AFL – NFL merger The AFL – NFL merger of 1970 was the merger of the two major professional American football leagues in the United States at the time : the " National Football League " ( NFL ) and the " American Football League " ( AFL ) . The merger paved the way for the combined league , which retained the " National Football League " name and logo , to become one of the most popular sports leagues in the United States . Background . Since its inception in 1920 when Akron won the National Title , the NFL fended off several rival leagues . Before 1960 , the most important rival was the " All - America Football Conference " ( AAFC ) , which began play in 1946 . The AAFC differed from the NFL in several ways , and the AAFC ' s perennial champions — the Cleveland Browns — were considered to be one of the best teams in professional football during that time . However , due to the AAFC ' s poor financial situation , it disbanded after the 1949 season . Three of its teams , the original version of the Baltimore Colts , the Cleveland Browns , and the San Francisco 49ers , were absorbed into the NFL in 1950 . The league was briefly known as the National - American Football League during the offseason , but reverted to the traditional name of " National Football League " by the time the 1950 season began . Emergence of the AFL . After the NFL absorbed the AAFC , it went unchallenged by rival leagues until 1960 . In 1959 , Lamar Hunt , son of oil millionaire H . L . Hunt , attempted to either gain ownership of the Chicago Cardinals ( now the Arizona Cardinals ) and move them to Dallas , or own an NFL expansion franchise in Dallas . In 1959 the NFL had no teams south of Washington , D . C . , and only two teams west of Chicago ( the 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams , now the St . Louis Rams ) . The league , however , was not interested in expansion . Rebuffed in his attempts to gain at least part ownership in an NFL team , Hunt conceived the idea of a rival professional football league , the " American Football League . " The new league established teams in eight American cities : Boston ( Patriots ) , Buffalo ( Bills ) , New York ( Titans ) , Houston ( Oilers ) , Denver ( Broncos ) , Dallas ( Texans ) , Oakland ( Raiders ) , and Los Angeles ( Chargers ) . While New York , Los Angeles , and Oakland shared markets with NFL teams , the other teams widened the nation ' s exposure to professional football — the Chargers moved to San Diego after one season . From small colleges and predominantly black colleges ( a source mainly ignored by the NFL ) , the AFL signed stars such as Elbert Dubenion ( Bluffton ) , Lionel Taylor ( New Mexico Highlands ) , Tom Sestak ( McNeese State ) , Charlie Tolar and Charlie Hennigan ( Northwestern State of Louisiana ) , Abner Haynes ( North Texas State ) , and a host of others . From major colleges , it signed talented players like LSU ' s Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon , Arkansas ' s Lance Alworth , Notre Dame ' s Daryle Lamonica , Kansas ' John Hadl , Alabama ' s Joe Namath , and many more . The AFL also signed players the NFL had given up on : so - called " NFL rejects " who turned out to be superstars that the NFL had mis - evaluated . These included Jack Kemp , Babe Parilli , George Blanda , Ron McDole , Art Powell , John Tracey , Don Maynard , and Len Dawson . In 1960 , the AFL ' s first year , its teams signed half of the NFL ' s first - round draft choices . The AFL introduced many policies and rules to professional football which remain contemporary , including : Competition between the two leagues . At first , the NFL ignored the AFL and its eight teams , assuming the AFL would consist of players who could not earn a contract in the NFL , and that fans of professional football would not waste their time watching them when they could watch the NFL . The NFL also had the media advantage . For example , in the 1960s , " Sports Illustrated ' s " lead football writer was Tex Maule , whose previous job had been as public relations director for Pete Rozelle , the general manager of the NFL ' s Rams . Maule " was certainly an NFL loyalist , " and several sports reporters took his deprecatory columns about the AFL as fact . In another example , another former Rozelle employee , Tex Schramm , was CBS ' s director of sports during the period when that network refused to give AFL scores . Many play - by - play and color announcers on CBS were former NFL players . However , in spite of this bad press , and unlike the NFL ' s previous rivals , the AFL was able to survive and grow . After the league ' s Los Angeles team moved to San Diego ( in 1961 ) and the Dallas team moved to Kansas City ( in 1963 ) , the league began to prosper . The New York team ( now called the Jets ) began to draw record crowds , aided by the signing of quarterback Joe Namath to an unprecedented $ 427 , 000 contract . NBC paid the AFL $ 36 million in 1965 to televise its games , ensuring the league ' s financial survival . As the rivalry between the leagues intensified , both leagues entered into a massive bidding war over the top college prospects , paying huge amounts of money to unproven rookies in order to outbid each other for the best players coming out of college . Because of the intense competition , teams often drafted players that they thought had a good chance of signing with them instead of selecting the best players . For example , 1965 Heisman Trophy winning running back Mike Garrett was expected to sign with an NFL team , so no AFL team