American Football League (1940)


The American Football League, also known retrospectively as the AFL III to distinguish it from earlier organizations of that name, was a major professional American football league that operated from 1940–1941. It was created when three teams, the original Cincinnati Bengals, the Columbus Bullies, and the Milwaukee Chiefs, were lured away from the minor-league American Professional Football Association and joined three new franchises in Boston, Buffalo, and New York City in a new league. It competed against the National Football League, the oldest existing professional football league, established 1920 and reorganized 1922.
The organization was the third major league to bear the name American Football League. Its establishment resulted in the dissolution of the American Professional Football Association, which had just announced its intentions to compete with the NFL as a major league organization. In 1941 the American Football League became the first football league to play a double round robin schedule. However, it folded after the end of the 1941 season.

Origin

Although the third American Football League was not directly connected to any previous American football leagues of the same name, its formation was at the cost of an already-existing minor football league of the same name.
By the spring of 1940, the former American Professional Football Association announced intentions of turning itself into a major league with the addition of a Milwaukee team for the upcoming season over the protests of the Green Bay Packers. As the teams prepared for the upcoming season, the announcement of a rival major league resulted in the fracturing of this edition of the American Football League.
On July 14, 1940, a press conference introduced a new American Football League, not a continuation of the former minor league, but a new one with franchises in New York, Boston, and Buffalo. Bill Edwards was slated to be both the president of the new league and co-owner of the New York Yankees franchise, and Joseph Carr Jr. was touted as a potential backer of the Columbus franchise.
The group of businessmen based on the American East Coast behind the formation of the new league had resorted to a trick done by the first two AFLs: they raided the established minor league by enticing APFA members Cincinnati, Columbus, and the new Milwaukee team to join their circuit. The move fractured the APFA as two of its members decided not to field teams for 1940, one had already left the league, and there were only three left with only two months to go before the start of the new season. As the Kenosha Cardinals and St. Louis Gunners applied to join the new league, the APFA went out of business.
After a 30-hour-long meeting of the owners of the six invited teams in Buffalo's Hotel Lafayette, the bylaws and officials of the new league were determined. Each team was scheduled to play a double round robin schedule, with games on either Sunday or Wednesday to reduce the likelihood of conflicts with baseball teams sharing the stadium in five of the six AFL cities. The agreement was signed by the team owners, October 5, 1940.
While Bill Edwards did not take over the league as previously announced, the 1940 season began with six teams owned by people who were, for the most part, in better financial standing than their NFL counterparts.

Teams

Boston Bears. Disbanded in 1941, before the beginning of the second AFL season.
Buffalo Indians. Became the Buffalo Tigers for the 1941 season after a change in ownership.
Cincinnati Bengals. Previously a member of the second AFL, and the American Professional Football Association, the "original Bengals" joined the third AFL with traditional rival Columbus Bullies.
Columbus Bullies. Former APFA member which won the AFL championship both years the league was in existence. Quarterback Jay Arnold, formerly of the Philadelphia Eagles, led the team in 1940; when Arnold returned to the Eagles in 1941, John LeBay took over the signal calling role.
Milwaukee Chiefs. Former APFA member joined the AFL without being in an official APFA contest.
New York Yankees. The third major league professional football team with the name, it became the New York Americans in 1941 after a change of ownership.

League standings and All-League teams

Final 1940 standings

TeamWLTPct.PFPA
Columbus Bullies811.88913469
Milwaukee Chiefs720.77818059
Boston Bears541.55612079
New York Yankees450.444138138
Buffalo Indians280.20045138
Cincinnati Bengals170.12553187

1940 All-League Team

, Milwaukee
Ed Karp, Buffalo
Jim Karcher, Columbus
Joe Alexus, Columbus
Alex Drobnitch, Buffalo
Bob Eckl, Milwaukee
Harlan Gustafson, New York
Andy Karpuls, Boston
Bill Hutchinson, New York
Nelson Peterson, Columbus
Al Novakofski, Milwaukee

Final 1941 standings

TeamWLTPct.Off.Def.
Columbus Bullies512.83314255
New York Americans521.71411673
Milwaukee Chiefs431.57110584
Buffalo Tigers260.25072172
Cincinnati Bengals152.16769120

Encouraged by the success of the New York and Columbus franchises, Detroit, Baltimore, and Philadelphia applied to join the league for the 1941 season. While the Detroit application was accepted for play in 1942, the latter two were turned down by a league that was not interested in further expansion.
Promoter Douglas Grant Hertz purchased the New York Yankees, changed their name to the New York Americans, and then announced the team's withdrawal from the league. The league refused to acknowledge the "withdrawal." Boston folded before the start of the 1941 season. Buffalo changed the team name upon new ownership assuming control of the team. New York Americans president William B. Cox became the new AFL league president in 1941.

1941 All-League Team

, Milwaukee
Alec Shellogg, Buffalo
Ted Livinston, Columbus
Paul Humphrey, Milwaukee
Tex Akin, Milwaukee
Bob Eckl, Milwaukee
Joe Kruse, Cincinnati
Bob Davis, Columbus
Charlie Armstrong, New York
Bill McGannon, Cincinnati
John Kimbrough, New York
Columbus was league champion again in 1941, with a final record of 5-1-2.

Demise of the third major league AFL

Although the AFL lost the Boston Bears franchise prior to the beginning of the 1941 season, its owners were optimistic about the league's long-term future. Although the league's average attendance was less than that of the more-established NFL, the AFL seemed to be on as firm a financial footing as the older league. By the end of the 1941 season, a new franchise was awarded to Detroit for the 1942 season. The league was the first major football league to complete a double round robin schedule, in which each team played each other twice.
All the plans for 1942 came to a sudden stop upon the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the start of World War II on December 7, 1941. During the winter of 1941-42, numerous players from both leagues were drafted into the U.S. military. So many players went overseas that several AFL and NFL teams were left with barely enough players to field viable teams. It soon became apparent to the AFL owners that the success of the league was very much in question.
On September 2, 1942, AFL president William B. Cox announced the league would suspend operations for the war's duration.
The league did not return. The NFL was without a competitor until the formation of the All-America Football Conference in 1946, one year after the end of World War II.