Category: Alternative Football

Nine days after the Birmingham Americans won the 1974 World Football League championship – and had all their equipment confiscated due to non-payment of debts – the struggling circuit completed two rounds of crucial meetings in New York.

The result was a decision to try again in 1975 with a potentially smaller, more financially responsible league.

“I had guarded optimism before,” WFL commissioner Chris Hemmeter told the Associated Press for a December 15, 1975, story. “But I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Before, I think all we saw were reflections on the wall.”

The WFL began play in July, 1974, with 12 franchises – the Americans, Chicago Fire, Detroit Wheels, Florida (Orlando) Blazers, The (Honolulu) Hawaiians, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Sharks, Memphis Southmen, New York Stars, Philadelphia Bell, Portland Storm and Southern California (Anaheim) Sun. Early games were marked by big crowds in most markets and the national buzz was largely positive. However, it was soon learned that the league had major money issues and attendance figures were being inflated. At least one city – Philadelphia – was “papering the house.”

By the time the league limped to the finish line, the Wheels and Sharks had folded before completing the season; the Texans and Stars relocated (Houston became the Shreveport Steamer and New York was reborn as the Charlotte Hornets); and only two teams (Memphis and Southern Cal) met payroll every week.

Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler, who had signed a futures contract with the Americans for 1976, successfully sued to void the deal after the club failed to pay $30,000 owed to him in 1974.

In terms of financial disasters, the WFL fiasco was one of the worst in pro sports history.

“The prime reason for the failures was unfounded optimism that we could launch a new league and survive on the proceeds,” Hemmeter said. “It was poor economic planning. The collective judgments made by this league should be questioned since they obviously didn’t work.”

Still, Hemmeter – the former primary owner of The Hawaiians who replaced original WFL commissioner Gary Davidson during the ’74 campaign – thought the NFL competitor was worth saving.

That meant rebooting with possibly as few as eight financially sound franchises and exploring new locales.

“I think there would be some new major markets in the league next year,” Hemmeter said. “These new investors represent new and substantial money from the top financial and social strata of the various communities.”

Yet while the WFL sought major league status – and did have NFL standouts such as Paul Warfield, Larry Csonka, Daryle Lamonica, Calvin Hill and John Gilliam on board for ’75 – the business plan was hardly big budget.

On December 19, Hemmeter revealed that the league was undergoing a reorganization that would put tight constraints on spending. Later dubbed the “Hemmeter Plan,” it was a system in which players received one percent of the gate. Any prospective owner would be required to clear up existing debts and put a minimum of $700,000 in escrow to guarantee payment of club salaries and bills.

“We know there is a market for a second league,” Hemmeter said in an interview with United Press International. “Our main problem is credibility. We must create stability and function in an environment of credibility.”

He added that if the reorganization was not complete by March, 1975, the WFL was over.

The good news – at the time, anyway – was that the league got the green light for another year. Well, it was actually New League Inc. doing business as the World Football League. So, technically, the original WFL was no more.

However, there was a glimmer of hope that the brand could be salvaged (and polished).

The biggest news moving into Year Two was that a major push by the league to sign Joe Namath away from the New York Jets was under way. He would be the face of the league as well as the star attraction of the new Chicago Winds franchise.

Perhaps if Broadway Joe became Magnificent Mile Joe, the WFL could attract more fans and a network contract. Without TV, the future was grim.

Returning from 1974 were the Bell, Southmen, Sun, Steamer, Hawaiians and Hornets, while joining the Winds as new additions were the Birmingham Vulcans, Jacksonville Express, Portland Thunder and San Antonio Wings.

Games moved to weekends (the 1974 WFL played primarily on Wednesday nights with syndicated TV games on Thursdays) and the regular season started in August.

Alas, Namath ultimately balked at jumping leagues, and network television shied away from partnering with the leaner WFL.

In reality, those gut-punches meant there was no legitimate path forward.

The Winds folded after five games, and the entire league followed suit after 12 weeks, averaging just 13,370 fans per game. On October 22, 1975, the World Football League officially went out of business.

Hemmeter had a solid plan in place, but the credibility crisis from 1974 simply could not be overcome.

