American Football Association ( 1979 – 1982 ) The American Football Association was a professional American football league that operated from 1979 to 1982 . It was concentrated in the southern United States and served as an interregnum in the second tier of professional football between the World Football League , which folded in 1975 , and the United States Football League , which began play in 1983 . Unlike the WFL or USFL , the AFA always fashioned itself as a minor league , and never planned to rival the National Football League for " major league " status . Players were paid one percent of gross gate revenue , which often meant players were paid only menial sums for their service ( often comparable to minimum wage for three hours of work ) , and the league struggled to acquire recognizable players . The league played its games on Saturday nights in the summer ( beginning its season Memorial Day weekend and ending in August ) to avoid direct competition against other football in the fall , a move that foreshadowed the USFL ' s similarly inspired spring football schedule . The AFA ended operations in 1982 , unable to take advantage of the looming strike that hit the NFL that year . Teams included those in Tulsa , Oklahoma ( the Tulsa Thunder and the Tulsa Mustangs ) , Birmingham , Alabama ( the Alabama Vulcans and Alabama Magic ) , Louisville , Kentucky ( the Kentucky Trackers ) , Jacksonville , Florida ( the Jacksonville Jaguars and Jacksonville Firebirds ) , Charlotte , North Carolina ( the Charlotte Chargers , a . k . a . the Charlotte Storm ) , Orlando , Florida ( the Orlando Americans ) , San Antonio , Texas ( San Antonio Charros ) , Austin , Texas ( Austin Texans ) , Dallas , Texas ( Dallas Wranglers ) , Houston , Texas , Little Rock , Arkansas , Jackson , Mississippi ( Mississippi Stars ) , Virginia ( Virginia Hunters ) , Shreveport , Louisiana ( Shreveport Steamers ) and Charleston , West Virginia ( West Virginia Rockets , 1980 and 1981 champions ) . Its northernmost team , and largest major market , was Chicago , Illinois , where the Chicago Fire played . Many of the names came from previous leagues , with minor alterations to avoid trademark disputes : the Steamers , Vulcans and Fire all took their names from WFL teams , while the Rockets borrowed their name from a Continental Football League and United Football League team of the same name . The Jaguars name would later be recycled for a National Football League team in 1995 . The operations were often fly - by - night , with most teams lasting only one season or less before folding . Despite its minor league status , the league ' s teams often were able to secure leases for unusually large stadiums , often those used by the WFL and the USFL : the Orlando Americans , in their lone season , played in the 70 , 000 - seat Citrus Bowl , while the Vulcans and Magic played at similarly - sized Legion Field , Houston played at 73 , 000 seat Rice Stadium , and the Fire played at Soldier Field . The Mustangs played at 30 , 000 - seat Skelly Stadium . The league was founded in February 1978 and began play in summer of 1979 . It was formed to take advantage of the places where the WFL was the most popular , while avoiding the overspending that led to that league ' s demise . Billy Kilmer , former NFL quarterback ( and a man who coached the AFA ' s Shreveport Steamers in 1979 ) , was named commissioner in 1981 . After failing to come to terms with a television contract , the decision of the Carolina Chargers ( one of the more stable franchises , and one that had come in second place in the 1979 and 1980 championships ) to disband midseason , a scandal in which a player named Robert Lee Johnson misrepresented himself as former NFL lineman Randy Johnson , and a lack of payment , he quit . In 1982 , with former San Antonio Wings executive Roger Gill at the helm , the league attempted to expand by absorbing other semi - pro teams in Buffalo , New York , Racine , Wisconsin and Canton , Ohio . The USFL ' s securing of a television contract , especially after the AFA had failed to do so ( the AFA was only able to get a few of its teams onto local cable stations ) , led to the AFA folding . The modern American Football Association , a sanctioning body for semi - pro and amateur football , is unrelated to the former AFA .