Timeline of the AFA

## 1945

The league starts operations, after coming back from a 14 year break due to the Great Depression. The founding four teams are the New York Rockies, Boston Brigade, Providence Packers and the Buffalo Chasers. The Rockies go on to win the first championship, 17-13.

## 1948

The league expands to six teams, adding the Baltimore Braves, and the Hartford Hammers. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Chasers move to Rochester to become the Rochester Chasers.

## 1949

The Hartford Hammers and the Rochester Chasers fold.

## 1950

The AFA goes under a major four team expansion. These teams include: the Philadelphia Quakers, Chicago Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Bulldogs. The Quakers and Cardinals are the only teams still in the modern day from this expansion.

## 1958

The Baltimore Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Bulldogs fold, while the Cincinnati Comets and Green Bay Guardians are added. The league would stay with 6 teams until 1968.

## 1969

A record six new teams were added to the AFA. Those being the Pittsburgh Nailers, Los Angeles Stars, Detroit Navys, New Orleans Golds, Washington Braves and the Milwaukee Hunters. The Cincinnati Comets and Green Bay Guardians fold. They are the last teams to fold in the AFA.

## 1972

The league expands to Canada, adding the Vancouver Vibrants and the Montreal Marauders. The first instances of divisions/conferences were created.

## 1974

The Missouri Kings (couldn't be named the Kansas City Kings at this time because of the NBA), St. Louis Scouts, California Sailors and the Dallas Outlaws all come to the AFA. This expansion was made to balance the Western and Eastern divisions. Meanwhile, the Hunters move to the Western Division.

## 1976

The Portland Pioneers and the Atlanta Firebirds are added to the league. There are now 18 teams in the league.

## 1980

The Buffalo Buckeyes and the Nashville Smokies are added to the league, 2 teams from a former league, the NFA. The California Sailors become the San Francisco Sailors. With 20 teams, the expansion in the AFA decreased because of minor financial problems. This was also the reason the Detroit Navys moved to New York. Its not until 1988 when expansion restarts.

## 1981

The Vancouver Vibrants move to Toronto and become the Toronto Beavers due to poor attendance.

## 1983

The Buckeyes move to Louisville and become the Blues due to poor attendance, mostly due to Toronto. Speaking of which, during this time period, the Toronto Beavers are renamed the Toronto Titans, the name they still take today.

## 1985

The Washington Braves move to Baltimore mainly due to attendance issues.

## 1988

The Seattle Metropolitians and the Miami Marines are added to the league.

## 1990

The Missouri Kings are renamed the Kansas City Kings.

## 1991

The Anaheim Aviators and the Washington Senators are added, filling 24 teams in the AFA.

## 1993

The Minnesota Superiors and the Detroit Robins are added to the league.

## 1996

Houston Apollos and Phoenix Coppers are added to the league. The Superiors move to the East.

## 1999

The Charlotte Buzzers and the Tampa Bay Tropics are added to the league. This expansion was known as the Millennium Expansion. Additionally, the league founded the "Northern Football Association", a major-minor league featuring mostly Canadian teams as an alternative to the AFA Minor.

## 2000

The Louisville Blues move to Denver and to the Western Division and become the Denver Stallions.

## 2005

Due to Hurricane Katrina, for the rest of the season, the New Orleans Golds relocated to the Alamodome in San Antonio.

## 2007

The Indianapolis Speeders are added, filling up the current 32 teams in the AFA. The Minnesota Superiors moved back to the Western Division in order for the Speeders to fit in the conference.

## 2013

In 2013, the Scouts had their stadium rights expired, and couldn't find any funds to renew them. Instead, the league temporarily suspended the team and replaced them with the Winnipeg Scouts as a "fundraiser team" for them in the meantime. This incident caused a lockout for 3 weeks during the offseason, thus cancelling the preseason. The team finished with a 7-9 record. This also causes a division realignment.

## 2016

The Anaheim Aviators change their name to the Los Angeles Aviators. The reception of the name change was mixed.

## 2020

Due to COVID-19, 24 teams instead of 16 were invited to the playoffs.

## 2022

On April 15, 2022, owners agreed to experiment a new playoff bracket. The league implemented a #1-8 seed format which replaced the 26 year old #1-4 format. This made that the playoffs would no longer be separated between subdivisions, and the whole conference can get to play each other. Additionally, a qualifying round was added so the teams from #7-10 in standings can acquire 7th or 8th seed. Later in Week 14, the Qualifying Round was eventually scrapped.

## 2023

On May 10, 2023, the AFA and AFAPA agreed to realign the divisions for the 2023 season. The league's divisions will now be seperated into 4 different subdivisions. They also redid the playoffs yet again, by separating the the playoffs between the division clinchers and the wild card teams.