For ten years, the AFL and its franchises existed as an independent pro- fessional football organization in various cities across America. As such, dif- ferent teams in that league played their home and away games in stadiums located within such small areas as Buffalo and Kansas City, within midsized places like Boston and Miami, and within large markets such as Los Angeles
and New York. Collectively the AFL teams’ attendances per game varied from 40,100 in 1960 to 54,400 in 1969. Furthermore, three teams won two league’s championships while another three failed to win even one title. Relative to their home sites, the Texans moved from Dallas to Kansas City in 1963 and the Chargers shifted from Los Angeles to San Diego in 1961. Moreover, the AFL increased in size when it added the Miami Dolphins in 1966 and two years later the Cincinnati Bengals. During its tenth and final season, the AFL included ten franchises.
In retrospect, the AFL and NFL engaged in costly economic conflicts about such issues as inflation of players salaries, allocation of television con- tracts, and invasion of each other’s markets. When Congress passed a law per- mitting them to unite legally, the leagues merged as football enterprises in 1970. That year, ten former AFL clubs and the NFL’s Baltimore Colts, Cleve- land Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers established themselves as competitors in a newly organized American Football Conference (AFC). In contrast, the National Football Conference (NFC) consisted of 13 teams that had played in the NFL’s 1969 season.
Both in the short and long run, this merger significantly affected the NFL’s fan base and market power, and it influenced the total number of games its clubs played during regular seasons and in postseasons. More specifically, from 1969 to 1970, the league’s paid attendance in regular seasons increased by 56 percent and in postseasons by 182 percent while the total number of games played rose by 75 (65 percent). In 2007, the NFL’s total paid atten- dance for 256 regular season games was 17.3 million and 792,000 for 12 post- season games. Thus, between 1969 and 2007 inclusive, the NFL’s paid attendance per game increased by 24 percent during regular seasons and by 22 percent in postseasons.
Besides these specific changes in teams attendances, this alliance affected the NFL’s business model in other ways. For example, new regional rivalries occurred within each division of the AFC and NFC. In the former confer- ence, these included games between the Boston (renamed New England) Patriots and New York Jets of the Eastern Division, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers of the Central Division, and Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs of the Western Division. Within the same three divisions of the NFC, competition intensified between the Philadelphia Eagles and Washing- ton Redskins, Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions, and Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers.
The decision by the NFL to merge in 1970 and then expand during the 1970s, 1990s, and in 2002 created different challenges among various teams and therefore affected the business environments of each of them and the league. To illustrate, a number of football fans demanded to attend games of
the Seattle Seahawks and 49ers in the Northwest/West, Tampa Bay Bucca- neers and Miami Dolphins in Florida, the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Pan- thers, and/or Jacksonville Jaguars in the South/Southeast, Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns in the Midwest, and Houston Texans and Dallas Cow- boys in the Southwest. Consequently, growth of the NFL caused the sport of football to become more popular regionally and financially lucrative for most of the league’s franchises.
Since the merger of these elite football leagues in 1970, a few former AFL clubs have been very prominent and successful, and thus they appreciated by hundreds of millions of dollars in market value for their respective owners. Listed In order of winning NFL titles and championships, four of these fran- chises are the Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders, Boston/New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, and Denver Broncos (see Appendix C).
Based on 39 years of performances, the Raiders ranked second among the ten clubs from the AFL in the number of NFL playoff appearances and division titles and in a tie for first in winning three Super Bowls. Meanwhile, the Patriots tied for first in winning conference titles and Super Bowls; the Dolphins were first in playoff appearances and division titles; and the Bron- cos tied for first in winning AFC championships. Inversely, the worst per- formers in the group of ten have been the Cincinnati Bengals, Houston/ Tennessee Oilers/Titans, and New York Jets.
Due to reorganization in 1970, NFL teams realized a substantial increase in their exposure on television and earned income from other sources. Dur- ing the 1970s, for example, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle negotiated con- tracts with three television networks to broadcast for four years all regular season and postseason games of the league plus other games in the preseason; in the 1980s, NFL franchise owners adopted a resolution that encouraged their teams to schedule and play a series of preseason games overseas begin- ning in 1986, with one game each year to be held in Western Europe and/or Japan; in the 1990s, NFL International Week featured six playoff teams com- peting in nationally televised games in London, Berlin and Tokyo. Also, a new season subscription service named “NFL Sunday Ticket” was launched for satellite television dish owners; in the early 2000s, the league renewed its multiyear agreement with Westwood One/CBS Radio Sports to continue as the exclusive network radio outlet of the NFL.
Another feature of the merger was that in the long run it contributed to an increase in the market value of all NFL franchises, particularly those that had transferred from the AFL in 1970. In fact, five were valued at more than $1 billion each in 2008 (see Appendix G). From most to least in value were, accordingly, the top-ranked Patriots at $1.324 billion to the tenth-ranked Oakland Raiders at $861 million. Of the remaining 29 NFL clubs, the only
franchises worth more than the Patriots were the Dallas Cowboys at $1.612 billion and Washington Redskins at $1.538 billion. The lone team worth less than the Raiders was the Minnesota Vikings at $839 million. With respect to other financial data of the ten former AFL teams as of 2008, the Patriots had the highest revenue and operating income among the group while the Bengals and Raiders tied and finished with the lowest in revenue, as did the Bills and Chiefs in operating income.
The special business effects and other results of the NFL-AAFC and NFL-AFL mergers were the final topics analyzed in this chapter. Since these two alliances increased the number of franchises and furthermore contributed to the league’s realignment, they were important factors in the short- and long-run development, prosperity, and success of the NFL. To conclude, next is a summary of Chapter 1 followed by the notes.
Summary
This chapter examines when, where, and why the organization and strat- egy of the NFL changed since originally becoming an establishment in 1920, named then as the American Professional Football Association (APFA). The formation and history of all the APFA’s and NFL’s expansion franchises are discussed and their performances as teams during their existence without or within divisions and/or conferences. Furthermore, Chapter 1 provides facts and other detailed information about the NFL’s mergers with the All-Amer- ican Football Conference in 1950 and American Football League in 1970.
To list the NFL expansion teams and determine their locations, and to measure the success of them and those from other professional football leagues, there are a few tables of historical data in this chapter and the appendices. As such, this qualitative and quantitative information includes APFA and NFL team nicknames and also their home-based metropolitan areas, total number and specific years of football seasons, win-loss percentages, regular season results and postseason appearances, and their number of division titles, con- ference championships, and Super Bowl victories.
In short, readers realize from Chapter 1 how expansion teams in the APFA and NFL became organized, competed for one or more regular seasons, and then disbanded or continued to perform in different years of the mid– to late 1920s to early 2000s. Moreover, readers understand that the business, operation, and popularity of these enterprises denotes to what extent they prospered or failed as sports enterprises while located within their home-site market areas.