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owner Dan Topping announced his intentions to join the All-America Football Conference in 1946, his NFL franchise was revoked and all of its players were assigned to the Yanks.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

When the NFL began considering expansion to Texas, Marshall strongly opposed the move, as he had enjoyed a monopoly in the South for three decades ( apart from the one-year appearance of the Dallas Texans in 1952 ).

* 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 Dr. Wallace Buttrick, wise in his judgment of people, declined to have the Science Building named for him, he wrote Miss Tapley ( April 7, 1923 ) `` If you had asked me, I think I would have suggested that you name the building for Miss Upton.

She afterwards declined to serve in Iain Duncan Smith's Shadow Cabinet ( although she indicated on the television programme When Louis Met ..., prior to the leadership contest, that she wished to retire to the backbenches anyway ).

When Telemann declined the job, it was offered to Christoph Graupner, who also declined it — though chiefly because he could not secure a dismissal from his employer the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt.

When released in 1982, the Camira initially generated good sales, which later declined because buyers considered the 1. 6-litre engine underpowered, and the car's build and ride quality below-average.

When the abbot declined Hildegard's proposition, Hildegard went over his head and received the approval of Archbishop Henry I of Mainz.

When advised of his nomination, Polk replied: " It has been well observed that the office of President of the United States should neither be sought nor declined.

When asked to recommend someone else, Davis suggested Robert E. Lee, then an army major in Baltimore ; López approached Lee, who also declined on the grounds of his duty.

When Dole declined an invitation to speak to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, he suggested Kemp as a substitute even before Kemp had become the Vice Presidential nominee.

When revenues declined in the late 1950s, however, Ali bin Abdullah could not handle the family pressures this engendered.

When Egyptian influence declined or succumbed to foreign domination, the Kushite elite regarded themselves as central powers and believed themselves as idols of Egyptian culture and religion.

When Peru's military government allowed elections for the first time in a dozen years in 1980, the Shining Path was one of the few leftist political groups that declined to take part.

When she declined, he later considered Elizabeth Perkins.

When the Republicans in 1964 gave Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, Taft's successor as the conservative leader, their presidential nomination, Dewey declined to even attend the GOP Convention in San Francisco ; it was the first Republican Convention he had missed since 1936.

When the qibla ( direction of prayer for Muslims ) was changed from Jerusalem ( known in Arabic as al-Quds ) to Mecca, these Jews protested and finally declined the change.

When the Norwegian government decided to go into exile, he offered to stay behind with the Norwegian people, but this was declined.

When offered the position full-time, Tokona declined in order to concentrate on Weta.

When Martinez de Hoz assumed power as finance minister prices in the previous month had increased at an annual rate of 5, 000 % and output had declined sharply.

When the Kaufman County grand jury convened, it declined to indict her, and she was released.

When the film was released, the U. S. government's Office of Censorship declined to approve it for export overseas during wartime, because of the " long sequence showing life in a prison chain gang which is most objectionable because of the brutality and inhumanity with which the prisoners are treated.

When more ports were built in Dakar, Senegal and in the Canary Islands, the number of ships declined but increased to serve about 2, 000 ships per year in the 20th century.

When the sisters declined the invitation, the god metamorphosed himself successively into a bull, a lion, and a panther, and the sisters were driven mad.

When Lewis Tappan requested presentation of an abolitionist petition to the Senate, Johnson, who was still a slaveholder, declined the request.

When the Army of Virginia was created June 26, to include Gen. Frémont's corps, with John Pope in command, Frémont declined to serve on the grounds that he was senior to Pope and for personal reasons.