On this date in 1969, the Colts, Steelers and Browns all agreed to move from the NFC to the AFC where they have been since.
— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) May 17, 2020
If you’re young enough that your first Steelers Super Bowl was 2006 or 2008, you know a team that has had more wins than losses.
If you’re old enough to have watched the Steelers win a string of Super Bowls in the 1970s, you may remember a span of time that the Steelers weren’t so good.
The first four decades of Pittsburgh football was dismal. So dismal, in fact, that the team almost folded under financial strain. Because the product that the Steelers put on the field was so poor, people just weren’t going to games.
Thankfully, an owner’s meeting in May of 1969, the Steelers’ luck gradually started to change.
It was at that meeting that commissioner Pete Rozelle informed team owners that the league was restructuring. Each team that agreed to move received a one-time sum of $3 million, which the Steelers desperately needed. And, so, they became one of three teams to move from the NFC to the AFC. The other two clubs were the Baltimore Colts and the Cleveland Browns.
Since then, the Steelers have had 24 seasons with winning records. Prior to the switch, there were only three winning seasons.
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