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.