The AFA ended operations in 1983, unable to take advantage of the strike that hit the NFL the year prior or weather the competition from the USFL.
The operations were often fly-by-night, with most teams lasting only one season (or less) before folding, and players played for a paycheck equal to one percent of the net gate receipts after expenses (In August 1980, Shreveport Times sports reporter Ron Higgins estimated the average Steamer game check to be about $35 per man).
[11] In 1982, with former San Antonio Wings executive Roger Gill at the helm, the league attempted to expand northward by absorbing other semi-pro teams in Buffalo, New York, Racine, Wisconsin and Canton, Ohio.
[2] The AFA lasted six seasons, one of the longest runs of a minor professional football organization in the sport's history, and considered the strongest league in the era between the WFL and the USFL.
Five other clubs from Houston, Fort Worth, Austin, Wichita Falls, and Oklahoma City joined the Charros to establish the AFA.
The league revoked Kentucky Trackers license after several cases of misconduct with four remaining weeks in the regular season.
[12] During the season a member of the Orlando Americans admits he impersonated former NFL guard Randy Johnson to make the team.
First Round (August 7): Racine 44 vs. Akron 6 Carolina 61 vs. West Virginia 18 Texas 17 vs. Oklahoma 14 Shreveport 42 vs. Georgia 35 It was the seventh and final year of the AFA.
The majority of the teams followed, and the league decided that division champions Carolina and San Antonio would meet in the final American Bowl.