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806140431/http://www.nbcsports.com/our-history#decade_4|url-status=dead}}</ref>). With that first contract with ABC, the AFL adopted the first-ever cooperative television plan for professional football, in which the proceeds were divided equally among member clubs. It featured many outstanding games, such as the classic 1962 double-overtime American Football League championship game between the [[Dallas Texans (AFL)|Dallas Texans]] and the defending champion [[Houston Oilers]]. At the time it was the longest [[Professional American football championship games|professional football championship game]] ever played. The AFL also appealed to fans by offering a flashier style of play (just like the ABA in basketball), compared to the more conservative game of the NFL. Long passes ("bombs") were commonplace in AFL offenses, led by such talented quarterbacks as [[John Hadl]], [[Daryle Lamonica]] and [[Len Dawson]].

Despite having a national television contract, the AFL often found itself trying to gain a foothold, only to come up against roadblocks. For example, CBS, which broadcast NFL games, ignored and did not report scores from the innovative AFL. While it has been alleged this snub was on orders from the NFL, it is more likely the arrangement was mutual due to the equally bitter rivalry between CBS and NBC. After the merger agreement was announced, CBS agreed to report AFL scores.

===Expanding and reintroducing the sport to more cities===
{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2018}}

The AFL took advantage of the burgeoning popularity of football by locating teams in major cities that lacked NFL franchises. Hunt's vision not only brought a new professional football league to [[California]] and [[New York (state)|New York]], but introduced the sport to [[Colorado]], restored it to [[Texas]] and later to fast-growing [[Florida]], as well as bringing it to [[Greater Boston]] for the first time in 12 years. Buffalo, having lost its [[Buffalo (NFL)|original NFL franchise]] in 1929 and turned down by the NFL at least twice (1940 and [[Buffalo Bills (AAFC)|1950]]) for a replacement, returned to the NFL with the merger. The return of football to Kansas City was the first time that city had seen professional football since the NFL's [[Kansas City Cowboys (NFL)|Kansas City Blues]] of the 1920s; the arrival of the Chiefs, and the contemporary arrival of the [[History of the St. Louis Cardinals (NFL)|St. Louis Football Cardinals]], brought professional football back to Missouri for the first time since the temporary [[St. Louis Gunners]] of 1934. St. Louis would later regain an NFL franchise in 1995 with the relocation of the [[Los Angeles Rams|LA Rams]] to the city. The Rams moved back in 2016.

In the case of the Dallas Cowboys, the NFL had long sought to return to the Dallas area after the [[Dallas Texans (NFL)|Dallas Texans]] folded in 1952, but was originally met with strong opposition by [[Washington Redskins]] owner [[George Preston Marshall]], who had enjoyed a monopoly as the only NFL team to represent the American South. Marshall later changed his position after future-Cowboys owner [[Clint Murchison]] bought the rights to Washington's fight song "[[Hail to the Redskins]]" and threatened to prevent Marshall from playing it at games. By then, the NFL wanted to quickly award the new Dallas franchise to Murchison so the team could immediately begin play and compete with the AFL's Texans. As a result, the Cowboys played its inaugural season in 1960 without the benefit of the [[1960 NFL draft|NFL draft]]. The Texans eventually ceded Dallas to the Cowboys and became the Kansas City Chiefs.

As part of the merger agreement, additional expansion teams would be awarded by 1970 or soon thereafter to bring the league to 28 franchises; this requirement was fulfilled when the [[Seattle Seahawks]] and the [[Tampa Bay Buccaneers]] began play in 1976. In addition, had it not been for the existence of the Oilers from 1960 to 1996, the [[Houston Texans]] also would likely not exist today; the 2002 expansion team restored professional football in Houston after the original charter AFL member Oilers relocated to become the [[Tennessee Titans]].

Kevin Sherrington of ''[[The Dallas Morning News]]'' has argued that the presence of AFL and the subsequent merger radically altered the fortunes of the [[Pittsburgh Steelers]], saving the team "from stinking".<ref name="DallasNews20110201"/> Before the merger, the Steelers had long been one of the NFL's worst teams. Constantly lacking the money to build a quality team, the Steelers had only posted eight winning seasons, and just one playoff appearance, since their first year of existence in 1933 until the end of the 1969 season. They also finished with a 1–13 record in [[1969 NFL season|1969]], tied with the [[Chicago Bears]] for the worst record in the NFL. The $3&nbsp;million indemnity that the Steelers received for joining the AFC with the rest of the former AFL teams after the merger helped them rebuild into a contender, drafting eventual [[Pro Football Hall of Fame]]rs like [[Terry Bradshaw]] and [[Joe Greene]], and ultimately winning four Super Bowls in the 1970s.<ref name="DallasNews20110201">{{cite web | url=http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/super-bowl/the-game/20110201-sherrington-dallas-meeting-in-66-saved-steelers-from-stinking.ece | title=Dallas meeting in '66 saved Steelers from stinking | first=Kevin | last=Sherrington | work=[[The Dallas Morning News]] | date=2011-02-01 | access-date=2011-02-06}}</ref> Since the 1970 merger, the Steelers have the NFL's highest winning percentage, the most total victories, the most trips to either conference championship game, are tied for the second most trips to the [[Super Bowl]] (tied with the [[Dallas Cowboys]] and [[Denver Broncos]], trailing only the [[New England Patriots]]), and have won six Super Bowl championships, tied with the Patriots for the most in NFL history.

