Minor league mania

Man, did I ever go down a rabbit hole.

In an effort to write an alternative football column for your amusement, I wound up in a state of bemusement – all because I wanted to pay tribute to the United Football League of 1961-64. And I still managed to do that, but not before almost losing the plot after discovering that its inception ushered in a new era of relevance in minor league football.

Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl and Instagram @scottscribe60

Anyway, let’s follow the bunny …

When it comes to the modern gridiron game, the American Football League was the first “alternative” to the NFL. But a year after the AFL played its inaugural season, a smaller circuit gave professional players a more modest alternative to the bigger leagues.

The United Football League (not to be confused with the 2009-12 league with the same name) was a nice landing spot for near-miss gridders who hoped to work their way up to the NFL or AFL. Announced on April 8, 1961, and playing regular season games just five months later, the UFL was designed as a bridge league and unapologetic about that status. While the minor league model had been a relatively successful venture in the early days of tackle football, it had fallen out of favor by the late 1940s.

The American Football Conference (1959-61) had aspired to give it a reboot, but was strictly semi-pro its first two seasons and was overshadowed by the UFL in its final campaign.

Commissioner George Gareff said the league’s goals were to allow fans in UFL cities a chance to see professional football with professional talent, and provide players with proven or potential ability “that extra seasoning, physical conditioning and training needed to attain player status in the major football circuits.”

“We don’t expect to make money, but believe there is a definite need for our type of league,” Gareff told the Associated Press. “Call it kind of a farm system, if you like, but I’m sure we’ll give the fans a good brand of football.”

When the UFL debuted, it featured the Akron Pros, Cleveland Bulldogs, Columbus Colts (which bolted from the AFC), Grand Rapids Blazers, Indianapolis Warriors and Louisville Raiders.

“When a National Football League team starts making its final cuts, the difference between the players kept and the ones cut loose is small, indeed,” Gareff said in an interview with the Akron Beacon Journal. “So there are plenty of top-flight players available – players who would like to give the pros a second fling.”

Franchise fees were $2,500; a $25,000 season performance bond was set; and $5,000 in travel money had to be paid in advance. A share of stock in a team was available for $25.

Each club had 30-man rosters and a $15,000 payroll, and players were paid $50 per game. By way of comparison, that translates to $454.34 today or roughly $4,540 per 10-game season. Considering the median income of American families was $5,700 in 1961, this was far more than semi-pro pay.

“I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised at the brand of football our league will offer,” Gareff told United Press International. “We don’t say we’re in the same league with the National or American football leagues, but we’re certainly a cut above the ordinary semi-pro leagues.”

By the time the first season ended the UFL was successful enough to grow by two franchises for 1962 (including a Chicago entry) and increase the regular season from 10 games to 12.

But this time there would be competition as the Atlantic Coast Football League was founded in March, 1962. Teams announced were to be located in Paterson, Franklin, Newark and Hammonton, New Jersey; Mount Vernon and Utica, New York; Providence, Rhode Island; Charlestown, Quincy and Holyoke, Massachusetts; Portland, Maine; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; and possibly Baltimore.

And instead of $50 per game for players, ACFL officials were promising $100.

When the UFL rivals hit the field later that year they actually started with just six teams (Portland, Paterson, Providence, Stamford, Connecticut, Ansonia, Connecticut, and Frankfort, New York) but established themselves as a legitimate second-tier league.

(The 1962 season also saw the birth of the Midwest Football League, a strictly semi-pro outfit with just four teams – all in Michigan. But keep the MFL in the back of your mind because it wound up making a little noise before it was done).

The UFL contracted to six teams in 1963 but was back to eight in 1964, with the addition of the Quebec Rifles giving it an international flavor. (More on that team in an upcoming piece).

The ACFL, meanwhile, doubled in size in 1963 – adding major markets Baltimore and Pittsburgh to a 12-team lineup – and fielded 14 teams in 1964, including Boston and Atlanta.

In 1964 officials from the UFL, ACFL, New England Football League, Southern Pro League, Central States League and Midwest Football League decided to form the American Association of Minor Football Leagues in an effort to strengthen all lower leagues and ultimately set up a national championship, although nothing really came of it.

