Association of Professional Football Leagues The Association of Professional Football Leagues was a compact formed in 1946 among the National Football League and three minor league s of professional American football : the American Association ( which subsequently changed its name to the American Football League ) , the Dixie League , and the Pacific Coast Professional Football League . While the NFL had an informal farm system in the pre - World War II AA , this was the first time in which it had a working arrangement with multiple leagues whose local popularity rivaled that of the major league . The agreement lasted less than two years , its termination triggered by the folding of the Dixie League after one of its members jumped to the American Football League one week into the 1947 season . Background . In the years immediately before the beginning of US involvement in World War II , the local popularity of the Dixie League , the American Association , and the Pacific Coast Professional Football League rivaled that of the NFL ( which , in 1940 - 1941 , was battling with an upstart " major league , " the third American Football League , which had been raiding the rosters of NFL teams to stock its own ) , and the NFL had working arrangements with five of the six teams in the AA . The PCPFL benefited from the absence of the NFL west of the Mississippi River and fierce rivalries in the Los Angeles area ; similarly , the Dixie League had its strength of support in Virginia and North Carolina ( half of the teams were based in the Hampton Roads area ) , away from the presence of the NFL . In the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor , every American professional league was at a crossroads as the American entry into World War II meant that the number of men available to play football would be greatly diminished . The NFL and PCPFL opted to continue ; the AA and Dixie League suspended operations after planning to continue play after the end of the war ( the third AFL made a similar decision , but did not return ) . Formation . In September 1945 , Harry Howren , owner of the Norfolk Shamrocks of the Dixie League , revealed in an announcement that not only was the league reorganizing for the 1946 season , but it was also planning to attend a meeting with the AA ( which was also reorganizing under a new name , the American Football League ) and the PCPFL . Howren also stated , " We want full recognition by the National Football League and its assistance in its protection of players . " In the meantime , the NFL ' s Cleveland Rams and the newly - formed All America Football Conference announced intentions of playing on the West Coast . On March 24 , 1946 , PCPFL president J . Rufus Klawans announced the formation of the Association of Professional Football leagues , with Klawans as chairman and Joe Rosentover , AFL president , as vice chairman . In the announcement , Klawans explained that the association was formed to restrict the jumping of players from one member league to another and to recognize the " territorial rights of its members . " He added , " We hope the National as well as all new football leagues , such as the All - America conference … will join our association for the good of professional football . " Later that day , NFL president Bert Bell announced that his league would also join after agreeing on few terms with the minor leagues . The AAFC did not become a member . Provisions . The agreement between the " big three " leagues and the NFL had several provisions . The NFL agreed to resolve scheduling conflicts with the PCPFL regarding their operations in Los Angeles , where the Bulldogs were the established team and the Rams , formerly based in Cleveland , were the newcomers . The minor leagues agreed to uphold a five - year ban on NFL players who jumped from the major league to the " big three " ( actually just the PCPFL , who signed away several NFL players in 1945 , while the other two leagues were inactive ) . This provision was later applied to players who jumped to the AAFC or any other " outlaw league . " The compact permitted the NFL to establish working relationships with teams in all three minor league circuits ( while the AA had such an arrangement with the NFL prior to 1945 , the Dixie League did not ; the PCPFL generally did not embrace the concept ) . A mechanism was put in place to prevent the NFL teams from stockpiling players in the AFL and the Dixie League . Under this prevision , if a player from a NFL team were to be sent to its " farm team , " he must be either kept by the destination team or become a free agent . If he were kept by the farm team and later recalled by the NFL team , he could not be returned to the farm team without first becoming a free agent . While the agreement dealt with rights concerning the movement and hiring of players , it remained silent in terms of territorial rights between minor league teams . It proved to be a fatal error . Demise . After a 1946 season that saw continued success for the minor leagues , and the NFL weathering the AAFC challenge , no one could envision the quickness of the demise of the Association of American Professional Football Leagues the following fall . Just before the start of the 1947 season , two members of the Dixie League dropped out of the league , leaving the circuit with only four competing teams . On October 5 , 1947 , they played the first games of the season . Three days later , the Richmond Rebels of the Dixie League purchased the assets of the defunct Long Island Indians of the AFL and jumped to the other league . Dixie League president Tom Hanes protested to NFL president Bert Bell , who agreed that he did not agree to such a shift , but since it didn ’ t involve any member team of the National Football League , he – and the Association of American Professional Football Leagues – could do nothing about it . Left with only three teams , the Dixie League folded the next day . The compact effectively ended when the DL collapsed . On February 4 , 1948 , the NFL officially ended it by dissolving the links to the AFL . The Pacific Coast Professional Football League lasted one more season , limping to the end after the Los Angeles Bulldogs moved to a small stadium in Long Beach , California and canceling their last two scheduled games . The AFL lasted through the 1950 season as the transplanted Rebels won the last two championships before the league called it a day .