Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Do the Philadelphia Eagles share lineage with both the Frankford Yellow Jackets and the Minneapolis Red Jackets? According to an article in the November 7, 1930, Portsmouth Times, the owner of the Red Jackets sold his franchise to the owners of the Yellow Jackets. Philadelphia later purchased the assets of the Yellow Jackets. I assume those assets included the Minneapolis franchise?

The original Eagles ownership did purchase the assets of the Yellowjackets, but were were awarded a new franchise, separate from the original Frankford franchise.

RyanChristiansen wrote:Do the Philadelphia Eagles share lineage with both the Frankford Yellow Jackets and the Minneapolis Red Jackets? According to an article in the November 7, 1930, Portsmouth Times, the owner of the Red Jackets sold his franchise to the owners of the Yellow Jackets. Philadelphia later purchased the assets of the Yellow Jackets. I assume those assets included the Minneapolis franchise?

A "franchise" is not a team. It's a piece of paper that says you can be in the league.
Back in the 1920s and 1930s the vast majority of NFL teams lost money and would return the "franchise" to the league. And because those "franchises" owed the league and the other teams money a new team could only enter the league by buying one of the existing "franchises." Included in the deal was paying off the debts of the previous "franchise."

TodMaher wrote:A "franchise" is not a team. It's a piece of paper that says you can be in the league.
Back in the 1920s and 1930s the vast majority of NFL teams lost money and would return the "franchise" to the league. And because those "franchises" owed the league and the other teams money a new team could only enter the league by buying one of the existing "franchises." Included in the deal was paying off the debts of the previous "franchise."

Perhaps the Red Jackets owners just sold their players to the Yellow Jackets, and the newspaper reported it as selling the franchise. The Red Jackets actually played three more games on the East Coast after the reported sale of the franchise. If that's the case, I assume they were being managed by the Yellow Jackets owners at the time. Had the rosters merged and they essentially played out the Red Jackets schedule from the same group of players?

Interestingly, and likely inconsequential, there was a report, without mention of player names, about the "Frankford Red Jackets" playing a game in Croydon, PA, after the NFL season.

In 1941, there was a report that said Minneapolis "still holds a franchise" in the NFL but had not fielded a team. It seems the understanding of what it meant to "have" a franchise in something was a little fluid?