AFL vs. NFL

this video is sponsored by audible start listening with a 30-day free trial that includes one audiobook and two audible originals by going to audible.com [Music] the in the US but that was a while ago now today it's football take a look at sales viewership surveys any ranking will place football at a distant first most data will tell you that America's transition from baseball to football happened somewhere in the 1960s and this was a crazy time for the sport obviously America's interest in football was at an all-time high which meant that this was a perfect opportunity for existing leagues to grow in four new leagues to enter the market as far as existing leagues at the time and virtually the only one was the NFL as same as today I know there's different ones that come and go but in the history of the sport nothing has truly challenged the dominance of the NFL except for one I'm talking about the American Football League they were created in 1959 as a direct competitor with the NFL looking to capitalize on America's growing interest in football Lamar Hunt and Bud Adams deserve a lot of credit here I actually think we can learn something from them because this is one of the ultimate examples of staying determined in finding unconventional ways to succeed where there's a will there's a way is the phrase that comes to mind Lamar and bud were already extremely rich millionaires from the oil business both with aspirations of owning an NFL franchise they tried to buy a team but were rejected they tried to get an expansion team started but the NFL wasn't having it this is like one of those movies where the guy can't find work anywhere so he starts his own business or no one will put him in a movie so he makes his own you can see where I'm going with this the two came together along with some other investors in a similar situation and formed this new competing football league called the AFL now at first no one respected them they weren't seen as a real threat because really how do you compete with the NFL they weren't the first to try something like this and notably there was the all-america Football Conference in the late nineteen for going back even further than football was gaining popularity after the war and then they came in trying to capitalize on it and nothing really came of it actually oddly enough there were previously three other competing leagues all called it the American Football League again and nothing came from any of them so given the dominance of the NFL over the past 40 years and how easy it was to defeat anyone who had ever challenged them I don't think they felt much of a threat from the AFL and I go back to the question how do you possibly compete with the NFL seriously what would a new league have to do to grab the attention of football fans away from the NFL and here's what I came up with well first and foremost it needs to be accessible and meaning the fans need to be able to see the games either live in their own City or ideally nationally-televised also you're gonna need some good players right that may be the most obvious one and I'd say almost essential the fans want to see some high quality football and if all your players are worse than the ones in the NFL how can you ever gain any respect finally it'd be a good idea to separate the game itself maybe thrown a few rule changes improvements if possible that throwing some gimmicks don't try to beat them at their own game but instead make a few key changes and effectively create your own game can we agree that if the AFL were to make the game's more accessible attract some good players and offer a slightly different but still good version of football that would be a good way to compete because they did all of it as far as making the games accessible it wasn't easy but for their first season they were able to establish teams in eight major cities across the country four in the East and four in the West they actually came close to having a Minnesota team but then the NFL was able to steal it away from them by offering the owner a new NFL franchise that became known as the Minnesota Vikings for national exposure just before the start of their first season it they landed a much-needed five-year two million dollar contract with ABC giving them exclusive rights to air their games it amazingly brought these AFL games right into everyone's home while giving them an infusion of money that they could use to further promote and improve the league by the time this deal expired in 1965 they had already signed contract this one with NBC for the rights to air the games on their network for the next five years this one was worth thirty six million dollars reflecting how much they had grown in the first half of the 1960's and it secured that their games would be accessible for the entire nation straight through to the 1970s for the players admittedly at first it was a little tough there were a lot of rosters to fill and they didn't provide much reason for players to choose them over the NFL his results it ended up being mostly NFL rejects I'm talking about former professional players that were getting too old combined with the younger players that simply weren't good enough but they had a few big breaks remember bud Adams he was big in starting the league well he was now in charge of the Houston Oilers his team signed a player by the name of George Blanda he was one of these former NFL players that had essentially been rejected by the league the Oilers picked him to play as their quarterback and kicker in the AFL's first season in addition they were also able to draft the reigning Heisman Trophy winner Billy cannon the two of them led the Oilers to win the first two AFL championships a few key pickups like this were essential early on either recognizing talent that the NFL failed to see or simply offering more money to try to wrestle players away from the other league I think anyone would agree that the greatest player that the AFL ever attracted was Joe Namath in 1965 the AFL team the New York Jets drafted him as first picked to play quarterback for their team there's any basketball fans watching this I equate this to dr. J playing for the