Whenever a new alternative football league comes along, I like to offer the founders unsolicited advice on rule innovations. We all know what to expect in NFL and NCAA games, and as a Canadian Football League fan I’m familiar with its unique style of play as well.

But in order to stand out – especially as an upstart – I think you have to go bold and be very, very different.

The United Football League has some nice tweaks with its tiered conversions and overtime procedure, but I want to color even further outside the lines.

So, I wondered … if I formed a football league (and for the purposes of this column I’ll call it the Global Gridiron Federation because I couldn’t think of anything cool), how would I shake things up?

Well, I’d borrow rules from other circuits and make up a few of my own so crazy they’d be subject to ridicule. But that’s OK, because sometimes I like being ridiculous.

To set the tone for my extreme football makeover, I’d eliminate the punt option once a team reaches its own 40 yard line. In other words, if an offense has fourth-and-11 at its own 41, it has to go for it on fourth down and hope it makes at least 12 yards on the next play or turn the ball over.

Speaking of punts, there would be no fair catches. The CFL rule would be used, meaning returners would be given a five-yard cushion to field the kick.

Sticking with the CFL rulebook again, all backs would be allowed in motion toward the line of scrimmage. This would unleash offenses and create major headaches for defensive coordinators, but it’s my league and I like scoring, so they’d just have to deal with it.

Moving on to kickoffs, I’d duplicate what the UFL did in 2024. The ball is kicked off from the 20 and the return team must have a minimum of eight players (maximum of nine) line up in a box within 10 yards of the ball placement at kickoff until the kick is away. This results in players on the receiving team running in the same direction as those on the coverage team and, thus, increases player safety.

Not extreme enough for you?

Hang on to your chinstraps.

Quarters would be 12 minutes long – the standard length used in high school football. I decided on this rule because as I get older my attention span gets shorter. Throw in a 10-minute halftime, and games should be done in a little over two hours.

Another dramatic change involves the end zones and goalposts. NFL and American college football end zones are 10 yards deep while they’re double that length in the CFL. My league would split the difference, making them 15 yards deep BUT with goalposts located at the back.

Not only that, the goalposts would have a circular target in the middle of the uprights, 17.5 feet above the crossbar. If the target (six feet in diameter) is hit on a field goal, it’s worth four points. If the kicker nails it on the PAT, it’s good for two points.

By the way, the scrimmage line for extra points would be the 10-yard line, which would also be the spot for a three-point conversion (via run or pass). The two-point conversion is taken care of thanks to the goalpost target.

For point value of touchdowns, I travel back to the 1974-75 World Football League in which paydirt strikes were worth seven points. So, if a team has a dead-eye kicker, a touchdown plus a PAT could be worth nine points.

If a game is tied at the end of regulation, overtime would be modeled after the National High School Federation. Teams alternate possessions 10 yards from the goal line until one has more points. (The target between the uprights could play a big role in determining a winner).

But here is my favorite innovation of all, one that gives me a tingly feeling in my nether regions just thinking about it: If a defense recovers a fumble or snags an interception, it’s awarded a single point. Better yet, this rule means a defensive player has a chance to score an eight-point TD on a pick six or scoop and score.

You always hear about turnovers being costly. In the GGF, they’d cost the team that turns the ball over at least a point.

Weird stuff, huh?

Obviously, a couple of these rules aren’t practical. Increasing the length of the field would be a problem (remember the wonky end zones during the CFL in America experiment?) and bringing in a welder to solder a target onto uprights is a big ask.

Still, if I formed an alt-football league, I’d be all-in on the gimmicks. I mean, if you’re gonna go to the trouble of coming up with this nonsense, you might as well let your imagination run wild.

The United Football League will return for its second season in March of 2025, marking modern professional spring football’s fourth consecutive year of operation. And earlier this week, it announced plans to grow.

On Monday, the UFL began accepting proposals from cities interested in being part of the league, which was born of a merger of the USFL and XFL. The organization currently has eight clubs – the Arlington Renegades, Birmingham Stallions, D.C. Defenders, Houston Roughnecks, Memphis Showboats, Michigan Panthers, San Antonio Brahmas and St. Louis Battlehawks.

They’ll all live and train in Arlington again next spring while playing games in their respective markets.

