Category: Alternative Football

Thirty years ago this month, the World League of American Football came out of hibernation.

The WLAF began play in 1991, featuring six United States-based teams (Birmingham Fire, Orlando Thunder, New York/New Jersey Knights, Sacramento Surge, San Antonio Riders, Raleigh/Durham Skyhawks), one Canadian (Montreal Machine) and three European franchises (Barcelona Dragons, Frankfurt Galaxy, London Monarchs).

But after two seasons the league proved to be a hit overseas and a miss in North America, so it went dormant for two years. When it resurfaced in 1995, it featured an all-Europe lineup – the Amsterdam Admirals, Rhein Fire and Scottish (Edinburgh) Claymores, along with three holdovers from 91-92 (Dragons, Galaxy, Monarchs).

“Last time, we had to work around American television schedules with USA and ABC,” NFL President and CEO Neil Austrian told USA Today for an April 7, 1995, story. “We were trying to do too many things. This time, U.S. television is not a factor.”

When the NFL-owned WLAF first took to the field, its goal was to give players a showcase that might help them get to – or back to – the big league. That goal remained the same once it went to an all-international lineup.

But, like modern spring leagues, it also served as a laboratory for rule innovations. Chief among them was the 4-point field goal for kicks that split the uprights from 50 yards or beyond.

“We think the 4-point play is an exciting rules change which is in keeping with the innovative style of the World League, “ WLAF vice president Jerry Vanisi said. “The NFL’s competition committee has frequently debated awarding different points based on the distance of a field goal. We think this change and others will add even more excitement to our league.”

The circuit also introduced defensive conversions (called “a deuce”) in which blocked extra points, recovered fumbles or interceptions returned to the opponents’ goal-line were worth two points.

Receivers needed just one foot in bounds for receptions; defenses could rush no more than three players on punts; and each team would have an opportunity to possess the ball in overtime.

The season consisted of 10 regular season games but was split into two parts. The team that finished with the best record over the first five games automatically earned a berth in the World Bowl championship game.

The Frankfurt Galaxy was far and away the top draw in WLAF ‘95, averaging 29,076 fans per home game. They were the only club during the reboot campaign to draw more than 30,000, which they did twice. Barcelona was the next-best supported team, bringing in an average of 18,599 per home date.

The rest of the franchises, however, were disappointments at the box office.

The Admirals drew only 7,911 on average, while the Claymores and Fire pulled in around 10,000.

The Monarchs welcomed more than 40,000 fans during four home dates in 1991, and averaged nearly 22,000 each time they played at Wembley Stadium in 1992.

However, the reborn London team slipped to 10,417 per host outing.

The World Bowl was played in Amsterdam, with Frankfurt winning 26-22 in front of 23,847 paying customers. For the year, though, average attendance was an underwhelming 14,560.

Still, there were plenty of reasons for the WLAF to play on. Including the 1992-93 seasons, 73 of its players were on NFL rosters in 1996, including 13 quarterbacks.

Monarchs QB Brad Johnson, who struggled to find playing time after being drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in 1992, found his groove during the WLAF relaunch. He went on to spend 17 years in the NFL and guided the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to victory in the XXXVII Super Bowl.

And while we hail the current spring football model for making it to a fourth season, the second coming of the WLAF had a 13-year run. The World League changed its name to NFL Europe in 1998 and played its final season as NFL Europa in 2007.

The Galaxy, Fire and Admirals were the only remaining teams from 1995. The Hamburg Sea Devils, Cologne Centurions and Berlin Thunder rounded out NFLE’s farewell lineup.

The minor league reportedly was losing $30 million per year, and with the NFL starting to play regular season games abroad, WLAF/NFL Europe/NFL Europa had finally run its course.

By the time it closed shop, it had helped develop the likes of Kurt Warner and Jake Delhomme, and three of its veterans (Adam Vinatieri, Dante Hall and Brian Moorman) made the NFL All-Decade Team for the 2000s.

Looking back, it’s obvious that a league such as this certainly has a place in the sports landscape. But turning it into a money-making venture for its stakeholders … well, that code has yet to be cracked.

When you think of the Canadian Football League, it’s a good bet you never associate it with Jackson, Mississippi. But 30 years ago, the capital of the Magnolia State was holding out hope it would be home of the circuit’s 14^th franchise – and holding up the 1995 CFL schedule in the process.

What became something of a wild ride began on April 5, 1995, when the beleaguered Las Vegas Posse franchise called it quits. Several attempts to sell the debt-ridden club had failed, so CFL commissioner Larry Smith announced that it had suspended operations.