picked him in the 1966 AFL draft until the 20th ( final ) round , where he was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs . Garrett surprisingly shunned the NFL and decided to sign with Kansas City . Once they were signed , however , there was tacit agreement to honor the other league ' s contracts and not sign players who were under contract with a team in their rival league . The unwritten agreement was shattered in early 1966 when the NFL ' s New York Giants signed Pete Gogolak , the first professional soccer - style placekicker , who was already under contract and playing with the AFL ' s Buffalo Bills . The breach of trust by the NFL resulted in retaliation by the rival league . When Oakland Raiders co - owner Al Davis took over as AFL Commissioner , he began stepping up the bidding war , immediately signing eight starting NFL quarterbacks , including John Brodie and Roman Gabriel , to contracts with AFL teams . Both leagues spent a combined $ 7 million signing their 1966 draft picks . The merger agreement . Contrary to common belief , it was not the AFL , but the NFL that initiated discussions for a merger between the two leagues , as it was fearful that Davis ' " take no prisoners " tactics would seriously reduce its talent base . Schramm , now general manager of the NFL ' s Dallas Cowboys , secretly contacted AFL owners and asked if they were interested in a merger . The talks were conducted without the knowledge of Davis , the AFL commissioner . By June 8 , 1966 , the collaborators announced a merger agreement . Under the agreement : The features of the merger depended on the passage of a law by the 89th United States Congress , exempting the merged league from antitrust law sanctions . When Rozelle , now NFL Commissioner , and other professional football executives appeared before the Congress ' Subcommittee on Antitrust , chaired by New York congressman Emanuel Celler , two points were repeatedly made : Eventually , Congress passed the new law to permit the merger to proceed . Louisiana Representative Hale Boggs and Senator Russell Long were instrumental in passage of the new law , and in return , Rozelle approved creation of the expansion New Orleans Saints franchise less than one month after the bill was signed into law by President Lyndon B . Johnson . As 1970 approached , three NFL teams ( the Baltimore Colts , Cleveland Browns , and Pittsburgh Steelers ) , agreed to join the ten AFL teams ( the Cincinnati Bengals and Miami Dolphins had joined the original Boston Patriots , Buffalo Bills , Denver Broncos , Houston Oilers , Kansas City Chiefs , New York Jets , Oakland Raiders , and San Diego Chargers ) to form the American Football Conference ( AFC ) . The other thirteen NFL teams ( Atlanta Falcons , Chicago Bears , Dallas Cowboys , Detroit Lions , Green Bay Packers , Los Angeles Rams , Minnesota Vikings , New Orleans Saints , New York Giants , Philadelphia Eagles , St . Louis Cardinals , San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins ) became part of the National Football Conference ( NFC ) . Since then , the Super Bowl has featured the champions of the AFC and NFC . Both are determined each season by the league ' s playoff tournament . As of Super Bowl XLV , former AFL teams have won 12 Super Bowls , pre - merger NFL teams have won 31 , and two games were won by teams created after 1970 ( the Baltimore Ravens in XXXV , and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in XXXVII - the Carolina Panthers and Seattle Seahawks also each made a Super Bowl , but lost ) . Although the AFC teams quickly decided on a divisional alignment , the 13 NFC owners had trouble deciding which teams would play in which divisions , as most teams were attempting to avoid placement in a division with the Cowboys and / or the Vikings , and were trying to angle their way into the same division as the Saints , the weakest team in professional football at the time . The 49ers and Rams were guaranteed to be in the same division as the only NFC teams west of the Rocky Mountains . ( The Rams later moved to St . Louis , Missouri in 1995 and are now east of the Rockies , but remain in the NFC West with the 49ers . ) It was settled after various combinations were drawn up on slips of paper , put into a hat , and the official NFC alignment was pulled out by Rozelle ' s secretary . Of the five plans considered , the one that was put into effect had Minnesota playing in the NFC Central Division and Dallas playing in the NFC Eastern Division , preserving the Vikings ' place with geographical rivals Chicago , Detroit and Green Bay , and the Cowboys ' rivalry with the Redskins . It also put the two franchises from the Deep South , the Saints and Falcons , with the 49ers and Rams . The Falcons had already been playing the California teams in the NFL Coastal Division , but the Saints were in the Eastern Conference and now faced with two trips to the West Coast per season ; this would later be fixed in the 2002 realignment when the Falcons and Saints were placed in the new NFC South along with the Panthers and Buccaneers . Meanwhile , all three of the major television networks signed contracts to televise games , thus ensuring the combined league ' s stability . CBS agreed to broadcast all games where an NFC team was on the road , NBC agreed to broadcast all games where an AFC team was on the road , and ABC agreed to broadcast " Monday Night Football " , making the NFL the first league to have a regular series of national telecasts in prime time . The NFL would likely not have been