article

The World Football League was an American football league that played in 1974 and part of 1975. Although this pro grid circuit's true ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest the WFL reached was placing a team - the Hawaiians - in Honolulu, Hawaii.

History

Gary Davidson was the driving force behind the WFL. He had helped start the marginally successful American Basketball Association and World Hockey Association, in which some of its teams survived long enough to enter the established basketball and hockey leagues into its respective organizations. His World Football League would prove to not survive against the NFL, much less bring any of its surviving teams into it.

What the fledgling WFL did succeed in was raising the bar on salaries that had been stagnant in the NFL. Average salaries of NFL players were among the lowest in the four major sports; baseball, basketball, and hockey. Davidson's league garnered major news when the Toronto Northmen, led by John F. Bassett, signed three Miami Dolphins players: running back Larry Csonka, fullback Jim Kiick, and wide receiver Paul Warfield to what was then the richest 3-player deal in sports. The trio signed for an astounding $3.5 million dollars to play for the Toronto franchise, starting in 1975. The pact was a guaranteed, personal services contract, which meant that even if the WFL didn't survive its first season, the three would be paid regardless.

Immediately, the NFL took notice as did its players when they were approached to jump leagues. The Oakland Raiders lost both their quarterbacks, Ken Stabler who signed with the Birmingham Americans and Daryle Lamonica who penned a contract to play for the Southern California Sun, starting in 1975. The Dallas Cowboys also took some roster hits when WFL teams in Hawaii and Houston signed running back Calvin Hill and quarterback Craig Morton respectively. By early June of 1974, the WFL claimed they had some 60 NFL stars and regulars under contract.

Playing a 20-week regular season in 1974 - six weeks longer than the NFL's season at that time - the WFL staged no exhibition games. The scheduling proved to be a daunting task, considering that in order to complete the World Bowl Championship by the Friday after Thanksgiving in November, teams would play four games in fifteen days. This arduous amount of games resulted in many injuries and mounting fatigue within team rosters.

In the first few weeks, the WFL looked to be a resounding success. Attendance outpaced the first week of the old American Football League of 1960, averaging just under 43,000 a game. The box office numbers proved to be the beginning of the WFL's undoing. In Jacksonville, the Sharks admitted that 44,000 tickets were giveaways. The Philadelphia Bell whose first two home games totaled 120,000 fans, told the press that over 100,000 had been sold for almost nothing. Presumably the giveaways were intended in part to pique the public's curiosity and interest, but the attempt was unsuccessful. Six games into the first season, WFL franchises were in serious trouble. The Detroit Wheels were looking to move to Charlotte, North Carolina and the Florida Blazers made overtures of bringing the first place club to Atlanta.

By September, the barely one-year old league had bottomed out when two franchises relocated. The New York Stars relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina as the Charlotte Hornets, and the Houston Texans, the first WFL team to relocate in mid-season, moved to Shreveport, Louisiana as the Shreveport Steamer. In October, the league pulled the plug on the Detroit Wheels and the Jacksonville Sharks after only 14 games. Reports of financial hardship abounded. Two such stories were of Portland Storm players being fed by local citizens, and of the Charlotte Hornets having their uniforms impounded for not paying a laundry bill from the time the team was located in New York.

Despite the disasters, many thought the WFL performed fairly well, though obviously below NFL standards. Many games were tight, decided by seven points or less, and the Action Point, the one-point option of running or passing rather than the standard "PAT" (Point After Touchdown) was favored among WFL coaches and critics. The league championship - the World Bowl, or World Bowl I - was staged in Birmingham between the hometown Birmingham Americans and Florida Blazers. The Action Point proved to be the equalizer as the Americans won the championship by a single point, 22-21. The day after the World Bowl champions uniforms were confiscated by sheriff deputies. (Sports Illustrated referred to the game, prophetically, as "The first, and possibly only World Bowl").

Though many predicted the WFL was dead, the league returned for the 1975 season, with a new leader, president Chris Hemmeter, former co-owner of the 1974 Hawaiians franchise, and some new owners with new names. The deceased Sharks of Jacksonville came back as the 'Express.' The Portland Storm became the Portland 'Thunder', the Birmingham Americans renamed the Vulcans, and the Chicago Fire became the 'Winds'. World Bowl runner-ups, the Florida Blazers folded; its franchise rights relocated to San Antonio, Texas as the San Antonio Wings. Only two teams, Memphis and Philadelphia, returned with the same ownership from last season.

