The 1947 AAFC season was the second season of the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the ...

. The league included eight teams, broken up into Eastern and Western divisions, which played a 14-game official schedule, culminating in a league Championship Game. After the end of the previous season, the

Miami Seahawks The Miami Seahawks were a professional American football team based in Miami, Florida. They played in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) in the league's inaugural season, 1946, before the team was relocated to Baltimore. They are notable ...

were $350,000 in debt, with owner Harvey Hester being declared bankrupt, and leaving the AAFC with no option to shut down the franchise. They would be replaced in the Eastern division by the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

. The

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

also chose to rebrand their franchise, holding a contest to determine the new name: the winner requested the new name to be the Buffalo Bills, named after "Buffalo Bill" Cody.Important dates in Bills history: How the Bills got their name
/ref>

Draft

The league's first collegiate draft was held on December 20–21, 1946 in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ernie Case Ernest Francis Case (November 23, 1920 – December 13, 1995) was an American athlete who played quarterback for the Bruins of the University of California, Los Angeles, and professionally in the All-America Football Conference for the Baltimo ...

was the first overall selection.

Regular season

Week One

The 1947 regular season of the All-America Football Conference kicked off on Friday, August 29 with a game between the

Los Angeles Dons The Los Angeles Dons were an American football team in the newly formed football league the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) from 1946 to 1949, and played their home games in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Dons were the first pr ...

and the

Chicago Rockets The Chicago Rockets were an American football team that played in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) from 1946 to 1949. During the 1949 season, the team was known as the Chicago Hornets. Unlike the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, a ...

. The game was attended by 41,812 people, only about 70% of that of last season. Former

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

coach

Dudley DeGroot Dudley Sargent DeGroot (November 10, 1899 – May 5, 1970) was an American athlete and coach, primarily of American football. He served as the head coach for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1944 and 1945, tallyin ...

was able to pull off a victory against the Rockets with a score of 24–21. The week continued with two games on Sunday, August 31, with the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

beating the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

23–7, in front of 31,874 people at

Kezar Stadium Kezar Stadium is an outdoor athletics stadium in San Francisco, California, located adjacent to Kezar Pavilion in the southeastern corner of Golden Gate Park. It is the former home of the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders (first AFL se ...

, and the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

beating the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

28–24, in front of 32,385 people.

1947 AAFC final standings

''W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pct. = Winning Percentage''
''PF = Points Scored For, PA = Point Scored Against''

Championship game

AAFC Championship: Cleveland 14, New York 3 (December 14 @ New York)

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:1946 AAFC season