Category: Alternative Football

Officially, the Canadian Football League’s “American Experiment” ended on February 2, 1996. That was the day the league approved the relocation of the Baltimore Stallions to Montreal and disbanded the Birmingham Barracudas, Memphis Mad Dogs, Shreveport Pirates and San Antonio Texans.

As a Birmingham native, losing a hometown team was hardly a new experience for me; I had already witnessed my city say hello and goodbye to the Americans and Vulcans of the World Football League, Stallions of the original United States Football League, and Fire of the World League of American Football.

The failure of the WFL and USFL franchises broke my heart (the loss of the WLAF team didn’t really faze me, if I’m being honest) but man, seeing the CFL team go under was a gut-punch I didn’t expect.

When Birmingham was granted a CFL franchise, I genuinely thought my city was finally in a league to stay and, therefore, had a team to last. Jack Pardee was a big-time coach, and he was hired to run the show. And with Matt Dunigan throwing to Marcus Grant and Jason Phillips and a defense featuring guys like Andre Strode and Anthony Drawhorn, the Cudas were sure to be contenders right out of the gate.

Because I was in love with the “longer, faster, wider” game, I just assumed all my local gridiron loving brothers and sisters would feel the same way.

Sadly, I assumed incorrectly.

And that brings me to September 17, 1995, the day I realized the Magic City was about to add another tombstone to its football graveyard. It was just the twelfth game of an 18-game regular season, but the contest between the Barracudas and Ottawa Rough Riders marked the beginning of the end.

Why?

After drawing 31,185 fans to its home opener in July and averaging 24,843 fans per game through five dates at Legion Field, the vast majority of fans decided they were no longer interested in CFL football.

Despite the Barracudas sitting at 6-5 and battling for a playoff spot, only 5,289 folks showed up to see them improve to 7-5 with a 40-9 trouncing of Ottawa.

“I was told from the start that our biggest challenge was going to be when the college football season started,” Cudas owner Art Williams told the Birmingham Post-Herald. “We’re obviously seeing that. We had a disappointing crowd … we have to do better the next three games.”

The game started at 12:30 p.m. CDT, which put it in direct competition with televised National Football League games. In the Birmingham market that day, the Atlanta Falcons vs. the New Orleans Saints and Oakland Raiders vs. Kansas City Chiefs were brodcast starting at 11:30 a.m.

I guess I was naïve enough to think that since Birmingham didn’t have an NFL team, even NFL fans who lived here would show up for the pro team we had. I knew playing on Saturdays in the fall would be suicidal but honestly believed the Barracudas would always be able to count on 20,000-25,000 regular paying customers on Sundays.

Instead, once American football season began, the CFL became an afterthought. Hell, it wasn’t even that – it was barely thought of at all.

Making matters worse, Williams and some of the other owners of American teams were hoping to turn to CFL into something quite different from what it was.

“There’s a lot of things about the CFL I admire and respect,” Williams said. “But the way it’s being played today, it’s not working in the U.S.”

Williams suggested changing the league’s name, “Americanizing” the rules, and competing against the NFL for local marquee players. He even hinted that the U.S. teams might break away from the CFL and form their own league.

“I think the NFL is very vulnerable right now to another league,” he said. “It could happen.”

It’s never a good sign when an owner is already plotting an exit strategy two-thirds of the way through his first season in a new league. And the threat of losing the franchise didn’t inspire fans to initiate any “Save the Barracudas” measures.

While the crowd against Ottawa proved to be the season low, none of the remaining home games did much better. Ticket sales numbered 6,314 for Shreveport; 6,859 for San Antonio; and 8,910 for Edmonton.

Birmingham’s season home average of 17,625 was still better than the Texans (15,855), Pirates (14,359) and Mad Dogs (13,691), but Memphis was the only other club to draw under 10,000 for a home game – that coming on September 24 when the Dogs beat the Cudas, 28-19, before 7,830 fans at the Liberty Bowl.

By the time Birmingham was blown out by San Antonio, 52-9, in a first-round playoff game on November 5, Williams had already announced the franchise would not be returning to the CFL in 1996 but hoped it would be part of a new alternative league.

“My first preference is to get a contract with CBS, sign a few marquee players and play in the spring at Legion Field,” Williams, who said he expected to lose as much as $10 million on his pro football venture, told the Post-Herald. “The only thing that’s certain is we won’t be back in Birmingham in the CFL in the fall.”

And that – as they say – was all she wrote.

Birmingham’s only franchise in an established, major North American football league was of the one-and-done variety, and made me rather cynical about my city’s long-term pro football prospects in the future.

Since then, the Ham has been home to three spring league teams. I tried to like the 2001 XFL Bolts but didn’t; rooted for the 2019 Alliance of American Football Iron up until the league went cleats up before completing its only season; and was a casual fan of the 2022 USFL Stallions, who won the league championship and – with a second season planned – have a chance to grow on me.