And there were hits and misses in both the UFL and ACFL, with several teams folding and/or moving and others simply failing to attract interest in their markets. So instead of continuing the battle for minor league supremacy for another season, some members of both leagues decided it was time to combine resources and aim higher. With the UFL folding outright and five clubs jumping the ACFL ship, a brand new, 10-team league was formed.

It was announced on February 6, 1965, and officials of what would soon be christened the Continental Football League said instead of feeding the NFL and AFL, the COFL would fight them.

“This will not be a minor league,” Alex Schoenbaum, formerly of the UFL and chairman of the league’s executive committee, told AP. “Ours will be a league stretching from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. We are throwing away salary restrictions and plan to go big-time all the way.

“We are dealing with men able to finance big budgets, such as those in the National and American leagues. We’ll bid for top player talent. We’ll go for big crowds and national television.”

The leftovers of the defunct UFL joined a team from Omaha to form the Professional Football League of America, while the ACFL regrouped and vowed to play on. And it did, lasting until 1973.

The North American Football League also showed up in 1965 with hopes of growing into an NFL farm system league, but made its biggest waves in 1966 Commissioner Donald T. Loy sent a directive to teams demanding they institute “scoring caps” to prevent blowout games. The NAFL was out of business by November of that year.

The Continental League, which never achieved major league status, absorbed teams from the North Pacific Football League, PFLA and Texas Football League during its run, with its final season played in 1969. When it called it quits, the Jersey Jays, Indianapolis Capitols, Norfolk Neptunes and Orlando Panthers applied for membership in the ACFL.

But wait – as the screaming man on the television commercial says – there’s more! The Seaboard Football League (1971-74) also paid decent per game money to its players, with some quarterbacks (including minor league legend King Corcoran) earning more than $500 per game. It was born by cobbling together teams from the Interstate Football League, Mason-Dixon League and eventually ACFL clubs looking for a home after that league folded.

And remember the little ol’ Midwest Football League? It outlived them all, playing through the 1979 season. And while it was mostly a revolving door, semi-pro league with a shoestring budget and franchises coming and going, in 1973 three of its teams had working relationships with NFL teams and the big league agreed to pay $1,000 for each player it plucked from the MFL.

Overall, minor league football had a pretty good run in the 1960s and early 70s. And even though the ACFL and Continental League are better remembered – and remembered more fondly – the United Football League deserves a great deal of credit for opening the floodgates and ensuring that playing days were paying days for more football players.

Sorry to take so long getting to the point, but it wasn’t easy climbing out of that rabbit hole …

If I ran the USFL

Quick, United States Football League fans … what’s the significance of today’s date?

Anyone?

Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl and instagram @scottscribe60

Easy question. On this day in 1983 the first USFL championship game was held, with the Michigan Panthers upsetting the Philadelphia Stars, 24-22, in a dang good football game.

So how will I commemorate the special occasion 38 years later?

By talking about the new USFL – and how I’d run it.

I’m not an insider, and I have absolutely no idea what’s going on behind the scenes of this proposed league. But as a student of spring football, I have ideas … all kinds of ideas.

A month ago I wrote a tongue-in-cheek column suggesting that the USFL would have to go big and bold (i.e. spend wildly and irresponsibly and attempt to become a major league) in order for me to take it seriously. Today I’m looking at through the lens of someone charged with running it – still mostly tongue-in-cheek, but with a dab of realism.

So let’s pretend the USFL – co-founded by The Spring League creator and CEO Brian Woods and featuring FOX Sports as part owner – hands me the keys as president.

What will I do?

Glad you asked.

Plans are already in place to launch next spring with at least eight teams. And since the third attempt at the XFL is aiming for 2023 after teasing a possible alliance with the Canadian Football League that didn’t materialize, that gives my league an early advantage in the Spring Football Wars.

By starting a year ahead of the XFL, I get first pick of cities. I could choose to mix major markets with mid-major ones (as the 1983-85 USFL and 2000 XFL did); go with all major markets (as the 2020 XFL did); or rely heavily on non-NFL cities (as the 2019 Alliance of American Football did).

We’ve already registered several trademarks from USFL Prime, so I can revive nicknames such as Outlaws, Gamblers, Stallions and Breakers – even though they might not be attached to the same towns they were in the 80s. And even though the XFL’s website is still promoting teams from 2020, it has no pro football territorial rights. In other words, I don’t see how the XFL Los Angeles Wildcats could prevent the second coming of the USFL Los Angeles Express.

