Author: Scott Adamson

UBL swung and missed

Baseball fans were caught in the middle of a Major League crisis in the summer of 1994.

Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl

A strike that began on Aug. 12 wiped out the remainder of the regular season and playoffs, and caused the World Series to be canceled for the first time since 1904. But what if a new league came along – one with incentives that would lessen the possibility of work stoppages? Would that tempt followers of the National Pastime to move past the traditional big leagues and give a different circuit a try?

The founders of the United Baseball League certainly hoped so, and on November 1, 1994, they announced that the National and American leagues were about to have company.

“We’re not here to prod the establishment and we’re not here to replace it,” co-founder Dick Moss told the Associated Press. “We’re here to coexist with it. We will compete, just as Ford competes with General Motors.”

When I first heard about the UBL it piqued my interest. I was already a fan of alternative sports leagues and MLB had gone seemingly forever without any real competition. Maybe this would rock the boat a bit.

“Every sports league in this country had been controlled by a bunch of rich, white guys,” UBL co-founder Bob Mrazek said to AP. “We will offer a level of play which is comparable to major league baseball. We will build our success on a philosophy of true partnership. Our plans call for sharing and equity sharing arrangements with our players and our host cities.”

During the league’s inaugural news conference, it was announced that the goal was to sell 10 franchises for $5 million each, with eight in the United States, one in Canada, and one in Mexico. Play would begin in 1996 and by 1999 six expansion teams – including four from Asia – would be added.

Curt Flood, part of the UBL management group and a legendary figure in the sport’s labor movement, said there would be franchises in Puerto Rico, Taiwan and the Dominican Republic.

“We’re not limited to just the United States,” Flood said. “It’ll be a very high caliber, high class of competition. In some ways, this is a rare opportunity. If you were going to construct a league designed to avoid the problems of the past, how would you do it?”

Players were to receive 35 percent of pretax profits of the UBL, while host cities would get 15 percent plus 50 percent of luxury suite income and one-third of parking revenue.

In 1996 the projected average attendance would be 17,500 with ticket prices around $8 and an average player salary of $520,000. Players would be eligible for free agency after three seasons in the UBL.

In addition, the league agreed to a 20-year TV deal with Liberty Sports Network.

All of it sounded good to me – except for the 1996 part. While I understood the pitfalls of rushing to market, the strike was still fresh on everyone’s mind and a new league debuting in the spring of 1995 might still have some anti-MLB momentum.

Instead, the founders opted to take their time and, supposedly, do things right.

After the November unveiling UBL officials spent the next few months putting their plan into action, and in 1995 it was revealed that the inaugural season would begin on March 28, 1996. Instead of 162 games, the regular season would consist of 154 games, returning to MLB’s “old” format.

The Eastern Division would include Central Florida (Kissimmee), Long Island, Puerto Rico (Bayamon), and Washington, D.C.

Los Angeles, New Orleans, Portland, and Vancouver would comprise the Western Division. There was even talk of bringing in Pete Rose – famously banned from baseball – as skipper of the New Orleans entry.

As for talent, the idea was to initially go after free agents and international stars.

But, as is the case with most upstarts, starting up is often the biggest problem. In December, 1995, Moss announced that the league would postpone its first season until 1997 due to stadium issues and snags in the TV contract.

Then, after four months of silence, the UBL released a statement on April 11, 1996, that it was suspending operations “until further notice.”

And as you’ve probably noticed, 25 years later the UBL remains suspended.

Apparently there were several factors involved in the failure to launch. For one thing, Liberty merged with Fox Sports, and that included Major League Baseball broadcast rights.

But by 1996 the strike of 1994 was ancient history to sports fans, and any window of opportunity for the UBL to make a splash was closed.

Still, it was an interesting idea, and I often wonder how far it would’ve gotten if it had been able to take the field in 1995.

And who knows? Perhaps some entrepreneurs with more money than business sense might want to give the United Baseball League another go. After all, Rose still needs a club to manage.

The WFL’s night of champions

When you think of a world championship game, images of a glitzy trophy presentation, confetti raining down on players, and an elaborate fireworks display might come to mind.

Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl

When you think back to the World Bowl – the one and only championship of the World Football League – none of the above applies.

In fact, the game played on December 5, 1974, started with two teams who hadn’t been paid in months and ended with the winners having their uniforms and equipment taken away by sheriff’s deputies.

