 The older league also adopted the practice of using the stadium scoreboard clocks to keep track of the official game time, instead of just having a stopwatch used by the referee.The AFL played a 14-game schedule for its entire existence, starting in 1960.The NFL, which had played a 12-game schedule since 1947, changed to a 14-game schedule in 1961, a year after the American Football League instituted it; it has been 16-game seasons since 1978.