The 1961 NFL expansion draft was a National Football League (NFL) draft in which a new expansion team, named the
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...
, selected its first players.
That selection was provided by the expansion draft, held on January 26, 1961.
In August 1959, a group of Minneapolis businessmen were awarded a franchise in the new
American Football League
The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...
(AFL).
In January 1960, they forfeited their AFL membership and were awarded a 90% stake in the 14th franchise of the NFL (the other 10%, under a decades-old agreement, went to former
Duluth Kelleys/Eskimos owner
Ole Haugsrud).
Though the ownership group had participated in the
1960 American Football League draft before jumping leagues to the NFL, they did not take any of the players they selected in that draft with them. As such, they entered the 1961 draft with an empty roster. So that the Vikings could become competitive with existing teams, the league awarded the Vikings the first pick in the
1961 NFL draft
The 1961 NFL draft took place at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia on December 27–28, 1960. The league would later hold an expansion draft for the Minnesota Vikings expansion franchise. This draft was also the first regular draft for the Dall ...
and gave them the opportunity to select current players from existing teams. In the expansion draft, the existing franchises listed players from which the Vikings could select to switch to the new team.
Rules of the draft
Every existing NFL team except the Dallas Cowboys listed eight of its 38 players, and the Vikings selected three players on the list from each team.
Player selections
See also
*
1961 American Football League draft
References
External links
Pro Football Hall of Fame – 1961 Draft*
{{Minnesota Vikings
NFL expansion draft
Expansion
Minnesota Vikings lists
NFL expansion draft