Glamorous, it was not.

But I didn’t come here to bury the memory of the clash between the Birmingham Americans and Florida Blazers, but to praise it. What these players endured – and ultimately delivered – showed true championship mettle. And all the participants deserve to be remembered fondly.

For the record, Birmingham (17-5) claimed the crown with a 22-21 victory over Florida (16-7) in front of 32,376 chilly fans at Legion Field.

Joe Profit and Art Cantrelle scored first half rushing touchdowns for the winners and quarterback Matthew Reed added the “action point” conversion following the second TD. In the third quarter, George Mira hit Bob Brown on a 26-yard scoring strike to give the Americans a 22-0 advantage.

(Florida fans might recall Tommy Reamon scoring an apparent 5-yard touchdown on the game’s opening drive, only to have officials rule he fumbled before crossing the goal line. Replays show he still had possession when he reached the end zone but there were no booth reviews in 1974 so Reamon and his team got hosed).

The Blazers rallied for 21 fourth quarter points. QB Bob Davis connected with Reamon on 39-yard scoring strike to put his team on the board, and later hit Greg Latta for a 40-yard passing TD to make it a one score game.

Rod Foster added a 76-yard punt return for a touchdown in a showdown that saw the teams combine for 626 yards of total offense. Still, it’s what happened off the field that made this contest so remarkable.

The WFL was already in freefall – $20 million in debt and its credibility shot due to two franchises folding (Detroit and Jacksonville) and two others relocating (New York to Charlotte and Houston to Shreveport) in-season.

As for the last two teams standing in the postseason, Florida players hadn’t gotten a paycheck in 14 weeks and members of the Birmingham contingent had played without compensation for almost two months.

“Before the (semi-final playoff game against Memphis), the guys just came down to the point where we realized we weren’t going to get paid,” Davis told Florida Today. “We said, ‘Let’s win this one and go on to the World Bowl.’ We’ve been screwed by the league, by our owners, by the officials, by everyone. The only thing left was our desire to give ourselves something.”

In an interview with the Associated Press Blazers backup quarterback Buddy Palazzo said, “We’re supposed to be playing for a living and not getting paid. That knocks down the theory about spoiled, high-salaried athletes.”

Americans players walked out of practice the Monday before the World Bowl and demanded to be paid, but on Tuesday decided they’d take the field no matter what.

“We’re not playing for back pay,” Birmingham running back Charlie Harraway told the Associated Press. “We’re playing for a championship.”

As for a big championship game payday, that didn’t happen.

Because of the financial straits of the Americans, 30 percent of the gate would go to federal, state and local tax officials. The remaining 70 percent would be divided up among the teams.

As it turned out, Birmingham got $1,400 per player as part of the winners’ share while Florida received $1,000 per man.

“Ask these guys which would be more important to them – all their back pay or this moment,” Birmingham tackle Paul Costa said to an Associated Press reporter after the game. “It wouldn’t be a contest. This is a super feeling.”

The locker room celebration was tempered by the fact that Birmingham’s gear was confiscated immediately in order to pay off a $30,000 debt owed to the team’s equipment supplier. It was as though the party was interrupted by a raid.

“So what?” Americans owner Bill Putnam told AP. “The IRS and everybody else has liens against us, so what’s the big deal about losing our uniforms?”

However, at least one Blazer put a positive spin on it all.

“These have been the best and fondest memories of my 10-year career in football,” Florida defensive Rickie Harris told Florida Today after the WFL postmortem. “You only meet guys like this once in your lifetime. Despite all the adversity, despite everything we’ve been through, the players hung together and they played for each other.”

It’s easy to view the World Bowl as a tragicomic performance staged by a ragtag group of players in a bush league trying to disguise itself as a big league.

Easy, but wrong.

After spending so many weeks playing for nothing, on this one night simply playing the game of football meant everything to the Birmingham Americans and Florida Blazers.

And for that, they’ll always have my respect – and admiration.

I take a much deeper dive into the Americans and the WFL in my book “The Home Team” My Bromance With Off-Brand Football” available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.

NISA’s big tent

All who know me know that the original North American Soccer League holds a special place in my heart. It’s why I played soccer in high school, why posters of Pelé and Kyle Rote Jr. once hung on the walls of my bedroom, and why the Beautiful Game became one of my greatest sports passions.

Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl

I don’t care that it was built from the top down, nor do I care that it was a retirement league – show me a photo of the New York Cosmos packing Giants Stadium, George Best and Elton John “practicing” together, or the gloriously tacky fringe jerseys sported by the Caribous of Colorado – and those pictures paint a thousand words and revive hundreds of memories.

The old NASL breathed its last in 1984, however, and since then much has happened to and with association football in the United States. America’s closed system currently features Major League Soccer at the top, the United Soccer League Championship a notch below, and USL League One and the National Independent Soccer Association serving as de facto Division III leagues. There are also many semi-pro and amateur loops scattered across the country. As to which of the above are the best to follow, well, every soccer supporter has an opinion. But that, as the Kermit the Frog internet meme suggests, is none of my business.

I’ve got to tell you, though, when it comes to men’s leagues I now find myself firmly in the NISA camp. It has nothing at all in common with the old NASL other than a Cosmos-branded club, but I like its style and the renegade vibe it gives off. And my attraction to it isn’t so much for what it is, but what it might become.

NISA features my longtime favorite side, the Cosmos, so it has built-in appeal to me. Add Chattanooga FC (a club I bought into) and Detroit City FC (architects of a culture we should all buy into) to the mix, and I’m fully on board. Chicago enters the league next fall, with NISA co-founder Peter Wilt helping spearhead the effort. Wilt left the organization to do his voodoo in USL League One, but now he’s back where he started. Wilt is a true soccer guy who loves the game and will undoubtedly help the Chicagoland entry become a quick success.

(Currently you can go to chicagonisa.com and make suggestions for names and colors. I didn’t take part in the survey because that’s for Windy City folk to decide, but if you’re asking me I like “Speakeasy FC.”)

Although the situation is fluid, other clubs slated to compete in 2021 include California (Irvine) United Strikers FC, Los Angeles Force, Maryland (Montgomery County) Bobcats, Michigan (Pontiac) Stars, New Amsterdam FC and New Jersey (Bayonne) Teamsters FC.

NISA has no territorial rights so any group who wants to put down roots can put them down anywhere they think they’ll grow. New York, New Amsterdam and New Jersey form a nice little cluster in the Northeast, and Rochester applied for membership on Thursday. One would assume if NISA hangs around long enough, big market metros will provide a big tent for multiple clubs in the future while leaving plenty of room for smaller cities.

And with the addition of NISA Nation – a full-year amateur consortium for clubs eying a transition to pro soccer – there’s an open invitation to the party. Currently the Gulf Coast Premier League, Midwest Premier League, and Eastern Premier Soccer League are affiliates but there are likely more to come. Maryland, for example, parlayed EPSL membership into a spot in NISA and will begin play next spring.

As expected, there have been plenty of fits and starts. It was formed in June of 2017 but co-founder Jack Cummins died eight months later, and in May of 2018 Wilt left to start Forward Madison FC in League One. NISA went mostly radio silent for a while and when it did reemerge it took a hit when Miami FC – a founding member – bolted to the USL Championship. And the Oakland Roots were one and done this year, also jumping to the second division. Both clubs had the opportunity to move up a level, and they took it.

And whether it’s money, the COVID-19 pandemic or other circumstances, some clubs have appeared and disappeared (Atlanta SC), while others have gone on “hiatus” (North Carolina’s Stumptown Athletic and San Diego 1904).

Yet despite such challenges NISA has plans to step up – eventually – and wants to ultimately develop a promotion/relegation system. Meanwhile they’re trying to expand their footprint while maintaining a community-based sensibility.

Finding success – real, long term success – will not be easy, though. The United States Soccer Federation and MLS are joined at the hip, so it’ll be hard for NISA to make friends in high places. And since it’s trying to connect so many amateur leagues, the ruling class might think it’s getting too big for its bridges.

Still, I like its inclusiveness and willingness to provide chances for any soccer dreamers who want to take them. And for whatever reason, it’s revived a spark in my fandom.

I’m pretty sure I won’t see fringe on kits – and I’m way too old to have posters on my bedroom wall – but the National Independent Soccer Association is bringing me full circle. After becoming a fan thanks to a league that overreached, maybe now I need an underdog to help me turn back the clock.