able to retain both CBS and NBC had it not done the AFC - NFC setup . Aftermath . Many observers believe that the NFL got the better of the bargain . Al Davis and New York Jets owner Sonny Werblin resisted the indemnity payments . Long - time sports writer Jerry Magee of the " San Diego Union - Tribune " wrote : " Al Davis taking over as commissioner was the strongest thing the AFL ever did . He thought the AFL – NFL merger was a detriment to the AFL . " Many AFL fans held the belief that had Al Davis been given the opportunity to continue his efforts , the NFL would have been compelled to offer much more favorable terms to its rival , perhaps even accepting a permanent baseball - style " two league system " where the AFL could retain its unique rules and identity . Some have even suggested that Davis could have led the newer league to a position of dominance over the NFL , or even cause the older league to fold outright . However , other observers consider those scenarios far - fetched . The NFL had a richer television contract at the time of the merger , in large part because of market exclusivity in such leading population centers as Los Angeles , Chicago , Detroit , Philadelphia , Washington , and Baltimore , plus Atlanta and Dallas - Fort Worth , which were rapidly increasing in population and would emerge as media strongholds in the 1970s . On the other hand , the AFL ' s had teams in cities that were not among the nation ' s leading media markets , such as Miami , Buffalo , and Denver ( all of which at the time had no other major league teams ) , and Kansas City ( which at the time had only a failing – and ultimately relocated – baseball team ) . Some of these American Football League fans were disappointed because they wanted their league to continue . Those feelings were reinforced when American Football League teams won the final two AFL - NFL World Championship games after the 1968 and 1969 seasons . The old - guard NFL at first dominated the merged league , winning the great majority of games pitting old - line NFL teams versus former AFL teams in 1970 and , to a lesser extent , in 1971 . Furthermore , the old guard NFL had five of the eight playoff berths and both Super Bowl berths following the 1970 season , and six of the eight playoff berths following the 1971 and 1972 seasons . Eventually , the AFC teams caught and passed the NFC during the mid - to late - 1970s . Even then , NFL proponents claimed that the three NFL teams that joined the AFL to form the AFC were largely the reason . While the Colts and Browns were respectable playoff contenders during this period , AFL fans accepted the Steelers because of the team ' s dominance throughout the league , winning four Super Bowls in a six year span . Before the merger , the Steelers had long been one of the NFL ' s worst teams , only posting eight winning seasons , and just one playoff appearance , since their first year of existence in 1933 . They also finished with a 1 - 13 record in 1969 , tied with the Chicago Bears for the worst record in the NFL . The $ 3 million relocation fee that the Steelers received for joining the AFC after the merger helped them rebuild into one that could actually compete with the other " old NFL " teams . Nevertheless , the merger paved the way for a new era of prosperity for the NFL . Since 1970 there essentially has been only one major Professional Football league in the United States . Other leagues such as the XFL , WFL and the United States Football League ( USFL ) have never been a serious challenge to the NFL , folding after one and three seasons , respectively . Four more NFL teams that were not specified in the merger agreement would be established between 1995 and 2002 : Proliferation of new stadiums . The Super Bowl has been used as an incentive by the league to convince local governments , businesses and voters to support the construction , seat licenses and taxes associated with new or renovated stadiums . Therefore , the league has and continues to award Super Bowls to cities that have built new football stadiums for their existing franchises , though all outdoor Super Bowls continue to be played in warmer climates . This continued to be the case until , in 2010 , the NFL announced that the new Meadowlands stadium will host the 2014 Super Bowl . Only five Super Bowls since 1984 have been played in stadiums used by three of these expansion teams ; four of these games were played in Florida , and one game was played in Texas . In some cases , cities have been selected as provisional Super Bowl sites , with the construction or renovation of a suitable facility as a major requirement for hosting the actual game . In the past , New York City and San Francisco have each received provisional site awards . In both cities , the league moved the game to a different site when public funding initiatives failed . The most recent provisional site award went to Kansas City for a Super Bowl to be played in 2015 in Arrowhead Stadium , but Kansas City has since withdrawn their request because the funding for the new roof has failed . In addition , the following areas have used public funds to build new stadiums to retain or regain franchises : Kansas City , St . Louis , Baltimore , Cleveland , Cincinnati , Minneapolis , Denver , Houston , Pittsburgh , Philadelphia , Chicago , Tampa , Seattle , Phoenix and Indianapolis . Similar moves in other sports . Enterpreneurs interested in other sports in North America would follow the AFL ' s example in competing with the established " major " leagues .