AFL Spring Meetings 1959
LEAGUE STILL PONDERING 16TH TEAM LOCATION
The AFL seems to still be deliberating over where their 16th franchise will be located, even though at a similar point in their last expansion process that city was already decided by now. The setback on Denver’s stadium threw a wrench into the AFL’s expansion plans, and now the owners are scrambling to find the right person to take their spot. Ownership groups from Minneapolis/St. Paul, Miami, and Seattle were all vying for that spot, and at least on paper the Twin Cities bid has the most legs to it. The AFL had been looking at putting a team in Minnesota when the Federals were moving out of Columbus, and could have been included in the first round of expansion if Philadelphia and St. Louis did not fall into the league’s lap. The league should be expected to make a decision within the next year or so, though they are not doing any expansion teams any favors by delaying the time they need to set up operations like they had with other expansion teams. However, with the influx of promising bids the league has received, commissioner Donovan Hasenkamp has not ruled out the possibility of expanding beyond 16 teams in the future, especially with putting the Denver franchise on hold. He did emphasize that the league would not reach that size unless this additional round of expansion was also successful. The league has doubled in size in just a couple of years, so it will only be a matter of time if expanding to 16 teams within 10 years will be a success for the league. Given that the league has reached new heights from the audience of the 1958 championship game, expanding to 20 and beyond may be likely.
One interesting rumor that is circulating could explain why the AFL is taking so long to decide on a city: they’re trying to poach from the PAFC. With the ever-increasing divide of their owners amongst one another, some say that the AFL could drive the final nail in the coffin for the league that has somehow survived nearly a decade without its most successful teams. However, there would only be a few options that the AFL could consider. Most would consider the Omaha Bulls the most likely to leave the PAFC, as the Bulls’ ownership group and PAFC president Virgil Bradshaw are on less-than-favorable terms. They seem fairly eager to leave the league, but they would run into two primary issues if they were to join. Firstly is their stadium, which is much smaller than the smallest stadium currently in the league, as the Hawks’ LeClair Field only holds 22,500 fans while the Bulls’ stadium is about half of that capacity. Their ownership also is a major problem if they were to join, as even though they’ve won a PAFC title they’re struggling to keep the money rolling in, and a move to the AFL wouldn’t exactly solve their financial problem. Omaha would more likely go to the ASPFL, though the travel costs would certainly prevent them from lasting long in that league. Two other teams that are starting to both defy Bradshaw and could reasonably leave to the AFL are Baltimore and New Orleans, though the latter seems a bit more likely. The AFL has maintained its stance on only having 1 team per metropolitan area, which could prevent Baltimore from joining unless both Washington owner Bernard McCullough waives his right to the area and the owners vote to accept them into the league despite the exclusion rule. New Orleans has more solid ties to the AFL, with new owner Rudy Branthwaite failing to persuade his father to join the AFL instead of the PAFC but successfully persuaded his friend, Dallas owner J.B. Gilchrist, to ditch the PAFC and join the AFL instead. He’s gained more sway amongst the PAFC owners who aren’t directly financed by Bradshaw, and taking away an owner like him would almost certainly bring the PAFC to an end. That scenario is seemingly too good to pass up for those around the AFL’s owners, but the legal ramifications for “poaching” a team away from another league are likely to be higher than they were for Buffalo and Pittsburgh. The two teams formerly of the NYPL had already announced their departure from the dying league before joining the AFL, so taking away a team while they are still competing in another league will likely face a significant legal battle if Bradshaw is willing to divert his funds.
