_Bills_Logo.png){kind=logo} | |
| Founded | 1946 |
|---|---|
| Folded | 1949 |
| Based in | Buffalo, New York |
| League | All-America Football Conference |
| Division | Eastern |
| Team history | Buffalo Bisons(1946) Buffalo Bills(1947–1949) |
| Team colors | |
| AAFC Championship wins | 0 |
| Named for | Buffalo Bill Cody |
| Home field(s) | Civic Stadium |
TheBuffalo Bills were anAmerican football team, based inBuffalo, New York, that played in theAll-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1949. During its first season in 1946, the team was known as theBuffalo Bisons; during the last three years they were renamed in honor of"Buffalo Bill" Cody. Unlike theCleveland Browns,San Francisco 49ers, andBaltimore Colts, the franchise was not one of the three AAFC teams that merged with theNational Football League prior to the 1950 season.
After only one year, owner James Breuil held a name-the-team contest in hopes of choosing a more distinctive nickname; "Bisons" had been the traditional nickname for Buffalo teams for many years. The winning choice was "Bills," which was a play on the name of the famed Wild West showmanBuffalo Bill Cody.[2] Coincidentally abarbershop quartet[3] who would achieve fame a few years later was formed with the same name that year. The team was the successor to theBuffalo Tigers/Indians team from the1940 American Football League; that league had folded as a result of World War II.
During their existence, the Bills played at Civic Stadium, later known asWar Memorial Stadium.
Though the 1946 Bisons were not a success, the next three years were modestly successful, with the charismaticGeorge Ratterman at starting quarterback; the Bills finished with a winning record (losing in the AAFC Championship to the Browns) in 1947 and having .500 records in 1948 and 1949.
There was some controversy over Buffalo's exclusion from the enlarged NFL. Buffalo had experienced more success on the field and at the gate than Baltimore, and was also a larger market at the time (and would not have to share their territory with an established team as Baltimore would with theWashington Redskins). Additionally, the original three-team plan would have left the league with 13 teams, not only anodd number andprime number that made making equal divisions impossible, but also one considered to bebad luck.
The move had left Buffalo as the only AAFC market without an NFL team post-merger, and one that had outdrawn the NFL average in fan attendance. With that in mind, Buffalo fans produced more than 15,000 season ticket pledges, raised $175,000 in a stock offering,[4] and filed a separate application to join. When the vote to admit Buffalo was held on January 20, 1950, a majority of league owners (including the three already-admitted AAFC teams) were willing to accept Buffalo. However, league rules required a unanimous vote, but the vote was only 9-4 in favor.
The opposition to the Bills' entry was led byChicago Bears ownerGeorge Halas (who had alongstanding animosity toward Buffalo's previous NFL franchise) andLos Angeles Rams ownerDan Reeves.[5] League commissionerBert Bell had already put out a schedule based on the 13 teams, and Reeves cited as his excuse for voting against admission was simply that "it was silly to vote in a new city without first having a good idea where my teams would be playing and when."[4]
Breuil, having lost $700,000 on the team, was instead content to accept a one-fourth share of theCleveland Browns. The team did, however, have another potential owner inPat McGroder, then a successful liquor store owner and an advocate for the NFL's return to Buffalo. The NFL was not inclined to add a fourth team. TheAmerican Football League, a minor league formerly known as the "American Association," offered the Bills a spot in their league, but no Buffalo parties were interested in a minor league team.
Coming with Breuil to Cleveland were three Bills players; the rest were dispersed in the1950 AAFC dispersal draft among the NFL teams, with the Colts andGreen Bay Packers picking up the majority of the Bills' roster and Ratterman going to theNew York Yanks. Ratterman would eventually finish his career with the Browns, asOtto Graham's backup and, briefly, successor.
As it turned out, admitting the Colts over the Bills proved to be a mistake — owing to inadequate stadium facilities, the Colts folded after only one season.
McGroder would continue to lobby for an NFL team in Buffalo for the next decade. In 1959, when theAmerican Football League proposed establishing the franchise that would ultimately also bear theBuffalo Bills name, McGroder was the first potential owner that AFL founderLamar Hunt approached. McGroder declined the offer, still hoping that the threat of the new AFL team would be enough to provoke the NFL to stop it with the Buffalo NFL team he had hoped to receive, butRalph Wilson, whose bid for aMiami AFL team had fallen through, accepted the bid. When it became clear that the NFL would not expand to Buffalo as McGroder had hoped, he took a position within the modern Bills organization, remaining until his retirement in 1983.
The Bills entered the NFL with the rest of the AFL as part of1970merger and remain in current operations.
| Season | W | L | T | Finish | Playoff results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo Bisons | |||||
| 1946 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 3rd AAFC East | -- |
| Buffalo Bills | |||||
| 1947 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2nd AAFC East | -- |
| 1948 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1st AAFC East | Won Eastern Division Championship (Colts) Lost AAFC Championship (Browns) |
| 1949 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 4th AAFC | Lost First-round Game (Browns) |
| Totals | 23 | 26 | 5 | ||
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