All-America Football Conference
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The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the rival National Football League from 1946 to 1949. The league was created in June 1944 and began play in 1946.
The AAFC successfully competed against the National Football League in many cities, outdrawing the older league in terms of attendance and, in the case of teams such as the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers, demonstrating equal if not superior football talent. The Browns of 1948 in fact became the first professional football team to go undefeated in all its games — 24 years before the 1972 Miami Dolphins of the NFL would do so.
After four years of operation, many AAFC teams were in financial trouble due to escalating player salaries. The elder NFL also found its teams in difficulty, and a merger agreement was reached. Three AAFC teams were merged into the older league:
- The Cleveland Browns, winners of all four AAFC championships, who would go on to be the NFL's dominant team of the 1950's,
- The San Francisco 49ers, who would be paired with the Los Angeles Rams, and
- The Baltimore Colts, who would play just one season (1950) in the NFL. The Colts name would be resurrected for an NFL expansion franchise, the Baltimore Colts, in 1953.
Unlike the American Football League (AFL), a league which also merged with the NFL two decades later, the records and statistics of AAFC players and teams are not considered part of the NFL record book. For example, any records and statistics which Joe Namath achieved before the New York Jets merged with the AFL into the NFL are still considered part of official NFL statistics, while Y.A. Tittle's stats as a passer for the San Francisco 49er's before the AAFC merged them into the NFL are not considered official NFL statistics
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AAFC teams
- Brooklyn Dodgers, 1946-1948 (ceased operations)
- Buffalo Bisons, 1946; renamed Buffalo Bills, 1947-1949
- Chicago Rockets, 1946-1948; renamed Chicago Hornets, 1949
- Cleveland Browns, 1946-1949
- Los Angeles Dons, 1946-1949
- Miami Seahawks, 1946; relocated, becoming Baltimore Colts, 1947-1949
- New York Yankees, 1946-1949
- San Francisco 49ers, 1946-1949
AAFC championship games
- 1946 — Cleveland Browns 14, New York Yankees 9
- 1947 — Cleveland Browns 14, New York Yankees 3
- 1948 — Cleveland Browns 49, Buffalo Bills 7
- 1949 — Cleveland Browns 21, San Francisco 49ers 7
AAFC Commissioners
- Jim Crowley 1944-1947
- Jonas Ingram 1947-1949
- O.O. Kessing 1949