NBC INKS HISTORIC TV DEAL
Seeing the success of its coverage of the championship games, the AFL and NBC reached an agreement for the network to televise a majority of the regular season games and every playoff game and the championship through the 1964 season. The new deal guarantees that every team in the AFL, current and future, will play on national television, though the deal favors the current most popular teams in getting the most screentime. The AFL had heard the news of the PAFC attempting a revenue-sharing system from the TV deal that was rejected by league president Bradshaw, and figured it would be good enough to implement for themselves. The AFL would then become the first professional football league to have such a cooperative plan with a single network, but this deal could potentially be seen as violating anti-trust laws. Football, due to its scattered history, does not have the same protections as the NBL, which unified several decades ago, and thus lawsuits from other suitor networks should be expected in the near future. The AFL would like to gain its own anti-trust exception to potentially put the final nail in the coffin for the PAFC, but that will be a battle that the AFL’s lawyers will likely have to solve.
AFL MAKE RULE CHANGES IN PREPARATION FOR EXPANSION
Since the AFL had split from the PAFC nearly a decade ago, the two leagues had practically played the same game rules-wise, with the only difference being the teams that played in each league. With the league’s ensuing popularity from the 1958 championship, the AFL owners were willing to make some changes to make their game more entertaining and easier to watch from home. The league did make several changes to be put in play for the 1960 season, the most impactful of which will be the introduction of the two point conversion. The college game had implemented the rule within the past year, and the owners were impressed with its implementation enough to add it to the AFL. The owners had discussed changing the specifications of the ball that they used to open up the passing game more, but the resulting vote didn’t get enough traction to join the two point conversion. Because of the new network deal with NBC, the league has also decided to go through with adding names on the back of players’ jerseys to aid the commentators in identifying players. Both the radio and TV announcers for NBC had struggled to identify players solely on their number during the championship game, and it will likely make it easier for the viewer at home to identify players as well.
The majority of the new rules come with the upcoming expansion to 16 teams. The league will expand from 12 to 14 game schedules starting in 1960, and another division realignment will take place to accommodate the 4 new teams. The league is planning on dividing itself into two conferences of 2 divisions apiece, with 4 teams in each division. They would have announced how the divisions would be aligned at this point, but the lack of where the 16th team will be makes that decision nearly impossible at this point. The belief is that the AFL will divide itself geographically into an eastern and western conference, with Cleveland and Detroit likely moving back East to accommodate the amount of new western teams. The playoffs will also see an expansion, going up from 3 teams per division/conference to 4 beginning in the 1961 season. The division winners and the division runners-up will make the playoffs, with the division winner hosting the other division’s runner-up in the first round of the playoffs. There had been a proposal brought up by both Boston and Detroit for a “crossover” rule, where if there was a team that finished third in its division that was better than the other division’s runner-up they would take their spot. Both the Dragons and Knights had missed the playoffs even though they finished better than a team in the other division, and thought that a better record should triumph over divisional placement. The two teams, Buffalo and St. Louis, split their games in the playoffs, and so a consensus could not be reached to add it as a rule. Some owners were still willing to leave it on the table for later discussion if their occurrences become more frequent.
TRI-CITIES RUNNING INTO FINANCIAL WOES
In what was a complete surprise to everyone not named Bob Hester, the Tri-Cities Hawks were in a rough spot financially. They have gone downhill since his father, Bert, died three years ago, having their last winning season and playoff appearance in 1955. The Hawks were already the weakest team financially after the Buckeyes were bought out and moved to Washington, D.C., but that problem has been exacerbated by Hester's tenure. The team had seen some promise with a surprise playoff appearance, but Hester essentially gave away the younger players to other teams and did nothing to bring fans back into LeClair Field. The future TV deal with NBC should get the Hawks some of the money needed to make improvements to their stadium and increase their payroll, but Hester needs to stop cheaping out when things matter in the eyes of the other owners. Bob’s antics in his short time as owner have not put him in the best light, especially coming after how highly his father was viewed among the elder AFL owners. Donovan Hasenkamp, who was a close friend with Bert Hester, was especially irate at the younger Hester, who was rumored to have insulted Bob by claiming he was ruining one of the most historic clubs in American football. Whether that made Hester realize his situation is yet to be seen, though with how he is treated by Hawks fans it might be the wake-up call they need to get out of the spiral Tri-Cities has been falling into.