A group in Jackson was interested in relocating the franchise there, and Smith set a February 28 deadline for that to happen. But the calendar flipped to March and then April, and Smith was out of options.

“If I had waited another couple of days, it would’ve been too long,” Smith said in a conference call. “The last 24 hours, I started feeling a little pressure from the owners. When you’re doing a deal, you can always sense when it’s going to happen.

“I could sense we weren’t going to get a deal, so I suggested to the parties it was time to get on with life.”

The league had been working on a schedule that included 14 teams, but had to start over once the Posse went under.

So, the plan was to go with a North Division (BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimos, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Ottawa Rough Riders, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Toronto Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers) and South Division (Baltimore Stallions, Birmingham Barracudas, Memphis Mad Dogs, San Antonio Texans and Shreveport Pirates).

Birmingham and Memphis were the expansion cities for ‘95, while the Texans had relocated from Sacramento, where they were known as the Gold Miners.

End of story, right?

Nope.

On April 11, Orlando multi-millionaire real estate developer Norton Herrick entered the picture. Although he had originally hoped to bring an expansion team to Florida in 1996, he was willing to buy the Posse and take them to Mississippi, where he would team up with Bill Van Devender, a Jackson businessman.

So, the CFL draft was postponed and the scheduling was again put on hold.

“It would nice to get this Las Vegas thing cleared up,” Lions owner Bill Comrie, chair of the CFL Executive Committee, told the Vancouver Sun. “If we can bring in someone like Norton Herrick, it would be another real bonus.”

By April 13, however, a deal still hadn’t been done and owners were getting antsy – and angry. There was no schedule and no assurances about how many teams would be in the CFL fold for ’95.

“I don’t think I was going back on my decision (to suspend the Posse) because we have a unique situation here,” Smith said in an interview with the Canadian Press. “The long-term opportunity of getting a person like Norton Herrick, I think, overrides any awkwardness this transaction might portray.”

Calgary Stampeders owner Larry Ryckman said he didn’t want to publicly criticize the league, but thought the situation was being mishandled.

“If it were my decision, I would not vote in a club to try and start up six to eight weeks prior to training camp,” he said. “It’s not that we don’t want this owner in. It’s that we want to see something work out in Vegas.”

However, things did not work out in Vegas – or Jackson.

Herrick and Van Devender were given until 4 p.m. on April 14 to complete the move, or the Posse would really, truly, honest-to-goodness fold this time, and the players dispersed in a draft.

The deadline came and went, with Herrick pulling out after saying he couldn’t get solid guarantees from Mississippi investors.

“The city and state would probably get $4 million in sales tax revenue because the team would probably bring in about $30 million in spendable dollars,” Herrick said to CP. “Everyone was telling me how great it was to bring a team to Jackson, and I was willing to spend $4 million to start the team there, but no one local was willing to tell me not to worry about the downside.

“If I can’t get anyone local to help out, then what the heck am I doing trying as an outsider? Even my partner wasn’t willing to assume some of the losses.”

Coinciding with news of the deal falling through, Smith released a statement: “The league has shown great patience and flexibility in providing additional groups in order to conclude this deal, but time has run out.”

The dispersal draft was held on April 18, the 1995 schedule finalized on April 28, and 13 teams participated in the final CFL season that featured franchises based in the United States.

As for Jackson, it finally got a play-for-pay club in 1999. The Mississippi Pride competed in the one-and-done Regional Football League, which was a high-level minor league.

The Pride finished 4-4 in the regular season and lost its semi-final playoff game to the Houston Outlaws, 27-3.

For fans yearning to watch professional outdoor tackle football again, the 47-day wait is over.

The United Football League begins its second season today when the St. Louis Battlehawks take on the Houston Roughnecks at TDECU Stadium. Kickoff is 8 p.m. E.T.

The lone Saturday game pits the San Antonio Brahmas at the Arlington Renegades (4 p.m.).

And on Sunday, the Michigan Panthers travel to Tennessee to battle the Memphis Showboats (noon) followed by the defending UFL champion and three-time spring football king Birmingham Stallions squaring off with the DC Defenders in Washington (3 p.m.).

To say the leadup to Game Week has been smooth sailing, however, would be a lie.

Last Sunday, Defenders coach Reggie Barlow stepped down to become the head coach at Tennessee State University, and on Monday Ken Whisenhunt took a leave of absence from his gig as Showboats coach after accepting the job in September.

Thus, Shannon Harris will serve as interim head coach for DC, while Memphis will be led by Jim Turner.

Barlow decided to return to his college coaching roots (he previously served as HC at Alabama State and Virginia State), and Whisenhunt departed for personal reasons.

