Scott Adamson, Author at Adamsonmedia.com

A short history of the IBA/WBL

Hours and hours of practice can lead to better basketball skills, but it can’t lead to better basketball size – at least not in a vertical sense.

But what if the playing field – or in this case, the court – was leveled?

**Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl**

Back in 1987 the International Basketball Association wanted to find out when it instituted a height limit. Yep, if you wanted to play in the IBA, you needed to be shorter than 6-5. If you showed up at a tryout standing 6-5 even, you were shown the door and pointed toward the nearest NBA scout.

The IBA was founded in July, 1987, and it would’ve been easy to dismiss except for one thing: Bob Cousy was director of operations.

“Basketball is the second most played sport in the world, next to soccer,” Cousy said in an interview with the Gannett News Service. “It’s big in Italy and Spain – all over Europe – and it’s played in China and a lot of Communist countries. Without question, there’s a tremendous foundation of interest.

“And in all of those places, 99 percent of the players are under 6-foot-4. There are great players out there 6-4 and under.”

The league’s first season was scheduled to begin in May, 1988, with teams in Chicago, Dallas, Fresno, Los Angeles, New York, Orange County, San Jose, Washington, Vancouver and three other sites (Hamilton, Ontario, Louisville, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Tampa and Toronto were being considered).

The first draft would be held in December, 1987, where players who attended tryout camps would be picked, and the second following the 1988 NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Players would be paid a minimum of $20,000, rosters would consist of 10 players and the regular season would feature 60 games.

Cousy also made it clear the IBA had no intention of competing with the NBA.

“No way,” he told Gannett. “This is the mistake the other leagues have made. Too many started out with the thought of going head-to-head or eventually being absorbed by the established league.

“The NBA has never been more popular – in ratings, in attendance – that’s great. The concept of our new league will fly because of that. We are simply going to offer an alternative.”

As is the case with most startups, there were quite a few changes between concept and execution.

When the circuit debuted in May, 1988, it had changed its name to the World Basketball League. Four teams that were part of the IBA wanted to delay their debut until 1989 so the original franchises were the Calgary 88’s, Chicago Express, Fresno Flames, Las Vegas Silver Streaks, Vancouver Nighthawks and Youngstown Pride.

It had also added some rule innovations, including 10-minute quarters, 30-second shot clock, a 16-foot foul lane, and a sudden death overtime structured so that the first team to score seven points was the winner.

“It’s just like (Continental Basketball Association) ball,” Express public relations director Dan Currier told the Quad-City Times for a May 22, 1988, article. “The only difference is that there’s no dominating center of any kind. Other than that, it’s just like any other pro ball.”

The league lasted until 1992, which means it outlived most minor leagues of its kind. By the time it was done it had gone through 18 North American franchises and six international teams, and even raised its height limit to 6-7 in 1991.

The WBL folded on August 1, 1992, after four franchises went under.

“We regret having to make this decision,” WBL commissioner John F. Geletka. “We plan to sit down with owners and evaluate our next steps. I would certainly not rule out a WBL in 1993.”

Three days later Michael Monus, one of the league’s originators and the founder of Phar-Mor Inc., was accused of embezzling money from the discount drug store chain (and eventually convicted of embezzling $10 million, some of which was used to prop up the WBL).

The remaining Canadian franchises in Halifax, Hamilton, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg broke away to form the National Basketball League, but it made it only a year and a half before folding.

Twenty-six WBL players did play in the NBA for various stretches including John Starks, who was an NBA All-Star.

And Sidney Lowe suited up for five different NBA teams and is currently an assistant coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Nearly 30 years later it’s doubtful that many people remember the IBA/WBL – fondly or otherwise. But in a game dominated by big men, it deserves some credit for giving the little guys a chance.

The prototype WFL

I wasn’t a history major in college, nor did I ever work for the World Football League. But when it comes to the history of the WFL, I’ve always considered myself to have a pretty good working knowledge of its timeline.

Yet when you let research take you in whatever direction it happens to go, you sometimes end up with a surprise. And thanks to a happy accident, I recently learned something new about the formation of the league.

Namely, a “World Football League” was proposed by Louis P. Roberts in early 1973.

Now, you ask most people who they think conjured the idea of the World Football League and if they have a passing knowledge of it they’ll say Gary Davidson.

Look a little further, though, and you discover that Tony Razzano and Louis S. Goldman planned a global circuit about the same time as Davidson, if not before. Both groups announced their organizations in October, 1973, but Razzano and Goldman had to change the name of theirs to Universal Football League since Davidson beat them to the WFL punch when he held the first press conference among the competing leagues.