The AFL seems to still be deliberating over where their 16th franchise will be located, even though at a similar point in their last expansion process that city was already decided by now. The setback on Denver’s stadium threw a wrench into the AFL’s expansion plans, and now the owners are scrambling to find the right person to take their spot. Ownership groups from Minneapolis/St. Paul, Miami, and Seattle were all vying for that spot, and at least on paper the Twin Cities bid has the most legs to it. The AFL had been looking at putting a team in Minnesota when the Federals were moving out of Columbus, and could have been included in the first round of expansion if Philadelphia and St. Louis did not fall into the league’s lap. The league should be expected to make a decision within the next year or so, though they are not doing any expansion teams any favors by delaying the time they need to set up operations like they had with other expansion teams. However, with the influx of promising bids the league has received, commissioner Donovan Hasenkamp has not ruled out the possibility of expanding beyond 16 teams in the future, especially with putting the Denver franchise on hold. He did emphasize that the league would not reach that size unless this additional round of expansion was also successful. The league has doubled in size in just a couple of years, so it will only be a matter of time if expanding to 16 teams within 10 years will be a success for the league. Given that the league has reached new heights from the audience of the 1958 championship game, expanding to 20 and beyond may be likely.
One interesting rumor that is circulating could explain why the AFL is taking so long to decide on a city: they’re trying to poach from the PAFC. With the ever-increasing divide of their owners amongst one another, some say that the AFL could drive the final nail in the coffin for the league that has somehow survived nearly a decade without its most successful teams. However, there would only be a few options that the AFL could consider. Most would consider the Omaha Bulls the most likely to leave the PAFC, as the Bulls’ ownership group and PAFC president Virgil Bradshaw are on less-than-favorable terms. They seem fairly eager to leave the league, but they would run into two primary issues if they were to join. Firstly is their stadium, which is much smaller than the smallest stadium currently in the league, as the Hawks’ LeClair Field only holds 22,500 fans while the Bulls’ stadium is about half of that capacity. Their ownership also is a major problem if they were to join, as even though they’ve won a PAFC title they’re struggling to keep the money rolling in, and a move to the AFL wouldn’t exactly solve their financial problem. Omaha would more likely go to the ASPFL, though the travel costs would certainly prevent them from lasting long in that league. Two other teams that are starting to both defy Bradshaw and could reasonably leave to the AFL are Baltimore and New Orleans, though the latter seems a bit more likely. The AFL has maintained its stance on only having 1 team per metropolitan area, which could prevent Baltimore from joining unless both Washington owner Bernard McCullough waives his right to the area and the owners vote to accept them into the league despite the exclusion rule. New Orleans has more solid ties to the AFL, with new owner Rudy Branthwaite failing to persuade his father to join the AFL instead of the PAFC but successfully persuaded his friend, Dallas owner J.B. Gilchrist, to ditch the PAFC and join the AFL instead. He’s gained more sway amongst the PAFC owners who aren’t directly financed by Bradshaw, and taking away an owner like him would almost certainly bring the PAFC to an end. That scenario is seemingly too good to pass up for those around the AFL’s owners, but the legal ramifications for “poaching” a team away from another league are likely to be higher than they were for Buffalo and Pittsburgh. The two teams formerly of the NYPL had already announced their departure from the dying league before joining the AFL, so taking away a team while they are still competing in another league will likely face a significant legal battle if Bradshaw is willing to divert his funds.
