All Seasons

Season 1

  • S01E01 The New Frontier

    • September 16, 2009
    • Showtime

    When 26 year old Lamar Hunt's dream of owning a pro football team is road-blocked by the NFL, Hunt dreams bigger and starts a new league. The AFL's early days coincide with the dawn of a new age in America, reflected in the energy of a young president and the grand national ambition to reach the moon.

  • S01E02 Times They Are A Changin

    • September 23, 2009
    • Showtime

    Highlights how the San Diego Chargers (powered by coach Sid Gillman's offensive schemes) and the Buffalo Bills (and their dominating defense) became the AFL's premiere teams. Societal effects on the AFL are also examined, from the John F. Kennedy assassination to the relocation of the league's January 1965 All-Star Game from New Orleans to Houston after several black players were refused service in the former city.

  • S01E03 War And Peace

    • September 30, 2009
    • Showtime

    See the AFL reach a watershed: a lucrative new TV contract with NBC, the awarding of a 9th franchise to Miami, and the launch of a player bidding war with the NFL that began with the New York Jets' signing of Alabama QB Joe Namath. The two leagues would reach a truce that would lead to the start of the Super Bowl, a "common draft" of collegiate players, and their eventual 1970 merger.

  • S01E04 Revolution

    • October 7, 2009
    • Showtime

    Looks at how, amidst a backdrop of upheaval in American society, the AFL generates its own upheaval in the sports world: after its champions are soundly defeated in the first two Super Bowls, the league gains respectability on the shoulders of Joe Namath, who, after his Jets defeat Oakland for the 1968 league title, fulfills a brash guarantee to defeat NFL champ Baltimore in Super Bowl III, regarded as one of the greatest upsets in sports history.

  • S01E05 The Final Frontier

    • October 14, 2009
    • Showtime

    Profiles the league's final year, 1969, including the contentious debate on post-merger league realignment, Joe Namath's near-retirement, and innovations like the West Coast offense and stack defense that found their origins in the AFL. With the respectability it long sought now secure, the league ends on a high note with Hank Stram's Kansas City Chiefs soundly defeating Minnesota in Super Bowl IV.