RetroSeasons
RetroSeasons recaps past sports seasons through stories, photos, videos, and stats from every team, league, and stadium in history. Coverage includes the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL, as well as vintage media from defunct teams and leagues.
World Football League (WFL)
History 1974-1975 (2 seasons)
The World Football League (WFL) was a short-lived American football league that played was founder in 1974. Average salaries in the NFL were among the lowest in the four major sports, and the National Football League Players Association had gone on strike prior to the 1974 season 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 established leagues would give them. By early June 1974, the WFL claimed they had some 60 NFL players under contract.
At the start of the leagues 2nd season, several teams soon ran into financial difficulties, in part due to alarmingly low attendance figures. Rumors abounded that four of the remaining teams were on the verge of folding. On October 22, 1975 just a few days before the start of week 13, the WFL went out of business.
The league's most severe impact was on the Miami Dolphins, who had just won consecutive Super Bowls before the WFL's snagging of three of their star players. This changed the course of NFL history, by opening the door to dominance by two other AFC teams, the Steelers and the Raiders, during the second half of the 1970s.
I sincerely appreciate the research work, and the information being shared. It is important and interesting history.