{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"111: Pro Football\u2019s \u201cLeague That Didn\u2019t Exist\u201d \u2013 With Gary Webster","description":"WKKY-FM radio personality and sports author Gary Webster (The League That Didn\u2019t Exist) helps us return to the curious story of the All-America Football Conference \u2013 the well-funded upstart that competed directly with the NFL in the late 1940s for supremacy of the still-fledgling sport of US pro football. After being rebuffed by the NFL to expand, influential Chicago Tribune sports editor (and baseball and college football All-Star Games\u2019 creator) Arch Ward recruited a who\u2019s who of wealthy businessmen to help form a rival second league that he hoped would ultimately play the senior circuit in an annual championship game similar to the World Series.  Post-war peace produced a surplus of talent, and the AAFC attracted many of the nation\u2019s best players to its eight inaugural teams in 1946 \u2013 including more than three dozen College All-Star Game participants, two Heisman Trophy winners and over 100 players with NFL experience.  With commercial air travel increasingly viable, the enterprising AAFC placed franchises in burgeoning markets outside of the NFL\u2019s traditional Northeast and Midwest footprint (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami); it also chose larger stadiums in established NFL markets (Chicago, New York, Cleveland) to compete head on. Despite the NFL\u2019s publicly dismissive tone, the AAFC quickly established itself as a formidable threat \u2013 drawing huge crowds and generating significant national publicity.  The quality of play was high (15 AAFC alumni were eventually inducted into pro football\u2019s Hall of Fame), and innovations such as a 14-game double round-robin schedule, zone defenses, and racial integration quickly proved popular and ultimately, long-lasting.  By 1949, however, nearly every team in both leagues was losing money, as increased competition for players drove salaries higher, while average attendances declined.  By season\u2019s end, the NFL agreed to absorb three AAFC franchises (Cleveland, San Francisco and Baltimore) for 1950; the combined and briefly renamed \u201cNational\u2013American Football League\u201d was set \u2013 and the AAFC was no more. Webster joins host Tim Hanlon to recount some of the more notable events during the AAFC\u2019s brief, but impactful history \u2013 as well as the befuddling refusal of the modern-day NFL to recognize the statistics and lasting contributions of the All-America Football Conference, despite the continued existence of two of its original franchises (the Browns and the 49ers) today. Get your great classic-style Chicago Hornets and Chicago Rockets AAFC T-shirts at OldSchoolShirts.com! ","author_name":"Good Seats Still Available","author_url":"https:\/\/goodseatsstillavailable.com","html":"