“If and when Ken Whisenhunt is ready to return to the UFL family,” a league statement read, “we will welcome him with open arms.”

Perhaps the most serious issue is labor: as of this writing, players still don’t have a contract. The United Football Players Association (UFPA) filed a claim of unfair labor charges with the National Labor Relations Board on March 14, alleging – among other things – that the league had threatened to cut players who participated in “protected union activities.”

The good news, though, is that high-level, pay-for-play minor league spring football is back for a fourth year. The original USFL made it just three seasons, and the World League of American Football exited North America after two years, took two years off, and reformed with an all-European lineup of franchises.

(The 2009-12 United Football League lasted four seasons, but it played in the fall).

Although minor league ball is transient in nature, fans who’ve followed the spring game since its reboot in 2022 will see plenty of familiar faces. Chief among them is Arlington QB Luis Perez, who has been there – and there and there – done that – and that and that – and got enough T-shirts (and game jerseys) to fill a closet.

He’s even written a book titled The Spring King: A Champion’s Journey of Passion, Persistence and Unlimited Possibility.

Now 30 and a veteran of the Alliance of American Football, XFL 2.0, The Spring League, modern USFL, XFL 3.0 and now UFL, his shot at a full-time NFL roster spot is fading. Still, he’s been outstanding in spring competition.

Last year he led the UFL in passing with 2,310 yards and 18 touchdowns.

“To me, these leagues are super important, especially for the quarterback position,” said Perez, who has been on the practice squads of four different NFL clubs. “Because if you’re stuck on a practice squad where you can’t really get hit, can’t simulate the rush, can’t get live bullets besides the preseason, it’s a phenomenal way for quarterbacks to develop and I think me playing in these leagues and starting most of the games I played in, it’s helped me develop.”

A story I’m keeping a close eye on is the return of Alex McGough to the Stallions.

After being a key cog in Birmingham’s first two championships (he was USFL MVP in 2023), McGough was signed by the Green Bay Packers’ in July of ’23 where he spent most of his time on the practice squad. He ended up trying out as wide receiver in an effort to stick on the roster, but was ultimately released.

Now he’s back behind center and will compete with Matt Corral for playing time as Skip Holtz’s club seeks to continue their spring dominance.

“Just getting back to playing quarterback again kinda feels like, not really an adjustment, but a homecoming,” McGough said. “It felt good to sit in the room with Skip again and hearing him talk. We have a mutual respect for each other. I respect his coaching career and coaching style and the way he calls games, and I respect the way he teaches players.

“He’s not a big yeller/screamer, he just wants to help people. He always says he’s a teacher first, then a coach.”

Other returning spring ball standouts include DC QB Jordan Ta’amu, Michigan safety Kai Nacua and St. Louis wideout Hakeem Butler.

Yet. while the league is full of good players – some just a break away from trading up to the NFL – the main lure for me is the experimental nature of the game.

If you’re playing in the offseason, you need to be offbeat.

The biggest rule change for the UFL in 2025 is kickoffs, and it’s based on the NFL dynamic kickoff (which was a tweak of the XFL 2023 rule).

Starting tonight, kickoffs will start from the 30-yard line after being at the 20-yard line last season. The 10 remaining players on the kickoff team will line up at the receiving team’s 40-yard line. All kicking team players were at the 20-yard line, including the kicker, in 2024.

The receiving team’s set up zone will stretch from its 35-yard line to the 30-yard line and at least nine players must be in that zone. Last year, the receiving team had to have a minimum of eight players, but no more than nine players, in their set up zone, which was the kicking team’s 30- to 40-yard lines (10-yard zone).

The landing zone will be from the receiving team’s 20-yard line to the goal line, and if the ball doesn’t reach the landing zone, it will be spotted at the 40-yard line.

Finally, there are two touchback spots: the 35-yard-line for balls kicked into the end zone and the 20-yard line for balls that hit in the landing zone and then enter the end zone.All touchbacks were placed at the 25-yard line last season.

The onside kick option has been eliminated completely and replaced by the fourth-and-12 scrimmage play from a team’s own 28-yard line.

There has also been an upgrade to coach’s challenges. Each head coach will get a second challenge if the first is successful, and the head coach can challenge any officiating decision if his team has a timeout remaining.

Otherwise, the “greatest hits” from the UFL’s first season return, such as the tiered one, two and three-point conversions, overtime shootouts from the five-yard line and the option of a double forward pass behind the line of scrimmage.

As was the case last year, all the teams will be based in Arlington during the week and travel to host cities for games.

So, if you’re ready for football again, you’ve got 12 consecutive weeks of the UFL, ending with the championship game on June 14.

Enjoy.