Brooklyn Lions / Horsemen (1926)

Brooklyn Lions
Founded1926
Folded1926
Based inBrooklyn, New York, United States
LeagueNational Football League
Team historyBrooklyn Lions (1926)
Brooklyn Horsemen-Lions (1926) (Merger)
Team colorsRed, black, white
   
Head coachesPunk Berryman
Home field(s)Ebbets Field

The Brooklyn Lions were a National Football League team that played in the 1926 NFL season. The team was formed as the league's counter-move to the first American Football League, which enfranchised a team called the Brooklyn Horsemen, a professional football team that competed in the 1926 AFL season.

In the months before the regular season began, both leagues battled with each other for fan support and the right to play at Ebbets Field. The NFL emerged as the winner, as the Lions signed the lease to use the stadium on July 20.[1]

On November 12, 1926, the Horsemen withdrew from the AFL and merged with Lions. The new team created by the merger was initially called the Brooklyn Lions and competed in the NFL from November 22, 1926. For the last three games of the 1926, the team used the Horsemen name to finish the season. After three consecutive losses by shutout, the merged team winked out of existence.[1]

  1. ^ a b David S. Neft, Richard M. Cohen, and Rick Korch, The Football Encyclopedia: The Complete History of Professional Football, From 1892 to the Present (St. Martin’s Press 1994), ISBN 0-312-11435-4