World Football League - History

History

The idea behind the World Football League originated with Tony Rizzano and Louis Goldman, who in 1973 proposed a Universal Football League that would include teams in Toronto, Mexico City, New York City, Anaheim, Chicago, Phoenix, Seattle, Tampa Bay, Memphis, and Birmingham. All but Phoenix and Mexico City would eventually get a new NFL or WFL franchise by the end of the decade; Phoenix would have to wait for a USFL team to arrive in 1983, while Mexico City still has no professional American football team (though it has hosted several neutral-site NFL games).

Gary L. Davidson was the driving force behind the WFL. He had helped start the successful American Basketball Association and World Hockey Association, some of whose teams survived long enough to enter the established basketball and hockey leagues. His World Football League did not bring any surviving teams into the NFL, much less survive as a whole league.

To get the league off the ground, Davidson knew he needed investors. At a press conference held in Chicago, Davidson announced his core of investors, a group of men he called the "founding fathers". These men were Robert Schmertz, who owned the WHA's New England Whalers and NBA's Boston Celtics; a former hockey prospect named Howard Baldwin, who ran the Boston Bulls charter; Ben Hatskin, who owned the WHA's Winnipeg Jets; and R. Steve Arnold, another WHA associate.

Perhaps one of the biggest of the "founding fathers" was a Canadian movie producer named John F. Bassett. A former tennis prodigy and owner of the WHA's Toronto Toros, Bassett came from a wealthy Canadian family. The family owned, among other entities, two Toronto newspapers and interests in television stations. The younger Bassett himself had been mulling starting his own professional football league when he happened to meet Davidson and was given a franchise for Toronto.

Along with the original founding fathers, the rest of the owners would soon fall into place, including a man whose own dreams of playing football were ended by a heart ailment, Thomas Origer, who would run the Chicago Fire.

Several prospective owners were forced to drop out. Davidson was willing to sell his Philadelphia team to investor Harry Jay Katz. Alas, Davidson would learn that Katz didn't have the strong resources that he claimed, and was in fact the target of several lawsuits. Davidson pulled back his offer to sell the rights to Philadelphia. Additionally, rumors of another upstart league, along with the opportunity of a labor strike in the NFL, forced Davidson to advance the new league's planned debut to 1974, rather than 1975.

One team went through several identities. The team slated to play in Maryland was to be called the Washington Capitals, but the expansion NHL team had already trademarked the rights to the nickname. A contest held to name the team came up with the name Ambassadors. The team then became the Baltimore-Washington Ambassadors, and then the Baltimore name was dropped, and the team simply became known as the Washington Ambassadors. In order to boost ticket sales, Washington owner Joe Wheeler offered former Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas a contract as head coach and general manager of the team. Unitas declined, stating that he was already under contract to the San Diego Chargers. Spurned by Unitas, Wheeler reached out to Redskins linebacker Jack Pardee with the same offer. Pardee jumped at the chance, and quickly signed with the new league.

Wheeler in the meantime had engaged in a war for territory with Pardee's old boss, Redskins owner Edward Bennett Williams. Wheeler wanted the Ambassadors to play at RFK Stadium, but Williams refused to allow it. Williams won the war, and the Ambassadors were on the move. Without ever stepping on the field, the team went through their third relocation, starting off as the Baltimore-Washington Ambassadors, to the Washington Ambassadors, and finally the Virginia Ambassadors.

The fledgling WFL did succeed in raising stagnant salaries in the NFL. Average salaries of NFL players were among the lowest in the four major North American sports, and the National Football League Players Association had gone on strike in July 1974 in an effort to lift many of the rules suppressing free agency and player salaries. With the uncertain labor situation, the WFL had the opportunity to provide players with a better deal than the NFL would give them, along with the promise of employment. Davidson's league garnered major publicity when the Toronto Northmen, led by John F. Bassett, signed three Miami Dolphins players, fullback Larry Csonka, halfback Jim Kiick, and wide receiver Paul Warfield to what was then the richest three-player deal in sports, an astounding US$3.5 million to start in 1975. The pact was a guaranteed, personal-services contract, so the trio would be paid even if the WFL did not survive its first season.

The NFL took notice, as did their players when they were approached to jump leagues. The Oakland Raiders lost both their quarterbacks; Ken Stabler, who signed with the Birmingham Americans and Daryle Lamonica, who penned a contract to play for the Southern California Sun starting in 1975. The Dallas Cowboys also took roster hits when WFL teams in Hawaii and Houston signed running back Calvin Hill and quarterback Craig Morton respectively. The Hawaiians also signed Minnesota Vikings Pro Bowl WR John Gilliam and San Francisco 49ers All-Pro TE Ted Kwalick. However, Gilliam ended up with the Chicago Winds and Kwalick signed with the Philadelphia Bell prior to the 1975 season. By early June 1974, the WFL claimed they had some 60 NFL players under contract.

The top minor leagues in the United States at the time, the Atlantic Coast Football League and Seaboard Football League, were also tremendously affected. The ACFL had survived a suspension of operations in 1972 to return to play in 1973, only to have the WFL lure away most of the ACFL's and SFL's players with the prospect of playing in a "major" league. Both leagues were forced to fold; the ACFL and half the SFL folded immediately, with two teams joining the four remaining SFL teams to play in 1974. The SFL folded after an abbreviated 1974 season.