The UFL decided to step back and regroup for a 1975 spring/summer season (that never happened, with Razzano joining forces with Davidson in 1974 and eventually becoming administrative director for the Jacksonville Sharks).

But Roberts?

I had no clue, and the only reason I found out was when I was researching old newspaper clippings on an unrelated topic and just happened upon a Philadelphia Inquirer article.

The headline – World Football League May Give Boo-Birds a Choice in ‘74 – drew me in, but the date is what really caught my attention. It appeared in the newspaper’s February 27, 1973, edition, which was almost eight months before the historical WFL was introduced to the public.

According to the story, written by Gordon Forbes, Roberts was an insurance executive based in Anniston, Alabama, who was looking to line up some millionaires to invest in a 10-city World Football League. The inaugural franchises in 1974 would be chosen from Birmingham, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Honolulu, Jacksonville, Jersey City, Los Angeles, Memphis, Mexico City, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Seattle, Tulsa and Wichita.

“The cost of a team will be at least $5 million,” Roberts told the Inquirer. “But we prefer the man to have $10 million in backup capital. We expect to line up eight to 10 teams in the next few months and sign the articles of association.”

Apparently Roberts had placed an advertisement looking for investors sometime in 1972, and gave the newspaper a list of several big money business figures he had either already contacted or hoped to get in touch with.

One of special interest to me was Hugh Morrow III, a wealthy Birmingham banker and politician who had been trying to bring big-time pro football to the Magic City since the 1960s. However, he had no interest in the WFL and said Roberts was trying to pull off what American Football League founder Lamar Hunt had done.

“He’s playing the same game Lamer did,” Morrow told the Inquirer. “But he hasn’t got the muscle Lamar has. Very few of us do. Our particular organization is not interested in his league, just the NFL. We feel that’s where our Birmingham commitment is.

“We know we’re competing with Tampa and Memphis (for an NFL expansion team) but we still think this town is a real hotspot for professional football.”

Zip Viracola, a Dallas businessman who had played for Vince Lombardi at Fordham as well as Washington and Green Bay in the NFL, said he wanted to make sure the WFL would have a national TV contract before making a commitment.

“Starting a football league isn’t that easy,” he said. “If you don’t have a TV contract, you might as well start another Continental League, be another Pottstown.”

Jump to October 23, 1974, and Davidson announces that the World Football League would play in 1974, with Chicago getting the first franchise and New York, Honolulu, Toronto, Boston, Los Angeles and possibly Tokyo expected to join soon.

One man not at the press conference was Roberts.

The WFL started without him – and without any acknowledgment that he had a World Football League in the works.

Ultimately for Roberts, it might’ve been a good thing. By the time the WFL reached the finish line in 1974 it was buried under a mountain of debt. And with franchises folding and/or relocating during the season and some players waiting for paychecks that never came, it was considered one of the greatest sports business debacles in history.

But Roberts was bitter.

Again talking to Forbes for a November 20, 1974, piece in the Inquirer, Roberts said WFL owners Robert Schmertz (New York Stars) and John Bassett (Memphis Southmen) stole his idea.

“They took my concept and three of my people that would’ve been in the league,” Roberts said. “That was enough to put me out of the picture momentarily.”

Roberts said he had met with Schmertz, a representative of Bassett, and two other men on August 10, 1973.

“We didn’t have enough owners to get any progress,” he said. “But that was the night Schmertz and Bassett began to make their move. In one respect, yes, I’m bitter.”

The WFL media guide has August 2, 1973, as the date Davidson began making plans for the WFL, which was more than a week before Roberts held his summit. But there’s no denying that Roberts’ vision of a World Football League was revealed in February, 1973.

“It makes me bitter because everything happened so fast,” Roberts said in the 1974 article. “They quickly signed the articles of incorporation in Santa Ana County. I wiped my eyes when it went down because I had worked three years. I had left no stone unturned. I researched and researched and priced uniforms, contacted people …”

While an interesting cloak and dagger tale, we’ll never know if Roberts’ version would’ve ever gotten off the ground or – if it had – would’ve lasted longer than the WFL’s one and a half year run.

But if he had lined up owners with $5 million or $10 million to spare, it most certainly could’ve made a world of difference.

New leagues, new hopes

Fox’s version of the United States Football League kicks off in April, 2022, and in 2023 the third iteration of the XFL is scheduled to take the field. Invariably, those who roll their eyes at such ventures will ask, “Do we really need more football?”

