1941 was the second season of the third incarnation of the American Football League. The first incarnation was in 1926, the second incarnation was from 1936-1937, the third was from 1940-1941, and the fourth was from 1960-1969. After deeming the 1940 season to be a success, the league made overtures of expansion, even going to the point of having a press conference to announce the addition of new teams (July), but when the press conference was held, the Boston Bears had withdrawn from the league and the new Detroit franchise deferred entry for the 1942 season (interests representing Philadelphia and Baltimore also applied for membership and were denied).  The New York Yankees were sold to promoter and agent Douglas Hertz in January; by mid-summer, the AFL revoked the franchise in light of controversies involving Hertzs finances. A syndicate headed by William Cox was awarded the franchise in August, but Hertz kept the name for his new independent team (which later in the season became a traveling team in the American Association). Cox and the new owners of the AFL franchise redubbed the team the Americans. In Buffalo, a less contentious change of ownership resulted in the Indians becoming the Tigers. At the beginning of the 1941 season, the Bulls accepted a challenge from the defending Western Interprovincial Football Union champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers for a three-game series; the Bombers had been banned from Grey Cup contention that year due to rules discrepancies between the WIFU and the other organizations playing Canadian football at the time. The Bulls and Blue Bombers played three games, at least partially by Canadian rules (as one of the games, the deciding third game, has Winnipeg's final score as 1 point, which is not possible in the American game). Columbus won the series, 2-1; Winnipeg won the first game 19-12, but Columbus won the next two, 6-0 and 31-1. On the field, the Columbus Bulls successfully defended their 1940 AFL championship. Their 5-1-2 record edged the 5-2-1 of
the Americans and the 4-3-1 of the Milwaukee Chiefs. Since there were no playoffs in 1941, the Columbus Bulls were named the 1941 AFL Champions. Immediately after the conclusion of the 1941 AFL season, Pearl Harbor was attacked, and America entered World War II.
All future seasons would be postponed until after World War II, which would come in 1946.