Texas Football League

The Texas Football League (TFL) was a semi-professional American football minor league that operated in primarily in the United States from 1966 through 1971. The league, which initially comprised six franchises from Texas and Oklahoma, was formally announced in May 1966.^[1] The league was supposed to begin with eight teams, but entries from Hammond, Louisiana and New Orleans were not accepted. With the addition of two franchises in 1967, the TFL expanded to two four-team divisions.

During the 1967-68 offseason the Continental Football League offered a merger of operations with the TFL, but was turned down by TFL commissioner George Schepps. He additionally challenged the CFL to pit its champion against the TFL's champion for the 1968 campaign.^[2]

On January 25, 1969 it was announced that the Continental Football League was adding the entirety of the eight-team TFL to its ranks. The TFL joined as a separate entity and was placed into the new Texas Division (itself split into East and West). The TFL teams were mostly scheduled to play against each other but did also play interleague contests.^[3] Joining the Texas division was the Mexico Golden Aztecs, the first American football franchise based in Mexico.

With the dissolution of the CFL in 1970, the San Antonio Toros, defending champion of the Continental league's Texas division, announced the formation of the Trans-American Football League in 1970, hoping to add teams in a number of major markets (the TAFL planned teams in Birmingham, Tampa, and even Chicago and Los Angeles, in addition to existing Continental teams in Dallas and Fort Worth).^[4] By the time the league played its 1970 season, it was once again mainly based in Texas, with two other Continental teams, the Omaha Mustangs and Texarkana Titans, joining two new teams in the league. The TAFL folded after its summer 1971 season.

Season standings

1966

W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

 y  = Division Champion