Venue rental will be accepted from the first person willing to write a check, and my checks are itching to be written.

I’ll use XFL 2020 and AAF 2019 as a guide to which locales responded best to spring football. St. Louis and Seattle were far and away the attendance leaders in the XFL’s pandemic-shortened season, averaging 28,000 and 25,000 fans per home game, respectively.

San Antonio was the top draw in the AAF, pulling in more than 27,000 per each outing in the Alamodome. Orlando and San Diego averaged close to 20,000 per game before the league folded.

I’m interested in butts in the seats, so I’m definitely making those five cities part of the USFL.

And from a TV standpoint it’s always a good move to get the top two markets (New York and L.A.) on board, although neither metropolis garnered much in-stadium support in XFL 2020.

So we’ll say the USFL 2022 flagship cities are Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle, St. Louis and one other town.

I’ll make Birmingham that other town because if I run a league, you better believe The Ham will be in it.

Thus, next spring fans can cheer for the Birmingham Stallions, L.A. Express, New York Generals, Orlando Renegades, San Antonio Gunslingers, San Diego Breakers, Seattle Invaders and St. Louis Gamblers.

As for game play, both the AAF and XFL had some solid rule innovations, so I’ll take a hard look at the hits and misses there when imagining its on-field product. I thought the XFL’s kickoff and punt rules were excellent. And it seems the PAT kick has no future in alternative football, so expect more runs and passes for extra points.

(I’ll try to convince the competition committee to go with a 7-point touchdown and “action point” conversion as an homage to the World Football League).

In terms of player compensation, unless I become besties with one of these tax exempt billionaires and he gives me a stipend, I’m assuming the USFL pay scale will be similar to AAF and XFL 2020 salaries. That means the average player makes anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 per season.  That’s quite modest by NFL standards but a nice chunk of change in “regular people” money. There are plenty of talented gridders willing to play for that kind of pay – more than enough to stock rosters with big league near-misses. If the quality of play is comparable to what we saw in XFL 2020, it will be worth watching.

And if attendance is decent and FOX ratings are promising – thus helping the USFL find itself with a future beyond a single season – then it becomes the alpha predator of spring football. That storyline makes the XFL’s dalliance with the CFL – and decision to delay its third comeback by a year – look like a losing bet. Any momentum it had is lost and it’s forced to convince a TV network and eight to 12 cities that there is room for a second offseason league after one has already taken root.

Despite all of RedBird Capital’s money, Dwayne Johnson’s name recognition and Dany Garcia’s business savvy, that could be a hard sell.

Unless … I strike a business deal with the XFL and we work out a merger. Even if the USFL is a resounding success in 2022 it’ll still lose money – that’s a given for virtually any sports startup. However, an infusion of cash, star power and maybe even some XFL-branded expansion teams would be a win-win for all involved. Perhaps some of the XFL’s global vision could be applied to my organization (with teams both north and south of the United States borders), and the result would be a new international league that was first pitched in conjunction with the CFL.

I’ll have my people call The Rock’s people and we’ll do lunch.

On the other hand, what if the USFL falls on its face? Despite my leadership, that’s a distinct possibility. I mean, the track record of spring pro football is a record of failure. The “Big Eighties” version of the USFL made it three years, the original XFL one year, the AAF eight weeks of its first season and the second XFL half a 10-week regular season before being shuddered due to Covid-19. Yes, the World League of American Football/NFL Europe/NFL Europa was around for 15 seasons, but had teams in North America for only the first two.

If the USFL flops, either folding during the season or calling it quits after limping to the finish line of Year One, then XFL officials might be feeling a bit of déjà vu.

The 2020 XFL was able to learn from the missteps of the AAF before hitting the field, and did just about everything right; its demise was completely out of its control. Should history repeat itself, then XFL 2023 will have another template to work with and enter the scene as the latest savior of spring professional football – ready to step in and replace the United States Football League.

If that’s the case, I just hope they’ll keep me in mind when naming a general manager for the team in Birmingham.

July 10, 1974

You get one chance to make a good first impression, and 47 years ago today the World Football League put its best foot forward – and made a lasting impression on me.

July 10, 1974, ranks as one of my all-time favorite days, thanks to the Birmingham Americans defeating the Southern California Sun, 11-7, at Legion Field. It was the first pro football game I’d ever seen live, caused me to fall in love with a new team and new league, and ultimately was the catalyst for writing “The Home Team: My Bromance With Off-Brand Football.”

Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl and instagram @scottscribe60

But while I was focused on the goings on at the Football Capital of the South, WFL fever seemed to be taking hold at other stadiums on opening night. Attendance was high – as was fan enthusiasm – and it appeared the WFL had gotten off to a dream start.

“I’ll tell you what’s fantastic,” Birmingham quarterback George Mira said in an Anniston Star story. “This was the first ballgame in a brand new league and we had over 50,000 fans out there rooting their heads off. They acted like we’d been here for 10 years, and they were behind us even when we got behind 7-0.”

Dick Vermeil, then the young head coach of UCLA, watched the Birmingham-Southern California game on TV back in Los Angeles.

“I thought both teams played well for the first game, but I’m thinking in comparison with what would be the first NFL exhibition game,” Vermeil told the Associated Press. “They played fundamentally sound football – well-drilled and well-coached – and they executed well for the first game.

“The Suns played a typical NFL offense but Birmingham used some of the Canadian influence with their man in motion and used it to advantage.”

The league featured seven-point touchdowns and several other rule innovations and had already made headlines by signing NFL stars such as Paul Warfield, Larry Csonka, Daryle Lamonica, Ken Stabler and Calvin Hill to future contracts. The inaugural season, however, would be contested mostly by rosters featuring NFL castoffs and Canadian Football League defectors. That being the case, there was a worry that turnout would be low for what some perceived as minor league football. But announced attendance exceeded expectations at almost every venue.

In Birmingham it was 53,231, with WFL commissioner Gary Davidson on hand.  

“I was awed and impressed with the enthusiasm of the Birmingham fans,” Davidson said in an Associated Press story. “I was expecting a crowd of perhaps 40,000 but to get a crowd of 53,000 is just wonderful.”

King Corcoran – dubbed the “poor man’s Joe Namath” – threw two touchdown passes in the Philadelphia Bell’s 33-8 victory over the Portland Storm before 55,534 fans at JFK Stadium.

“It seemed major league to me,” Corcoran told the Pittsburgh Press. “It’s major league when you’re out there in front of 55,000 people. I think the WFL is here to stay.”

Virgil Carter hurled two touchdown passes in the Chicago Fire’s 17-0 win over the Houston Texans before 42,000 fans at Soldier Field.

John Huarte, a 10-year NFL backup and Heisman Trophy winner out of Notre Dame, had a touchdown pass and Paul Miles scored two rushing TDs in the Memphis Southmen’s 34-15 win over the Detroit Wheels with 30,122 fans watching in the Liberty Bowl.

If there was an opening night letdown it came in the Tangerine Bowl as only 18,625 patrons were on hand to see the Florida Blazers edge The Hawaiians, 8-7. But considering the stadium in Orlando seated only 27,000 at the time, it was still two-thirds full.

And a day later the league got to shine from coast to coast as its first nationally televised game featured the New York Stars at the Jacksonville Sharks. The hosts won, 14-7, and 59,112 people filled the Gator Bowl close to capacity for the Thursday night clash.

Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian watched the TVS telecast, and gave relatively high marks to the WFL when asked his opinion by AP.

“Just looking at one game, it didn’t look too bad,” he said. “But I’ve seen high school games on television that looked damn good. As the teams get to play one another and we get to know the players better, we’ll get a better line on how good this league is, but my general opinion is that it’s not bad at all.”

As a 13-year-old who became a superfan overnight, I reveled in the validation. The WFL wasn’t just popular in Birmingham, it was a hit from sea to shining sea. Never mind that the average score from the self-proclaimed “wide-open” league’s first week was 19.5-7.3 and five of the 12 teams failed to break single digits – as far as I was concerned this was big time professional football and the NFL had some real competition.

As we all quickly found out, though, that first impression was a misconception.

Attendance was inflated – especially in Philadelphia where the house was papered – and it wasn’t long before franchises were folding and relocating. By the time Birmingham defeated Florida, 22-21, in the World Bowl, the WFL had already established itself as one of the greatest financial disasters in sports history. Although it reorganized and rebooted for 1975, it never made it to week 13 of the second season.

But that’s a sad story for another day. July 10, 1974, on the other hand, will always be a special day that marked a special time. The World Football League didn’t live long, but the joy it gave me lives on.