American Football League

The American Football League was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League and became that league's American Football Conference. It competed directly with the NFL throughout its life and was more successful than earlier rivals, including the leagues that used the AFL name in 1926, 1936 and 1940 and the All-America Football Conference of 1946 to 1949. It was created by owners who had been refused NFL expansion franchises, and began with eight clubs: the Boston Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Dallas Texans, Denver Broncos, Houston Oilers, Los Angeles Chargers, Titans of New York and Oakland Raiders, split into Eastern and Western Divisions. The league gained early attention by signing about three quarters of the NFL's first-round draft choices in 1960 and was supported by television contracts with ABC and, from 1965, NBC.