But the Birmingham Barracudas? I believed they were built to last.

Instead, they were built to last only a single season.

When people ask me to share my origin story as a Canadian Football League fan, I’ve been telling them the same tale for decades.

In a nutshell, the local CBS affiliate showed truncated, tape-delayed games during the summer in the early 1970s, and as a football fanatic I quickly glommed onto the CFL.

But details?

I didn’t really have any.

So, in my continuing quest for knowledge – and in an effort to get the most value from my Newspapers.com subscription – I decided to do some digging. And what I learned is that memories of my early CFL fandom are hardly spot-on, but not all that far off the mark, either.

Although I can’t prove it conclusively, I’m assuming the first CFL game I ever saw came on July 2, 1972. That night WBMG-TV in Birmingham rebroadcast the CFL All-Star game, which featured the defending Grey Cup champion Calgary Stampeders against standouts representing the league’s other franchises.

For the first time I was introduced to a style of football that featured three downs to make a first down, 12 players to a side, and an expansive playing field. I fell in love with the rule innovations immediately, and it set the stage for many good natured “arguments” with my dad, who was solidly in the four down, American-style camp.

Now, I had it in my head that these games were shown on Wednesday nights but that proved to be a false memory. The local station televised games on Sunday after they were played the Wednesday before. (Calgary’s 23-22 victory over the CFL All-Stars actually happened on Wednesday, June 28).

A news story in the Birmingham Post-Herald from July stated that WBMG would show the first 11 games of the CFL regular season on Sunday nights, but the rest of the tilts would be beamed at various times on Saturdays that didn’t conflict with college football.

As for the “truncated” part, for some reason I thought they were crammed into a two-hour window. But after looking over TV listings from that year I see that the Sunday games were aired from 8:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. That was enough time to fit in a full game (it was an era before instant replay, and commercial breaks were less frequent back then), so I figure they just cut out the halftime break and went straight from the second quarter to the third.

OK, so this gives me a working knowledge of when the CFL entered my world, and I’m quite sure I watched every game I could that summer.

But if you know me at all, you know that I cheer for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. You also know that I chose them as “my” team for two important reasons – I liked the name “Tiger-Cats” and their black and gold color combination was appealing.

Now, here’s where things get interesting.

The first televised game in 1972 featuring Hamilton came on August 12 when the Ti-Cats faced off with the British Columbia Lions in Vancouver. As far as CFL games go it was a bit on the dull side with the Lions winning, 19-17. However, Johnny Musso was a star running back for BC, and he was fresh from an All-American season at the University of Alabama. As a kid who cheered for the Crimson Tide, it seems logical that I would’ve gravitated toward the Lions.

Obviously I didn’t, though, which is a bit odd for that moment in my history. I can only assume hyphenated nicknames and color combos eclipsed my NCAA football loyalties. (By the way … when I read an account of the game it was mentioned that that BC linebacker Carl Weathers suffered a severe ankle injury in the first half. This means I got to watch Apollo Creed play football four years before he won a split-decision over Rocky Balboa).

The Ti-Cats went on to win the Grey Cup that season, which I suppose might’ve had some long-term effect on why I cast my lot with them. However, it wasn’t like I got to watch them every week.

WBMG was supposedly going to carry games throughout the season, yet it abruptly took the CFL off its schedule in September. The 8:30 time slot on Sundays was filled by Mannix, and I guess the local network figured no time was a good time to show games on Saturday during college football season.

Still, the seed was planted and 50 years later, I remain a fan of this wonderful game played north of my border.

These days I can watch any CFL contest I want thanks to ESPN+, and I usually take advantage of that opportunity from Week One all the way through to the Grey Cup. But the summer of 1972 will always be special.

It didn’t matter that the Canadian Football League games I watched that year were shown four days after they were played. For this football-crazed kid, they were worth the wait.

I’ve enjoyed spending the morning learning more about XFL 3.0 now that the league is taking shape. Even though the names of the eight cities that will begin play next winter had already been leaked, it was still good to get the official word. With that done, I’m curious about things like nicknames and logos and all the stuff that has caused me to goob out over alternative football for decades.

So, will I be watching when the league kicks off on February 18, 2023?

It depends.

If UAB or Birmingham’s G League team don’t have basketball games that day, I might. If the Blazers or Squadron are playing, however, then I’ll probably settle for watching the highlights on SportsCenter.

See, I learned a hard new truth about myself during the recently completed United States Football League season; when it comes to alt-leagues, I’ve reached the point in my life where I’m more interested in hearing about the labor pains than actually seeing the baby.

I know … I’m as surprised by that plot twist as you are.

I love discussing the structure of the organization, stadium agreements, coaching hires, pay scale, draft pools, roster size, and cool rule innovations. Seeing a league go from an idea to a product is fascinating, and right now I’m having fun tracking all the USFL guys who are being signed by NFL teams (I was especially happy to see one of my favorites, QB Luis Perez, ink a pact with the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday). These are topics I never grow tired of.

