Buffalo Football AAFC

The original Bills football team was established in 1946 in Buffalo as the Bisons in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). In 1947, after a name-the-team contest, the new name was selected. In 1949, the NFL absorbed several AAFC teams but, oddly, the Bills were not one of them. Even though the team outdrew many NFL teams and had been fairly successful on the field, Buffalo was not part of the acquisition. In 1960, Ralph Wilson accepted a bid to place a team in the American Football League, which he named the Bills in honor of the city's previous team.