The Brooklyn Lions were a short-lived professional American football team that competed in the National Football League (NFL) for just one turbulent season in 1926.
Born out of a direct turf war between the established NFL and the newly formed upstart American Football League (AFL), the Lions’ brief existence captures the wild, chaotic nature of the 1920s gridiron boom.
The Lions were created to directly compete with the AFL’s Brooklyn Horsemen for ticket holders. After stifling the Horsemen’s chances at having financial success, the AFL club folded and merged with the Brooklyn Lions.
Fast Facts: 1926 Brooklyn Lions
July 10, 1926 – At a summer session of an NFL owners meeting, the NFL granted a franchise to Edward Butler for a new Brooklyn team — the Brooklyn Lions to directly compete for fans and tickets with the upstart original AFL (Grange League) franchise, the Brooklyn Horsemen.
Team History & The Inter-League War
The mid-1920s saw pro football exploding in popularity, largely driven by the drawing power of superstars like Red Grange. When Grange’s agent, C.C. Pyle, was denied an expansion franchise by the NFL, he formed the rival first American Football League (AFL) for the 1926 season.
The AFL placed a franchise in Brooklyn called the Brooklyn Horsemen, owned by prominent boxing promoter Humbert Fugazy. The team signed two legendary members of Notre Dame’s famous “Four Horsemen”: quarterback Harry Stuhldreher and fullback Earl Britton.
To protect its territory and block the AFL from capturing the lucrative New York market, the NFL counterattacked by quickly enfranchising a rival team: the Brooklyn Lions.
Both clubs spent the summer of 1926 battling for local fan loyalty and the exclusive rights to lease Ebbets Field. The NFL won the stadium battle on July 20, forcing the AFL’s Horsemen to play at the smaller, less desirable Commercial Field.
The 1926 Season & The “Horse-Lions” Merger
Coached by Punk Berryman, the Lions played their first NFL game on September 26, 1926, losing 13–0 to the Providence Steam Roller. They secured their first franchise win two weeks later, defeating the Hartford Blues 6–0 at Ebbets Field.
While the Lions boasted solid gridiron talent—including backfield stars Herm Bagby and Rex Thomas (who logged 4 interceptions on defense)—they struggled to consistently put points on the board, averaging just 5.5 points per game.
By November, financial strain heavily hit both Brooklyn teams. The AFL’s Horsemen were collapsing under poor attendance, while the NFL’s Lions sat at a struggling 2–5 record. On November 12, 1926, the Horsemen officially withdrew from the AFL and merged with the Lions to finish out the NFL schedule.
Local media quickly and derisively dubbed the combined squad the “Horse-Lions.”
Initially, the merged roster played under the Lions banner, securing an impressive 19–0 victory over the legendary Canton Bulldogs. In a desperate final attempt to pull in paying crowds, the front office abandoned the Lions name entirely for the final three games of the season, playing instead under the Brooklyn Horsemen moniker. The marketing gimmick failed to spark an offense; the team lost its final three contests by consecutive shutouts, playing its final game on November 28 against the crosstown rival New York Giants.
The combined franchise quietly folded in July 1927, leaving the 1926 Lions as a fascinating, single-season relic of professional football’s early promotional wars.
The Cross-League Roster: Eight unique players hold the rare historical distinction of playing for both the Brooklyn Horsemen in the AFL and the Brooklyn Lions/Horsemen in the NFL during the exact same 1926 season: Harry Stuhldreher, Earl Britton, Ted Drews, Ed Harrison, Red Howard, Ted Plumridge, Tarzan Taylor, and Hec Garvey.
Sources for the above information gathered from Sportscyclopedia.com, RetroSeasons.com