Several more NFL free agents including Calvin Hill and Ted Kwalick signed on with the struggling WFL, and the Chicago Winds made an offer to aging Super Bowl III MVP Joe Namath, who seriously considered the offer before refusing and resigning with the New York Jets. The embarrassing rejection by Namath, after the Winds had invested so much effort in signing him, seriously hurt the Winds, who folded five weeks into the season. Shortly afterward, the entire league shut down and the Birmingham Vulcans, with a league best record of 9-3 were awarded the league championship.

With the relative financial stability of the Birmingham and Memphis clubs, both attempted to join the NFL but were refused. The NFL awarded its two 1976 expansion franchises to Tampa and Seattle instead.

Teams

1974 Season

EASTERN DIVISION
TeamWLT
Florida Blazers1460
Charlotte Hornets10100
Philadelphia Bell9110
Jacksonville Sharks4100
CENTRAL DIVISION
TeamWLT
Memphis Southmen1730
Birmingham Americans1550
Chicago Fire7130
Detroit Wheels1130
WESTERN DIVISION
TeamWLT
Southern California Sun1370
The Hawaiians9110
Portland Storm7121
Shreveport Steamer7121

Notes: (1) Jacksonville and Detroit folded after 14 games; each week thereafter, the teams that had games against those teams played each other. (2) Shreveport Steamer began season as Houston Texans. (3) Charlotte Hornets began season as New York Stars; upon moving to Charlotte, played one game as Charlotte Stars, and remaining games as Hornets. (4) Chicago forfeited its 20th game to Philadelphia, 2-0.

1974 Playoffs

In the original WFL schedule, the three division champions plus one wild-card were to qualify, culminating in a "World Bowl" on the evening after Thanksgiving (at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla.). Then, with financial problems mounting, it was announced that (1) the team with the best record would be declared the champion; (2) Three teams (Memphis, Birmingham, and Florida) would play-off (thus leaving West champ Southern California out); (3) Eight of the remaining 10 teams would qualify; and, finally, (4) the top two teams in each division would qualify, seeded entirely by won-lost record. This last format was followed, except that Charlotte said it couldn't participate due to a lack of funds, resulting in Philadelphia being selected as the East's second qualifier.

Quarterfinals

(November 20, 1974 and November 21, 1974):

Hawaiians defeated Southern California, 32-14 (@ Anaheim, Nov. 20th); Florida defeated Philadelphia, 18-3 (@ Orlando, Nov. 21st);

Semifinals

(November 27, 1974 and Friday, November 29, 1974):

Birmingham defated Hawaiians, 22-19 (@ Birmingham, Nov. 27th); Florida defeated Memphis, 18-15 (@ Memphis, Nov. 29th).

World Bowl

(December 5, 1974, at Legion Field, Birmingham, Ala.):

Birmingham Americans 22, Florida Blazers 21

1975 champions

  • Birmingham was declared the 1975 champions at the time the league folded.