ABA the Jets were able to attract him by offering a four hundred and twenty seven thousand dollar contract far more than the NFL was offering Joe Namath was a great player a big personality and just about the perfect person to draw attention and respect to the AFL and this sort of helped to break the barrier too it didn't take long before the AFL was drawing away other good players from the NFL I mean if they're good enough for Joe Namath plus it by this time they had some solid sources of revenue through those TV contracts and stadium attendants sold they were able to offer more competitive contracts finally the rules they made a few alterations to separate themselves from the NFL possibly the biggest difference in gameplay was an emphasis on passing rather than running I believe passing tends to lead to more scoring and just more exciting games in general since the AFL was forced to compete based on entertainment rather than talent especially early on this helped identify the league quite possibly the most relevant difference was the two-point conversion if you're not familiar it's an option to run or pass the ball into the end zone after a touchdown to get two points instead of the traditional one point you get for kicking that field goal it's become an important part of the NFL and they didn't implement it until decades after the AFL was already doing it now I didn't say the AFL invented it but they were using it when the NFL wasn't and that made them different also what I view is an improvement putting the players names on the back of their jersey it seems like common sense today but that's just another thing that the AFL was doing that the NFL wasn't when you combine all of this by 1966 the AFL had grown into a real threat for the NFL as a result both leagues thought it would be in their best interest to simply join together in june of that year they announced a merger between the two leagues it took a while for them to completely come together they kept separate schedules but starting the upcoming season they agreed to hold a single draft and to have a championship game the game would place the winner of the AFL against the winner of the NFL it wasn't called it at the time but today we consider that 1967 championship game to be the first Super Bowl and you know the AFL was in a constant struggle to gain respect as their own legitimate league I mean the merger obviously shows a degree of credibility but even then they were still perceived as being a step below the NFL well I think they finally closed that gap in everyone's minds during Super Bowl 3 the first two Super Bowls were won by the NFL team the Green Bay Packers but the third one was won by the AFL team the New York Jets if you remember led by Joe Namath so that contract turned out to be even more important than anyone could have ever imagined in 1970 the two leagues came together entirely the AFL was now up to 10 teams whereas the NFL had 16 of them to even things out the Steelers Browns and Colts switched over to the AFL side give them each 13 teams they then started calling the 13 AFL teams the AFC or American Football Conference and the remaining 13 teams on the NFL side were called the NFC or National Football Conference and the entire league obviously kept the name the NFL so that's how we get a combined league called NFL with two competing conferences called the AFC and the NFC that was a lot of letters the new league came out of this whole thing bigger and stronger than ever it's an impressive story the whole thing takes place in about a decade's time and look how much they were able to accomplish they went from non-existing to becoming the biggest threat that the NFL has ever seen I mean we still see their effects in the league today the obvious one being the league structure and all the teams created through that we continue to watch all the time but also considered the more exciting style of play incorporating more passes maybe something could be said about the two-point conversion and what about putting the names of the players on their jerseys you're the NFL started doing that was 1970 right after the full merger so I think it's safe to say that's a direct result of the AFL oh yeah and you know the Super Bowl the biggest and most viewed us sporting events every single year that wouldn't be what it is today without the AFL it's a funny thing in trying to compete with the NFL the AFL actually ended up making them much bigger and helped shape them into what they are today let me know in the comments what are your thoughts about the AFL was it a positive or negative to the NFL honestly it all seems pretty positive to me things might have gotten a little crazy in the world of football for that decade but looking at the lasting effect today it's all pretty good more teams and more markets names on jerseys the Super Bowl what's to dislike about any of that also I'm curious do you think something like this could ever happen again the NFL was popular going into all of it but nothing like they are today we've had the XFL and arena football and some others all try to make their mark but do they really have a chance at making a difference in the same way that the AFL did I say it'd be unlikely but hey that's what people were saying about the AFL at the time so who knows so any thoughts you have about any of it leave it in the comments I'd like to hear what you have does say today's sponsor is audible and you know I was searching through their titles a little bit ago and I came across this audiobook labeled random fun facts and motivational quotes I mean how do you pass that up it turned out to be a nice relaxing audiobook so I thought I'd tell you about it plus we can all use a little motivation sometimes I hear one of those quotes and it really does stick with me for a while you can get this for free on audible members get a credit good for any audiobook you are dose of price or if you're not 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Channel: Company Man

Views: 259,335

Keywords: NFL, Superbowl, Super Bowl, AFL, Sports, Football

Id: C1EXV_zXCRk

Length: 12min 6sec (726 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 29 2020