NBC INKS HISTORIC TV DEAL
Seeing the success of its coverage of the championship games, the AFL and NBC reached an agreement for the network to televise a majority of the regular season games and every playoff game and the championship through the 1964 season. The new deal guarantees that every team in the AFL, current and future, will play on national television, though the deal favors the current most popular teams in getting the most screentime. The AFL had heard the news of the PAFC attempting a revenue-sharing system from the TV deal that was rejected by league president Bradshaw, and figured it would be good enough to implement for themselves. The AFL would then become the first professional football league to have such a cooperative plan with a single network, but this deal could potentially be seen as violating anti-trust laws. Football, due to its scattered history, does not have the same protections as the NBL, which unified several decades ago, and thus lawsuits from other suitor networks should be expected in the near future. The AFL would like to gain its own anti-trust exception to potentially put the final nail in the coffin for the PAFC, but that will be a battle that the AFL’s lawyers will likely have to solve.
AFL MAKE RULE CHANGES IN PREPARATION FOR EXPANSION
Since the AFL had split from the PAFC nearly a decade ago, the two leagues had practically played the same game rules-wise, with the only difference being the teams that played in each league. With the league’s ensuing popularity from the 1958 championship, the AFL owners were willing to make some changes to make their game more entertaining and easier to watch from home. The league did make several changes to be put in play for the 1960 season, the most impactful of which will be the introduction of the two point conversion. The college game had implemented the rule within the past year, and the owners were impressed with its implementation enough to add it to the AFL. The owners had discussed changing the specifications of the ball that they used to open up the passing game more, but the resulting vote didn’t get enough traction to join the two point conversion. Because of the new network deal with NBC, the league has also decided to go through with adding names on the back of players’ jerseys to aid the commentators in identifying players. Both the radio and TV announcers for NBC had struggled to identify players solely on their number during the championship game, and it will likely make it easier for the viewer at home to identify players as well.
The majority of the new rules come with the upcoming expansion to 16 teams. The league will expand from 12 to 14 game schedules starting in 1960, and another division realignment will take place to accommodate the 4 new teams. The league is planning on dividing itself into two conferences of 2 divisions apiece, with 4 teams in each division. They would have announced how the divisions would be aligned at this point, but the lack of where the 16th team will be makes that decision nearly impossible at this point. The belief is that the AFL will divide itself geographically into an eastern and western conference, with Cleveland and Detroit likely moving back East to accommodate the amount of new western teams. The playoffs will also see an expansion, going up from 3 teams per division/conference to 4 beginning in the 1961 season. The division winners and the division runners-up will make the playoffs, with the division winner hosting the other division’s runner-up in the first round of the playoffs. There had been a proposal brought up by both Boston and Detroit for a “crossover” rule, where if there was a team that finished third in its division that was better than the other division’s runner-up they would take their spot. Both the Dragons and Knights had missed the playoffs even though they finished better than a team in the other division, and thought that a better record should triumph over divisional placement. The two teams, Buffalo and St. Louis, split their games in the playoffs, and so a consensus could not be reached to add it as a rule. Some owners were still willing to leave it on the table for later discussion if their occurrences become more frequent.
TRI-CITIES RUNNING INTO FINANCIAL WOES
In what was a complete surprise to everyone not named Bob Hester, the Tri-Cities Hawks were in a rough spot financially. They have gone downhill since his father, Bert, died three years ago, having their last winning season and playoff appearance in 1955. The Hawks were already the weakest team financially after the Buckeyes were bought out and moved to Washington, D.C., but that problem has been exacerbated by Hester's tenure. The team had seen some promise with a surprise playoff appearance, but Hester essentially gave away the younger players to other teams and did nothing to bring fans back into LeClair Field. The future TV deal with NBC should get the Hawks some of the money needed to make improvements to their stadium and increase their payroll, but Hester needs to stop cheaping out when things matter in the eyes of the other owners. Bob’s antics in his short time as owner have not put him in the best light, especially coming after how highly his father was viewed among the elder AFL owners. Donovan Hasenkamp, who was a close friend with Bert Hester, was especially irate at the younger Hester, who was rumored to have insulted Bob by claiming he was ruining one of the most historic clubs in American football. Whether that made Hester realize his situation is yet to be seen, though with how he is treated by Hawks fans it might be the wake-up call they need to get out of the spiral Tri-Cities has been falling into.
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