The Buffalo Bills was an American Football team, based in Buffalo, NY, that played in the All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1949. During its first season in 1946, the team was known as the Buffalo Bisons. Unlike the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, and Baltimore Colts, the franchise was not one of the three AAFC teams that merged with the National Football League prior to the 1950 season.

The team is named after William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody. The franchise is not officially related, other than in name, to the current NFL franchise, the Buffalo Bills, that began play in 1960 in the American Football League.

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.

Buffalo’s fans attempted to save their team, producing more than 15,000 season ticket pledges and raising $175,000 in a stock offering.^[1] However, Buffalo owner James Breuil was content to accept a minority share of the Browns, and the NFL was not inclined to add a fourth team (even though the addition of three teams made for an odd number of teams in the league). The American Football League, a minor league formerly known as the "American Association," offered the Bills a spot in their league, but Breuil declined. Coming with Breuil to Cleveland were three Bills players; the rest were dispersed in a dispersal draft among the NFL teams.

Buffalo would have to wait until 1959 to again have a pro team, when Ralph Wilson acquired an American Football League franchise for Buffalo, which he also named the Bills, presumably after the AAFC team. The Buffalo Bills are still in operation as an NFL team to this day.

[edit] Season records

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties

[edit] External links

• databaseFootball: Buffalo Bills statistics

[edit] References