Origins and Formation
The AFL was established by a group of ambitious businessmen, led by Lamar Hunt, after repeated attempts to secure NFL franchises failed. Hunt, who would go on to found the Dallas Texans (later the Kansas City Chiefs), gathered a group of fellow owners—referred to as "The Foolish Club"—to create a new league that would challenge the NFL's dominance.
The league initially featured eight teams, known as the "Original Eight":
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Boston Patriots
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Buffalo Bills
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Houston Oilers
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New York Titans (later the Jets)
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Denver Broncos
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Dallas Texans (later Kansas City Chiefs)
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Los Angeles Chargers (later moved to San Diego)
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Oakland Raiders
Innovation and Style
The AFL quickly distinguished itself from the NFL through several innovative approaches:
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Wide-open offensive strategies and more passing, which made games exciting for fans.
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Two-point conversion (before the NFL adopted it in 1994).
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Player names on jerseys and colorful team uniforms.
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Aggressive recruitment of players from smaller colleges and historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), helping to integrate professional football more rapidly.
The AFL-NFL Rivalry
Throughout the 1960s, the AFL and NFL competed fiercely for fans, media attention, and especially talent. This included bidding wars for top college players, leading to rising player salaries.
Despite initial skepticism about the AFL's quality, it gradually gained credibility. The rivalry reached a turning point in 1966, when the two leagues agreed to merge. As part of the agreement, a championship game was established between the winners of each league — this became known as the Super Bowl.
Super Bowl and Merger
The first Super Bowl was played in January 1967, with the NFL's Green Bay Packers defeating the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs. However, the AFL earned validation when the New York Jets (led by quarterback Joe Namath) upset the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in 1969.
This win—and the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl IV victory the following year—proved the AFL’s competitive legitimacy.
In 1970, the AFL and NFL officially merged into a single league, retaining the NFL name but splitting into two conferences: the AFC (American Football Conference) and the NFC (National Football Conference). All ten AFL teams became part of the AFC, along with three former NFL teams to balance the conferences.
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