History
Red Grange and his manager, C. C. Pyle, had organized the American Football League because they were denied an NFL franchise in New York. They got it in 1927, after the AFL folded. The New York Yankees, the only team to survive the AFL's downfall, leased the old Brooklyn Lions franchise from Mara.
But Mara put restrictions on the lease. The Yankees were allowed to play one three games in New York, and they had 13 on the road. NFL owners figured that Grange would boost attendance everywhere he played. However, Grange suffered a severe knee injury in the fourth game of the season, at Chicago. He came back after missing three games, but he was nothing like the same flashy, breakaway runner that he had been before.
The Yankees ended with a 7-8-1 record. Grange had to sit out the entire 1928 season because of the knee injury and the team dropped to 4-8-1, so Grange and Pyle gave up.
The franchise, though, seemed to have a life of its own. It reverted to Mara, who sold it to the Staten Island Stapletons.