Rules

The WFL had several important rules differences from the National Football League of that era:
  • Touchdowns were worth 7 points, instead of 6.
  • Conversions, called "action points", could only be scored via a run or pass play (as opposed to by kick as in other football leagues), and were worth one point. The XFL would also use this rule later on.
  • Kickoffs were from the 30-yard line instead of the 40. Prior to 1974, NFL teams kicked off from the 40; starting in 1974, the NFL moved its kickoffs back to the 35. Twenty years later, the kickoff line was pushed back to the 30.
  • Receivers needed only one foot in bounds for a legal pass reception, instead of two feet in the NFL then and now. College and high school football have always used the one-foot rule.
  • Bump-and-run pass coverage was outlawed once a receiver was 3 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. The NFL later adopted this rule, with a 5-yard bump zone.
  • The goalposts were placed at the end line (the back of the end zone). At that time, college football goalposts were at the end line, but the NFL had its goalposts at the goal line from 1933 through 1973. Starting with the 1974 season, the NFL also moved its posts back to the end line.
  • Missed field goals were returned to the line of scrimmage or the 20-yard line, whichever was farther from the goal line. The NFL also adopted this rule for its 1974 season, and moved the spot back to the point of the kick in 1994. Prior to this rule, missed field goals were (if unreturned) touchbacks, with the ball placed at the 20-yard line. (U.S. college football later adopted this rule, but as of 2005 has left the point as the line of scrimmage rather than the point of the placement.)
  • A player in motion was allowed to move toward the line of scrimmage before the snap, as long as he was behind the line of scrimmage at the snap. This rule had never been used at any level of outdoor American football, but was (and still is) part of Canadian football. Later, this rule was adopted in Arena football and the XFL.
  • Punt returners were prohibited from using the fair catch, although the covering team could not come within 5 yards of the kick returner until he caught the ball. This rule also came from Canadian football, which still uses it, as does Arena football with kickoffs and missed field goals. The XFL also used the so-called "halo rule."
  • Penalties for offensive holding and ineligible receiver downfield were 10 yards, instead of 15. Several years later, these became 10-yard penalties at all levels of football. Still later, the ineligible receiver penalty was changed to 5 yards (with loss of down).
  • Its original overtime system was like nothing used in any form of American football before or since; it was far more similar to the system long used in international soccer. Overtime in the regular season was one fixed 15-minute period, divided into two halves of 7-1/2 minutes, each starting with a kickoff by one of the teams. The complete overtime was always played; there was no "sudden death" feature. In 1975, the WFL changed its overtime to the 15-minute sudden-death period then (as now) used in the NFL.
  • Limited (or no) Pre-Season Games. In 1974 and 1975, NFL teams played six pre-season games and 14 regular season games (which was changed in 1978 to the current four pre-season and 16 regular season games). In contrast, the WFL's 1974 schedule called for 20 regular season games and no pre-season games; in 1975, it was 18 regular season games and two pre-season games.
  • Summertime Football. The NFL's regular season started on September 15th in 1974 and on September 21st in 1975; the WFL's regular season started on July 10th in 1974 and on July 26th in 1975 (with the 1975 pre-season starting on July 5th).
  • Weeknight Football (1974). While NFL games were played mostly on Sundays and a game on Monday Night, the WFL's 1974 schedule called for Wednesday night football (with a Thursday night national TV game). This scheduling format was abandoned in 1975.
  • The "Dickerod." Instead of using a ten-yard chain strung between two sticks for measuring first down yardage, the WFL used a device called the "Dickerod," obstensibly named for its inventor. This was a single stick, roughly ten feet tall, mounted on a base which allowed it to pivot from side to side. The stick was swung down to ground level when a first down was being set, and a marker that slid along the shaft was fixed in place to line up with the nearest gridiron line (the major yard lines spaced every five yards). When that was set, the stick was swung back to the upright position. When a measurement was needed by the officials, the Dickerod was brought out to the ball position, the shaft swung down to ground level, the marker lined up with the nearest gridiron line, and the measurement was taken. (In all other forms of football today, a similar marker is clipped to the standard ten-yard chain, also lining up with a gridiron line.)

Legacy

The league's struggles led to endless sarcastic comments (starting with the league's own abbreviation, which was often pronounced "Wiffle"). One player joked that he had been offered a million dollar contract: "A dollar a year for a million years!"

The WFL, for all its embarrassing miscues, is remembered for producing a number of coaches who would find success in the NFL: notably Jack Pardee, Lindy Infante, and Marty Schottenheimer. Memphis head coach John McVay went on to become head coach of the New York Giants, but had more success as general manager of the San Francisco 49ers during the 1980s dynasty years. Several players, most notably Danny White later found success in the NFL as well.

The league's most severe impact was on the Miami Dolphins, who had just won consecutive Super Bowls prior to the WFL's snagging of three of their star players. This changed the course of NFL history, by opening the door to dominance by two other AFC teams, the Steelers and the Raiders, during the remainder of the 1970s.

The WFL introduced the concept of 'singular' team names (i.e. the Sun, Bell, and Storm), which later became somewhat common in American sports other than professional football (most notably in the NBA and NHL, and at some universities.) The NFL's Houston Texans revived the name of the WFL's franchise for that city. There is also a Major League Soccer team called the Chicago Fire. There are/were also NBA teams called the Memphis Grizzlies and Charlotte Hornets (1988-2002). (However, the nickname "Hornets" for Charlotte teams in various sports long-precedes the WFL entry).

See also

External links

World Football League | Defunct American football leagues | 1974 establishments | Sports-related flops

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "World Football League".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world