In today’s modern world of football in the US there are several teams that make up the league. It has a colourful history as to how it got to where it is today.
The Merger
The National Football League and the American Football league were in many ways competing against themselves. Wages were one contention and getting good players was something that these two football entities were struggling with. Then finally a suggestion for the two to merge was made. This was led by Tex Schramm who met with AFL owners. An agreement was reached and the merger was to take place on June 8, 1966. It was not until 1970 when the teams fully merged as one entity and became known as the NFL.
Two Conferences
The merger resulted in two conferences being forged. Each having an equal number of teams. Up until then, the NFL had six more teams than that of the AFL.
World Football League
While the merger solves the problems that have been occurring between the NFL and AFL there were issues that would have to be addressed in the future. This came from the World Football League where in 1974 they enticed a lot of the NFL talent to come over to them. The NFL responded by changing some of their rules. Then financial problems arose and the WFL had to shut down. There were two teams that tried to go from the WFL to the NFL but were unsuccessful. These were the Memphis Southmen and the Birmingham Vulcans.
United States Football League
This is another league that challenged the NFL in the 1980s. They lasted a little longer as they were more financially set compared to the WFL. What led to their demise is they overspent on their players and a head to head competition in its spring niche.