The AFA entered its second decade still trying to find its true identity. Some owners, such as Carl Boon of Chicago and Rollie Barrell of Detroit were firm believers in "first rate all the way" and that meant teams in big cities. But AFA President Jack Kristich, though friendly with both Boon and Barrell, felt that the league had grown out of the smaller, hard-working cities of the industrial midwest and was reluctant to leave those roots behind. The last of the original small-city clubs, Dayton, had dropped out of the league midway through the '29 season, but had been bought by Brooklyn-based financier Dudley Townsend, who moved them to his home borough and dubbed them the Brooklyn Kings. Rumor - never confirmed - indicated that Townsend's deep pockets had helped save Brooklyn Kings baseball owner and root beer magnate Daniel Prescott from financial disaster in the wake of the Stock Market crash and this had led to Townsend's moving his team to Brooklyn, copying the baseball team's nickname and getting a beneficial rent deal at Kings County Stadium. 

The Depression that had hit during the previous season was going to be felt around the AFA in 1930 and beyond, making the atmosphere that thus far had allowed cities like Dayton, Albany, Harrisburg, and Providence exist in a league with New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, and Detroit. The squeeze was coming - some felt it as early as '30, but for others, the day of reckoning was fast approaching. The 1930 season can be rightly considered to be the one where the changing of the guard truly began, a process that would be completed within three years.

Just like Chicago before them, the Detroit Maroons came off their undefeated season with a bit of a hangover. Still, Rollie Barrell's men had a firm hand at the tiller and finished tied for second with a respectable 9-3-2 mark, tied with the resurgent Wildcats, who figured out their defensive woes and snapped back with a very stolid performance on that side of the ball - a scowling Carl Boon riding herd on them all the way. The 1930 season belonged not to Chicago or Detroit, but to New York, where the big buy-in the Stars had employed the year before paid dividends. New York went 14-2-1, taking a cue from the Philadelphia Hornets (who fell to 2-15-1) in their "play as much as possible approach" to scheduling. Those days were coming to an end too as Boon, Barrell and others pressured Kristich to take a stronger hand in scheduling and ensuring a fair and balanced schedule.

The newly minted Brooklyn Kings made the most of their new owner's bank account and improved the squad enough to climb to fourth place behind the three juggernauts. The Providence-based Rhode Island Reds lived up to their namesake bird, showing a lot of fight in finishing fifth at 8-4-2. Boston (7-4-0) and Harrisburg (5-4-3) rounded out the teams with winning marks. Both St. Paul (0-9-0) and Newark (0-11-1) went winless in their swansong seasons.

FINAL STANDINGS

WEEKLY RESULTS

1930 AFA ALL-PRO TEAM

QB: Garland Goddard, New York Stars
HB: Urban Dane, Chicago Wildcats
HB: Dewey Lennon, Harrisburg Generals
FB: Sammy Pitts, Cleveland Finches
LE: Bill Youngberg, Chicago Wildcats
LT: Neil Robirds, Chicago Wildcats
LG: Gus Ziegler, Detroit Maroons
C: Rickey Parrack, Brooklyn Kings
RG: Gus Herschlag, Cleveland Finches
RT: Henry Ulrich, New York Stars
RE: John Danner, Detroit Maroons