All-America Football Conference
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| Sport | American football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1944 |
| Inaugural season | 1946 |
| Ceased | 1949 |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Country | United States |
| Last champion(s) |
Cleveland Browns |
The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946–1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the nation's best players, and introduced many lasting innovations to the game. However, the AAFC was ultimately unable to sustain itself in competition with the NFL. Three of its teams were admitted to the NFL: the San Francisco 49ers, the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Colts (not directly antecedent to the later second Colts team that would play in Baltimore in the NFL from 1953 through 1983, now the Indianapolis Colts).
The AAFC was the second American professional sports league (the first being the third American Football League of 1940–1941) to have its teams play in a double round robin format in the regular season: each team had a home game and an away game with each of its AAFC fellow foes.
The Cleveland Browns were the AAFC's most successful club, having won every annual championship in the league's four years of operation.
The AAFC was founded by Chicago Tribune sports editor Arch Ward on June 4, 1944. Ward was also the originator of baseball's All-Star Game and football's College All-Star Game.
Ward brought together a number of wealthy pro football enthusiasts, some of whom had previously attempted to purchase NFL franchises. Ward had previously encouraged the NFL to expand, but now he hoped to bring about a permanent second league and a championship game with the NFL, similar to baseball's World Series.
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