Today In Sports History (January 3, 1971)

On this day in 1971, the first ever inaugural AFC Championship game took place. In 1970, the American Football League (AFL) merged with the National Football League (NFL) and operated under the NFL’s name and logo. This split the league into two different conferences: the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The winner of each conference would go on to play each other in what we now call the Super Bowl. During the 1970 season, the Baltimore Colts went up against the Oakland Raiders in the first ever AFC Championship game. The Baltimore Colts went on to beat the Oakland Raiders 27-17 to set up their second Super Bowl appearance. The Baltimore Colts would go on to beat the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V by a score of 16-13. The Baltimore Colts would make the AFC Championship game again the very next year, however they were shut out by the Miami Dolphins 21-0. The Baltimore Colts relocated in 1984 to Indianapolis, and have been the Indianapolis Colts ever since, meanwhile Baltimore got another franchise in 1996. The Cleveland Browns’ owner Art Modell relocated his franchise to Baltimore, under the moniker the Baltimore Ravens. Despite the Ravens having won two Super Bowls since their franchise’s inception in 1996, the 1970 AFC Championship game is still the only AFC Championship game to have been played in Baltimore.