“As the UFL lays the groundwork for future growth, we’re excited to begin exploring new markets for expansion, where spring football can not only live, but thrive,” UFL President and CEO Russ Brandon said in a statement. “These expansion efforts validate our vision and early success, demonstrating how spring football resonates with fans and reinforcing our commitment to broadening its reach.

“With the strength and structure of our ownership group, along with our media partners, we are well-positioned for the long haul and look forward to identifying communities that have the potential, and desire, to host a UFL team.”

According to the release, the UFL is “looking at several core attributes when selecting its new cities, including fan interest and existing sports culture, geography and population and venue and infrastructure availability.”

The UFL had solid television ratings in 2024, exceeding those of the 2023 USFL and XFL by more than 30 percent. And the quality of play was good enough to see 60 percent of its players get NFL workouts, 78 earn training camp invites and 21 make the 53-man roster on opening day.

As an unofficial farm system of the NFL, the UFL is making its mark.

However, attendance issues are hindering its goal to be a sustainable “major” minor league.

The Battlehawks were far and away the box office champions of the UFL’s inaugural season, drawing 171,825 fans over five games for a 34,365 per game average. After that, however, there was a steep drop-off.

DC was second best with 14,143 fans per game, followed by San Antonio (11,888), Birmingham (10,255), Arlington (9,887), Michigan (8,134), Houston (7,056) and Memphis (6,893).

So even without expansion, the league has some work to do when it comes putting butts in the seats.

And that begs the question … what is a “good” average crowd for this kind of league? When considering that, it’s best to take St. Louis out of the conversation. This is an NFL town without an NFL team, and fans there are making sure the next owner with wandering eyes looks toward the “Gateway to the West.”

But if you go strictly by average, the UFL stacks up pretty well compared to other second-tier leagues.

In AAA baseball in 2024, the top draw was the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (8,866 per game), while 5,687 fans, on average, showed up for games in the International and Pacific Coast leagues.

In the American Hockey League, the Cleveland Monsters led the way with 10,264 patrons per contest (5,920 was the league average).

The NBA G League welcomed 1,640 customers per night in 2023-24, and the Iowa Wolves boasted the highest average attendance at 4,148.

And United Soccer League Championship contests drew 5,324 per match this season, with Sacramento Republic FC topping all clubs with a 10,101 average.

Still, football is a different animal, and each UFL team has only five regular season home dates (San Antonio will host just four in 2025 due to scheduling conflicts at the Alamodome). Minor league baseball (75), basketball (25), hockey (27) and soccer (17) have many more home dates than the UFL, and reasonable ticket prices would suggest that each team averaging at least 15,000 per game seems reasonable.

So, where to next?

One beef I have with the UFL in its present form is the fact that three of its eight teams are in Texas. When almost half your clubs are in located one state, that gives the entire organization a regional feel.

If the UFL wants to continue to dip into the branding history of the XFL/USFL, Oakland would be a logical expansion choice. Fans in the Bay Area are burned by the loss of the Raiders, so a new  version of the Invaders could be a hit.

And it’s never a bad idea to have the top market in the country – New York – in your league. The New York/New Jersey Hitmen of the original XFL (2001) was second in the league in attendance with 28,309 per game.

Plus, they had a cool logo and blue, black and silver color scheme.

Alt-football insider Mike Mitchell – who has been ahead of the curve on spring football news since the USFL started play in 2022 – reported this week that the plan is to add two teams in 2026 (one for both the XFL and USFL conferences) and two more for 2027.

If that’s the case and I got to pick, I’d add the Hitmen to the XFL Division in 2026 and put the Invaders on the USFL side.

And although San Diego never had a team in any iteration of those leagues, the fact that it lost its NFL franchise would make it highly desirable going forward.

Ultimately – and maybe most importantly – I think the UFL needs to cut the cord on its hybrid-hub model if it ever wants any market to truly embrace it.

I understand the cost-cutting aspect, but teams need to work as well as play in a town if they really want to be considered part of that town.

At any rate, the 2025 UFL season kicks off on March 28, 2025, with a 10-week regular season schedule. That slate will be followed by two conference title games and the UFL Championship Game on June 14.

Here’s hoping the TV ratings continue to be good and more paying customers squeeze through the turnstiles. The United Football League is worth keeping around.