When the merger took place, all ten AFL franchises became part of the merged league's new American Football Conference ( AFC ), with three teams from the original 16-team NFL ( the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, and Baltimore Colts ) joining them.

When Hunt, Adams, and Howsam were unable to secure a controlling interest in the Chicago Cardinals, they approached NFL commissioner Bert Bell and proposed the addition of expansion teams.

When the NFL and AFL merged in 1970, the Patriots were placed in the AFC East division, where they still play today.

When the AFL and NFL merged, the team fell into a state of mediocrity along with their star quarterback, Namath, who only had three successful post-merger seasons after injuries hampered much of his career.

When the NFL declined to approve the Raiders ' move from Oakland to Los Angeles in 1980, the team joined the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission in a lawsuit against the league alleging a violation of antitrust laws.

When the league was first organized in 1999, it was originally supposed to stand for " Xtreme Football League "; however, there was already a league in formation at the same time with that name, and so promoters wanted to make sure that everyone knew that the " X " did not actually stand for anything ( though McMahon would comment that " if the NFL stood for the ' No Fun League ', the XFL will stand for the ' extra fun league '").

When Brooklyn Tigers owner Dan Topping announced his intentions to join the All-America Football Conference in 1946, his NFL franchise was revoked and all of its players were assigned to the Yanks.

When neither team accepted, Striegel scheduled a game with the NFL's Rochester Jeffersons, who had not beaten an NFL opponent since 1921.

When Haugsrud did this, part of the deal gave him first rights for any future NFL team in Minnesota.

When the Gunners left the NFL, they were replaced by the Cleveland Rams.

When the NBA, MLB, NHL and NFL began selling their jerseys in stores during the 1980s, game used jerseys also became a hot item among sports memorabilia collectors.

When he took office there were twelve teams in the NFL playing a twelve game schedule to frequently half-empty stadiums, and only a few teams had television contracts.

When NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle retired in 1989, Finks was the leading candidate to replace him.

When the Rush returned in 2010, the AFL signed its TV deal with NFL Network, but the Rush were not featured as often as they had been with ESPN and NBC, averaging between 2 and 3 telecasts a year on NFL Network in 2010 and 2011, but were shutout from the national spotlight in 2012.

When the series did start its regular run, more than 3. 2 million viewers tuned in, enough to put it into the 2nd place slot for the week ( behind an NFL game on ESPN ) and making it the highest-rated premiere in Nickelodeon's history at the time.

When Largent retired, he held all major NFL receiving records, including: most receptions in a career ( 819 ), most receiving yards in a career ( 13, 089 ), and most touchdown receptions ( 100 ), although 15 of the catches, 261 of the yards, and 3 of the touchdowns came against replacement players.

* 1999-Joe Ziemba, for his book When Football Was Football: The Chicago Cardinals and the Birth of the NFL

When Oakland Raiders co-owner Al Davis took over as AFL Commissioner, he began stepping up the bidding war, immediately signing eight starting NFL quarterbacks, including John Brodie and Roman Gabriel, to contracts with AFL teams.

When Rozelle, now NFL Commissioner, and other professional football executives appeared before the Congress ' Subcommittee on Antitrust, chaired by New York congressman Emanuel Celler, two points were repeatedly made:

When the USFL ceased operations following an pyrrhic anti-trust suit against the NFL ( the USFL won the case, but was awarded only $ 3 in damages ), Foster saw his opportunity.

When Jewish,, 314-pound American football player Gabe Carimi was drafted in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears, he was nicknamed " The Bear Jew ", a reference to the character in Inglourious Basterds.

When the Memphis effort failed, Vulcans followers were forced to accept the inevitable as well, and efforts to get the team admitted as an NFL franchise were abandoned.

When the Minnesota Vikings first came into the NFL in 1961, they picked up Jim Marshall From the Cleveland Browns in the expansion draft.

When his eyes began to focus, he saw Jess charging at him with a pitchfork.

When he was eight he began violin lessons.

When Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen began their collaboration in 1940, Mercer, like Arlen, had several substantial film songs to his credit, among them `` Hooray For Hollywood '', `` Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride '', `` Have You Got Any Castles, Baby??

When Thompson and her daughter began a correspondence which included fervent verses from Pantasaph, Mrs. King felt a proper Victorian alarm.

When the young biologist, Dr. Ballard, began to show interest in our daughter Elizabeth, this induced a corresponding interest, on our part, in him.

When the negotiations began, his quarrel with the king of France was temporarily in abeyance, and he had no intention of reviving it so long as there was hope that French money would come to pay the troops who, under Charles of Valois, the papal vicar of Tuscany, were so valuable in the crusade against the Colonna cardinals and their Sicilian allies.

When the algae began to build up again, the effluent BOD rose.

When the Korean war began, on June 25, 1950, the anniversary of the day Custer had gone down fighting at the Little Big Horn and the day the regiment had assaulted the beachhead of Leyte during World War 2,, the 7th Cavalry was not in the best fighting condition.

When the winter tour began at Los Angeles last January there was no one in sight to challenge Palmer's towering prestige.

When dam construction began in 1933, fewer than 600 boats used these waters ; ;

When a fisherman brought her up in his arms, still, small, as if she were a child asleep, I began to shudder with a terrible excitement, almost triumphant, that I still cannot account for.

When it became apparent that Johnson would lose his seat, an effort began by ally George W. Jones to put forward Johnson's name for governor.

When people started to study scientifically how to fly, people began to understand the basics of air and aerodynamics.

When blacks began singing adapted versions of these hymns, they were called Negro spirituals.

When the North Tower was struck at 8: 46 a. m., many executives began evacuating their employees from the upper floors of the South Tower.

When Sultan Murad V began to show signs of paranoia, madness and continuous fainting and vomiting even on the day of his coronation and threw himself into a pool yelling at his guards to protect his life, they were afraid the public would become outraged and revolt to bring the former Sultan back.

When emulators of 1980s video game consoles began to appear on home computers in the late 1990s, the Atari 7800 was one of the last to be emulated.

When the original digital signature generating software was turned over to the Atari community, development of new Atari 7800 titles began.

When the trade association began, it had seven members and its main goal was to eliminate all duties and restrictions on the majority of their trade within 12 years.

Beethoven's friend Anton Schindler, later said: " When he started working on the fourth movement the struggle began as never before.

When pro-reform forces came into power in the spring 1997, an ambitious economic reform package, including introduction of a currency board regime, was agreed to with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and the economy began to stabilise.

When pro-reform forces came into power in the spring 1997, an ambitious economic reform package, including introduction of a currency board regime, was agreed to with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and the economy began to stabilise.

When Hitler's chief engineer, Fritz Todt, began opening the new autobahn ( highways ) in 1935, many of the bridges and service stations were " bold examples of modernism " – among those submitting designs was Mies van der Rohe.

When Selig was only three, Marie began taking him and his older brother, Jerry, to Borchert Field, where the minor league Milwaukee Brewers played.

When the Luftwaffe began bombing Moscow, Pasternak immediately began to serve as a fire warden on the roof of the writer's building on Lavrushinski Street.