At a league meeting in Akron, Ohio on April 30 prior to the season, the Association was reorganized, with Joe Carr of the Columbus Panhandles named as president.
The Association's headquarters was moved to Columbus, Ohio, and a league constitution and by-laws were drafted, giving teams territorial rights, restricting player movements, and developing membership criteria for the franchises.
Representatives from ten professional football teams were in attendance at Akron, with an additional 14 clubs sending word that they wished to become a member of the circuit for 1921.
[1] A three-member committee was also appointed to overhaul the association's constitution, with changes to be presented at the next scheduled league meeting, to be held June 18 in Cleveland.
[3] Closely related to this, the use of assumed playing names to disguise real life identity was banned unless the player first received special permission from the association's executive committee.
Declaring that "professional football becomes an established organization this fall," Menke noted that APFA owners had maintained a steady focus on the Midwest and Western New York, with "no cities along the Atlantic seaboard...represented in the circuit.
"[5] "It is the plan of the American Professional Football Association to have two separate leagues operating in 1922," Menke confidently predicted, "one composed of Eastern cities and the other of towns in the Middle West.
The APFA began its existence with universalist intention, with the Akron delegates voting to seek the affiliation of "every professional football club in the country," according to a press report of the day.
This was a fairly common custom of the time; both New York and Ohio's pre-NFL circuits put their marquee games on Thanksgiving weekend and cleaned up with mostly token opposition in the following weeks.