[dirk digler]

http://www.remembertheafl.com/LamarHunt.htm

Hunt finally caught on to the NFL’s conservatism, and decided to start a league of his own. The result was the American Football League, one of the most successful American professional sports leagues of all time, and the true genesis of modern professional football. National network television of all league games? Revenue sharing of home receipts and television income? Moving cameras instead of static fifty-yard-line shots? Miked-up players? Recruiting small black colleges? Two-point touchdown conversions? Names on players’ jerseys? A clock on the scoreboard, so that fans knew the time remaining? Flashy offenses instead of three yards and a cloud of dust? A Thanksgiving Day game in a different city every year? All those innovations were made by Hunt’s brainchild, the AFL.