Well, no, we don’t “need” football at all, just as we don’t need much of anything beyond food, water and shelter. But there are those who can and will watch it all year long, and they’re excited about this latest spring fling.

And before you ask if there’s even a place for minor league football, my answer is yes. The NFL has 32 teams with 53-man rosters. That’s roughly 1,700 players who get to compete at the highest level of the sport. I’m convinced there are many more who can play a quality brand of the gridiron game – and some already do that in the Canadian Football League.

So I think a lot of times we miss the point when we start talking about alternative leagues. It’s not whether there’s enough talent to stock them – dozens of 2020 XFL players went on to earn NFL and CFL roster spots – it’s whether there is enough financial backing to support them until they become sustainable. To date, that’s the riddle that has yet to be solved.

Having lived through a number of leagues that tried and failed, being cynical about upstart circuits is my default mode. What some consider being negative I call being realistic.

But a new year dawns, and being hopeful doesn’t cost a thing. So in that spirit, here are my good wishes – not predictions, just wishes – for both the United States Football League and XFL.

First, I want the Birmingham Stallions, Houston Gamblers, Michigan Panthers, New Jersey Generals, New Orleans Breakers, Philadelphia Stars, Pittsburgh Maulers and Tampa Bay Bandits to survive the 2022 season and be able to play in their own home stadiums by 2023. To that end, I’d like to see TV ratings on both Fox and NBC be good enough so that all the stakeholders decide this is a venture worth sticking with – even if that means patiently building an audience while losing money for the first few years.

And as is the case with any new league, its competition committee would do well to come up with interesting rules. “NFL Lite” doesn’t excite me, and I believe spring football aficionados want something different from what they experience in the fall.

Most importantly, I want all the players, coaches, support personnel, front office and back office employees to get paid and get paid on time.

As for the XFL, I hope it takes what it learned from its pandemic-shortened 2020 season and applies it to the reboot. Its rules were fantastic – I liked every single one. For my money, its game play innovations were the best of any alternative league that has come along since the World Football League. (If the XFL decides to throw in a 7-point touchdown and action point conversion as a tribute to the WFL, I would not object).

Team-wise it can look at which cities best supported it three years earlier in deciding who to bring back, and that puts St. Louis at the top of the list. Enthusiastic fans set up the “Gateway to the West” as the gold standard among alt-football locales, and there were thousands and thousands of them. When the XFL was shut down, the BattleHawks averaged 28,541 fans per game and were expecting more than 50,000 for their next scheduled clash at the Dome.

The Seattle Dragons were the other XFL team that pulled in more than 25,000 per game, so it would be a smart move to reboot them.

Although they had the worst attendance in the league (13,124 per game), the Los Angeles Wildcats give the XFL a major market that the USFL isn’t currently occupying. Same is true for the Dallas Renegades and DC Defenders.

Beyond that, it depends on whether or not the XFL wants to challenge the USFL head-to-head in a turf war. Based on the 2022 USFL teams and 2020 XFL entries, there would be competition in New York (Generals and Guardians), Tampa Bay (Bandits and Vipers) and Houston (Gamblers and Roughnecks).

From a media standpoint I think it’d be worth it to keep the Guardians, even though they weren’t a great draw their first time out. Any new organization hoping to establish itself in a major way (even if it’s a minor league) needs to be in the New York market.

Plus, the Guardians were the XFL team I cheered for and I already have a T-shirt, so it’d be nice to move that article of clothing from the “dormant” to “active” side of my closet.

On the other hand, if I’m the XFL I defer to the USFL when it comes to Houston and Tampa Bay. Instead, I’d go with San Antonio and Orlando, who led 2019’s Alliance of American Football in attendance. Might want to throw San Diego in the mix, too.

So let’s say the USFL survives its first two years and the XFL makes it through its relaunch in 2023. That means I want to see a merger in 2024, right?

Nope.

I would absolutely love it if both leagues establish their own identities, challenging fans to pick a side. Do you watch the Birmingham Stallions play the Philadelphia Stars on Fox, or do you watch the St. Louis BattleHawks and Seattle Dragons on ABC?

Maybe that leads to a bidding war, and then interleague exhibitions featuring hybrid rules, and ultimately the Summer Bowl pitting the USFL and XFL champion in a game.

Am I getting ahead of myself? Well, yeah. I mean, the last spring circuit of this kind to make it through a full season was the original XFL in 2001.

But I said I was going to be hopeful, and on this New Year’s Eve, 2021, I’m sincerely hoping for the best – for the USFL, XFL and everyone who wants to see professional football blossom in the spring.