1941 American Football League season The 1941 American Football League season was the second season of the third American Football League . After deeming the 1940 season to be a success , the league made overtures of expansion , even going to the point of having a press conference to announce the addition of new teams ( July ) , but when the press conference was held , the Boston Bears had withdrawn from the league and the new Detroit franchise deferred entry for the 1942 season ( interests representing Philadelphia and Baltimore also applied for membership and were denied ) . The New York Yankees were sold to promoter and agent Douglas Hertz in January ; by mid - summer , the AFL revoked the franchise in light of controversies involving Hertz ’ s finances . A syndicate headed by William Cox was awarded the franchise in August , but Hertz kept the name for his new independent team ( which later in the season became a traveling team in the American Association ) . Cox and the new owners of the AFL franchise redubbed the team the Americans . In Buffalo , a less contentious change of ownership resulted in the Indians becoming the Tigers . The Columbus Bullies successfully defended their 1940 AFL championship . Their 5 - 1 - 2 record edged the 5 - 2 - 1 of the Americans and the 4 - 3 - 1 of the Milwaukee Chiefs . At the beginning of the 1941 season , the Bullies accepted a challenge from the defending Western Interprovincial Football Union champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers for a three - game series ; the Bombers had been banned from Grey Cup contention that year due to rules discrepancies between the WIFU and the other organizations playing Canadian football at the time . The Bullies and Blue Bombers played three games , at least partially by Canadian rules ( as one of the games , the deciding third game , has Winnipeg ' s final score as 1 point , which is not possible in the American game ) . Columbus won the series , 2 - 1 ; Winnipeg won the first game 19 - 12 , but Columbus won the next two , 6 - 0 and 31 - 1 . Final standings . " W = Wins , L = Losses , T = Ties , Pct . = Winning Percentage , PF = Points for , AP = Points against " 1941 All - League Team . The league ' s coaches selected the all - league team : After the 1941 season . Precisely one week after the last regular season AFL game - - - Sunday , December 7 , 1941 - - - Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese military forces . The euphoria of a successful season gave way to the realization that the military demands of the American participation in World War II would put the continued success of the AFL ( and the NFL , for that matter ) into question . As both major football leagues were losing personnel to military service , both made plans for a 1942 season ( the AFL as a six team loop with a new Detroit franchise ) . Ironically , the NFL came close to suspending operations , but continued as a ten - team league , but on September 2 , 1942 , the AFL suspended operations “ until the end of the war . ” AFL president William Cox announced the suspension , stating “ We do not have the time to go into the football business this fall . I want to stress that there is no financial problem involved . Each team definitely has enough finances to continue . ” The league did not return after the end of World War II . In 1946 , a minor league , the American Association , appropriated the American Football League name for itself , and the All America Football Conference replaced the suspended league as the primary rival of the National Football League .