All-America Football Conference (AAFC) Team Media Guides Collection

Collection

Identifier: FBP 542

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection contains media guides published by teams in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). The annual guides published prior to each season generally included a review of the previous season (including statistics), a preview of the upcoming season (including schedules and opponent information), and photographs and bios of players, coaches, and staff. Other content sometimes included broader material about the history of the franchise, information about the city, and other information for members of the media. Some guides contain information about other personnel associated with the team. Some guides contain advertisements.

Formats include media guides.

Dates

Creation: 1948-1949

Conditions Governing Access

There are no access restrictions on this collection.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright status for collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Biographical / Historical

Media guides—also known as press guides or “dope books”—originated by the 1930s as a way for sports teams to provide information to members of the press about their teams, players, coaches, schedules, and other topics. Originally typed, mimeographed, and stapled sheets, the guides evolved dramatically after World War Two to highly informative trade paper publications available to the public. By the early 21st century, many teams began replacing printed guides with online guides.

Founded in the mid-1940s as rival to the established National Football League (NFL), the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) played four seasons of professional football from 1946 through 1949. The league played its first games in 1946 with eight franchises: Buffalo Bisons, Brooklyn Dodgers, Miami Seahawks, New York Yankees, Chicago Rockets, Cleveland Browns, Los Angeles Dons, and San Francisco 49ers. In 1947, the Baltimore Colts replaced the Miami Seahawks, and the Buffalo franchise was renamed the Bills. In 1949, the league featured only seven teams after the Brooklyn and New York franchises merged. In December 1949, the AAFC and NFL merged with the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, and Baltimore Colts joining the NFL. The other AAFC franchises disbanded. The Cleveland Browns won the AAFC championship in all four years of competition.