Ten-Gallon War: The NFL’s Cowboys, the AFL’s Texans, and the Feud for Dallas’s Pro Football Future

The merger of the upstart American Football League with the NFL was the result of quintessential American business wheeling and dealing that played out in back rooms. Eisenberg (That First Season) offers that story through the lens of the battle over the professional football territory of Dallas, a city that previously had a team that “didn’t even complete a full season... before pulling up stakes.” Texas oilman Lamar Hunt founded the AFL and the Dallas Texans after being repeatedly rebuffed for an expansion team by the stodgy, obdurate NFL. The NFL responded by awarding an expansion franchise to a business rival that would become the Dallas Cowboys. The two teams fought over fans and draft choices until the Texans relocated to Kansas City to become the Chiefs. Eisenberg conducted interviews and consulted various media sources to reconstruct the backroom deals and backstabbing in this “David versus Goliath” tale. Sports fans, legal scholars, and western buffs will all enjoy this tale that is part street fight and part homage to American entrepreneurship. Photos. (Oct.)