Jacksonville Sharks (WFL)

Jacksonville Sharks (WFL)

The Jacksonville Sharks were a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. They competed for part of the 1974 season in the World Football League, a failed attempt to launch a major professional football league in the United States in competition with the National Football League. The team played seven home games at the Gator Bowl Stadium in Jacksonville. The Sharks roster was a mixture of rookies such as Mike Townsend, Eddie McAshan and Reggie Oliver, and veterans like Ike Lassiter, John Stofa and Drew Buie. The Sharks front office claimed to have sold 18,000 season tickets, and the team drew 59,112 for the home opener against the New York Stars and 46,000 against the Southern California Sun. The club later admitted to giving away 44,000 tickets. Six weeks into the season owner Fran Monaco fired head coach Bud Asher, replacing him with Charlie Tate.

Despite this embarrassment, the Sharks were second in the league in attendance. However, the team was so poorly managed that they soon ran dangerously low on cash. Monaco tried to sell the team to New York financier William Pease. However, after it emerged that Pease was under indictment regarding a Connecticut land deal, the WFL took over the franchise on September 22. The players, unpaid for over a month, threatened not to fly to Anaheim to play the Southern California Sun. League Commissioner Gary Davidson paid them $65,000 in escrow and the players made the trip. A week later, after vetoing several prospective owners, the league folded the team.