3 NFL Teams Reposition

May 17, 1969—The Newspapers.com Football History Headline of the Day comes from the December 10, 1969, Clarion-Ledger in Jacksonville, Mississippi, which placed in boldface print: “NFL Gives ‘69-’70 Schedule.” The article declares that the Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers all agreed to leave the NFL to join the 10 AFL franchises in the new American Football Conference in the NFL as part of the merger of the two rival leagues.

NFL President and Browns owner Art Modell declared that the transfer of the three longtime NFL teams was to balance out the teams in the two conferences. In retrospect, it is interesting how much it also shifted the power of the conferences, as in the decade following the transfer, Baltimore and Pittsburgh accounted for five of the ten Super Bowl Titles.