Yet, while there was once a time when football was my top sports viewing choice any time of year, I realized this spring my most fervent interest starts with the first week of the Canadian Football League regular season and ends with the Super Bowl. The non-traditional leagues that occupy the other months have become entities I want to analyze more than watch. They often lose out to everything from hockey to rugby when I flip on my sports fan switch.

That’s a “me problem,” though, and not a knock against their quality at all. There are some truly outstanding players outside of the NFL and CFL, and it’s great they have multiple showcases to display their talent. I’m all for more athletes getting more opportunities.

It’s just that as I’ve gotten older, I don’t mind taking a break from the gridiron game.

Fortunately, these new ventures don’t need me. The 2022 USFL didn’t cater to the tired eyes of retired guys, but rather the demographic who likes their games with a truly modern touch. With its inaugural campaign in the books – capped off by a fantastic championship clash in a mostly packed Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton – the FOX-owned USFL showed there’s a place for spring pro football. And with plenty of close and exciting games augmented by everything from drones to helmet cams to post-play interviews, it gave fans a solid product. It was a success story during a time of year when football has failed and often failed spectacularly.

That said, I didn’t care for the hub format – even if it was in my hometown – and seeing games not involving the Birmingham Stallions played in front of just a handful of fans made for bad optics.

I wish the league had done some sort of local promotion along the lines of, “Hey, we know the Stallions are your favorite team, but who is your second favorite?” Have team reps and mascots from the other seven USFL clubs give away pennants and T-shirts, and that might’ve made a big impression on a little kid.

Dave the Wave could’ve quite possibly convinced a youngster (and his ticket-buying elders) to cheer for the New Orleans Breakers when Birmingham wasn’t playing at Protective Stadium or Legion Field.

Better yet, if you’re going to attach a city/region name to a team, let it play its home games in that city/region. I mean, the Philadelphia Stars never got closer than 900 miles to their “home” during the regular season.

But the idea was to keep costs down, and the circuit did that with its bubble. Job One was to figure out a way to be viable during its maiden voyage in order to keep sailing, and that mission was accomplished. According to an article in the Sports Business Journal, the USFL will expand from two to four hubs in 2023 (including Birmingham), which is better that this year’s format and shows forward progress. And considering the best business practice is to stay in business, it’s hard to argue with their approach.

Yet that circuit is as much a TV series as it is a sports league. The third version of the XFL, on the other hand, is apparently just as concerned about its in-house appeal. All you have to do is take a look at its 2023 teams.

In selecting the eight clubs for its latest reboot, it’s fairly obvious sites were chosen because they have a history of putting butts in the seats. Here’s per game attendance figures from the cities’ last spring football stints: Arlington/Dallas (17,163, XFL 2.0), DC (16,179, XFL 2.0), Houston (18,230, XFL 2.0), Las Vegas (22,618, original XFL), Orlando (19,648, Alliance of American Football), Seattle (25,616, XFL 2.0), San Antonio (27,721, Alliance of American Football) and St. Louis (28,541, XFL 2.0).

It’s Texas-heavy and has no presence in the top four Designated Market Areas (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia), and that seems risky. But people with far more money than me put the league together and they didn’t ask for my opinion, so I’m not going to worry about it.

I do find the league’s hybrid hub model interesting; the eight teams are kept together in one city (Arlington) for practice and on-site support, but will then travel to “home” locales for games.

Regardless, beer snakes should be magnificent when the XFL takes the field the weekend following Super Bowl LVII.

With its season starting in February and Disney (i.e., ABC and ESPN) handling TV coverage, it’ll get a head start on the USFL in 2023 since the FOX league once again plans to start up in April. Will folks in couch potato land who don’t have a team in either league be burned out by the time the XFL season is done, or get excited for season two of the USFL? We shall see.

And don’t forget the dark horse entry among spring leagues, Major League Football. Training camp is underway (a jamboree-style scrimmage was held on Sunday) and its inaugural mini-season is scheduled to start on August 9 with the championship game set for September 6. Despite the late summer/fall slate, the plan is to become a full-fledged spring league by 2023. And you can even invest in the league; details are available on its website.

This year all games (except for one) will be played on Tuesdays, with the idea to make it the only tackle football game available to watch on that day of the week.

This format is not unprecedented in alt-football history; the 1974 World Football League played most of its games on Wednesday nights with the TV game of the week staged on Thursdays. I’m looking forward to learning more about how Major League Football plans to conduct its business following next month’s soft launch.

So, if you happen to be one of those year-round football fanatics as I once was, I’m thrilled that you’ll (theoretically) never go wanting again. The XFL will lead into the USFL and MLFB, which will lead into the CFL, which will lead into the NFL, and then the cycle of professional football starts anew.

And who knows? Perhaps all these options will spark a rebirth in my desire to again make “offseason” pro football priority viewing. Until then, well, please tell me more about those labor pains …