===Effects on players===
Perhaps the greatest social legacy of the AFL was the [[domino effect]] of its policy of being more liberal than the entrenched NFL in offering opportunity for [[Black players in American professional football|black players]]. While the NFL was still emerging from thirty years of segregation influenced by Washington Redskins' owner [[George Preston Marshall]], the AFL actively recruited from small and predominantly black colleges. The AFL's color-blindness led not only to the explosion of black talent on the field, but to the eventual entry of blacks into scouting, coordinating, and ultimately head coaching positions, long after the league merged itself out of existence.<ref>{{cite book | author=[[James "Jim" Acho|Jim Acho]] | title=The "Foolish Club" | publisher=Gridiron Press | year=1997 | oclc=38596883 }} Foreword by [[Miller Farr]].</ref><ref>{{cite book | author=Charles K. Ross | title=Outside the Lines: African Americans and the Integration of the National Football League | url=https://archive.org/details/outsidelinesafri0000ross | url-access=registration | publisher=New York University Press | year=1999 | isbn=0-8147-7495-4 }}</ref>

The AFL's free agents came from several sources. Some were players who could not find success playing in the NFL, while another source was the then newly-formed [[Canadian Football League]]. In the late 1950s, many players released by the NFL, or un-drafted and unsigned out of college by the NFL, went north to try their luck with the CFL (which formed in 1958), and later returned to the states to play in the AFL.

In the league's first years, players such as Oilers' [[George Blanda]], Chargers/Bills' [[Jack Kemp]], Texans' [[Len Dawson]], the Titans' [[Don Maynard]], Raiders/Patriots/Jets' [[Babe Parilli]], Pats' [[Bob Dee]] proved to be AFL standouts. Other players such as the Broncos' [[Frank Tripucka]], the Pats' [[Gino Cappelletti]], the Bills' [[Cookie Gilchrist]] and the Chargers' [[Tobin Rote]], [[Sam DeLuca]] and [[Dave Kocourek]] also made their mark to give the fledgling league badly needed credibility. Rounding out this mix of potential talent were the true "free agents", the walk-ons and the "wanna-be's", who tried out in droves for the chance to play professional American football.

After the AFL–NFL merger agreement in 1966, and after the AFL's [[New York Jets|Jets]] defeated an extremely strong Baltimore Colts team, a popular misconception fostered by the NFL and spread by media reports was that the AFL defeated the NFL because of the [[common draft]] instituted in 1967. This apparently was meant to assert that the AFL could not achieve parity as long as it had to compete with the NFL in the draft. But the 1968 Jets had less than a handful of "common draftees". Their stars were honed in the AFL, many of them since the Titans days.

Players who chose the AFL to develop their talent included [[Lance Alworth]] and [[Ron Mix]] of the [[San Diego Chargers|Chargers]], who had also been drafted by the NFL's [[San Francisco 49ers]] and [[Baltimore Colts]] respectively. Both eventually were elected to the [[Pro Football Hall of Fame]] after earning recognition during their careers as being among the best at their positions. Among specific teams, the 1964 [[Buffalo Bills]] stood out by holding their opponents to a pro football record 913 yards rushing on 300 attempts, while also recording fifty quarterback sacks in a 14-game schedule.

In 2009, a five-part series, ''Full Color Football: The History of the American Football League'', on the ''[[Showtime (TV network)|Showtime]] Network'', refuted many of the long-held misconceptions about the AFL. In it, [[Abner Haynes]] tells of how his father forbade him to accept being drafted by the NFL's [[Pittsburgh Steelers]], after head coach [[Buddy Parker]] and quarterback [[Bobby Layne]] had visited the Haynes home drunk; the NFL Cowboys' Tex Schramm is quoted as saying that if his team had ever agreed to play the AFL's [[Dallas Texans (AFL)|Dallas Texans]], they would very likely have lost; [[George Blanda]] makes a case for more AFL players being inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame by pointing out that Hall of Famer [[Willie Brown (American football, born 1940)|Willie Brown]] was cut by the [[Houston Oilers]] because he couldn't cover Oilers flanker [[Charlie Hennigan]] in practice. Later, when Brown was with the Broncos, Hennigan needed nine catches in one game against the Broncos to break [[Lionel Taylor]]'s professional football record of 100 catches in one season. Hennigan caught the nine passes and broke the record, even though he was covered by Brown.

===Influence on professional football coaching===
The AFL also spawned coaches whose style and techniques have profoundly affected the play of professional football to this day. In addition to AFL greats like [[Hank Stram]], [[Lou Saban]], [[Sid Gillman]] and [[Al Davis]] were eventual hall of fame coaches such as [[Bill Walsh (American football coach)|Bill Walsh]], a protégé of Davis with the AFL [[Oakland Raiders]] for one season; and [[Chuck Noll]], who worked for Gillman and the AFL [[San Diego Chargers|LA/San Diego Chargers]] from 1960 through 1965. Others include [[Buddy Ryan]] (AFL's [[New York Jets]]), [[Chuck Knox]] (Jets), [[Walt Michaels]] (Jets), and [[John Madden]] (AFL's [[Oakland Raiders]]). Additionally, many prominent coaches began their pro football careers as players in the AFL, including [[Sam Wyche]] ([[Cincinnati Bengals]]), [[Marty Schottenheimer]] ([[Buffalo Bills]]), [[Wayne Fontes]] (Jets), and two-time Super Bowl winner [[Tom Flores]] ([[Oakland Raiders]]). Flores also has a Super Bowl ring as a player ([[1969 AFL season|1969]] [[Kansas City Chiefs]]).