- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
The short lived World Football League started on this date in 1974
Posted on 7/10/20 at 8:31 am
Posted on 7/10/20 at 8:31 am
The Birmingham Americans defeated the Southern California Sun 11-7 at Legion Field in Birmingham. Problem was the owner's vision didn't meet their bank accounts. The WFL tried to raid the NFL and did pluck some big names like Kiick and Csonka but after a few weeks most of the games were played in front of less than 10,000. Mid year the Houston franchise moved to Shreveport. League folded in the middle of the '75 season.
Posted on 7/10/20 at 8:36 am to I-59 Tiger
quote:
Houston franchise moved to Shreveport
That was a bold strategy cotton that didn’t pay off
Posted on 7/10/20 at 8:58 am to I-59 Tiger
Whatever happened to the world league in Europe? I actually watched a few of those games back in the day.
Posted on 7/10/20 at 9:42 am to bubbz
I enjoyed the USFL while it lasted.Great team names & talent they had such as my favorite team Birmingham Stallions. Memphis Showboats Houston Gamblers Tampa Bay Bandits to name a few.Jim Kelly Steve Young Doug Flutie Herschel Walker Reggie White Bobby Hebert Marcus Dupree & Joe Cribbs were there. Trump even owned a team 'New Jersey Generals'.After it folded I was done with start up leagues.
Posted on 7/10/20 at 10:28 am to I-59 Tiger
Fun fact: Larry King, fresh off a guilty plea for embezzling from a business partner in Miami, was the radio voice of the Shreveport Steamer as well as doing publicity for Louisiana Downs.
Posted on 7/10/20 at 10:43 am to Jim Rockford
frick yeah I loved the WFL as a kid in Birmingham.
That Americans team that won the championship in 1974 actually had a black quarterback for a good bit of the season, Matthew Reed from Grambling. Pretty crazy to think in Bham at the time.
That Americans team that won the championship in 1974 actually had a black quarterback for a good bit of the season, Matthew Reed from Grambling. Pretty crazy to think in Bham at the time.
Posted on 7/10/20 at 9:09 pm to I-59 Tiger
Shreveport had a team.
Shreveport.
That’s all you need to know as to why this league failed.
Shreveport.
That’s all you need to know as to why this league failed.
Posted on 7/10/20 at 9:44 pm to SportsGuyNOLA
Just looked at the attendance numbers for the Steamer and it's pretty good. Anywhere from 10k to 25k a game.
When Shreveport had the CFL team, they averaged over 17k a game, despite being one of the worst teams in the league.
I know it's easy to pick on NWLA, but we support teams up here.
When Shreveport had the CFL team, they averaged over 17k a game, despite being one of the worst teams in the league.
I know it's easy to pick on NWLA, but we support teams up here.
This post was edited on 7/10/20 at 9:47 pm
Posted on 7/10/20 at 10:08 pm to Magnum73
quote:
I enjoyed the USFL while it lasted.
USFL was awesome.
Posted on 7/10/20 at 10:52 pm to I-59 Tiger
The Birmingham Americans and Portland Storm baby!
Posted on 7/10/20 at 10:53 pm to Ponchy Tiger
Houston Gamblers probably the coolest team on earth during that time
Posted on 7/10/20 at 11:14 pm to Magnum73
quote:Trump was actually a pretty big reason for the league folding. They had a good thing going but he wanted to go head to head with the NFL and pushed the league to move to the fall. They just couldn’t compete at that point, should have stuck to spring.
Trump even owned a team
Posted on 7/11/20 at 12:01 am to red sox fan 13
I mean people like to assign Trump a big portion of the blame here because he’s Trump and therefore an easy scapegoat but so SO many problems for the USFL were brewing under the surface as it related to management and finances that teams were coming and going almost on a monthly basis unlike the AFL. More like the ABA, jackasses ran the USFL across the board and almost all had major financial issues like we saw with the AAF recently and that league wasn’t even trying to pay players market value, they would’ve folded eventually, the antitrust lawsuit just accelerated the demise.
Posted on 7/11/20 at 9:58 am to ThePTExperience1969
How do you know any of this.... you weren’t even alive back the BART Starr......
Posted on 7/11/20 at 10:01 am to ThePTExperience1969
Moving to the fall and the anti-trust suit was a Hail Mary pass to try to save some of the tea m s in the league by forcing a merger with the NFL. The USFL was going down no matter what. Trump actually made the right call.
Posted on 7/11/20 at 10:14 am to SoDakHawk
Exactly, the product was good and the USFL signed contracts with ABC/ESPN to broadcast their games that fall, just the financial stability of many of the franchises run by total jackasses was not, was like the ABA, even if the USFL merged it’s likely only a few could afford to join and the rest folded as well. Notwithstanding the financial instability, the USFL made significant headway in poaching top NFL players and college stars really quickly as evidenced by their acquisition of Herschel Walker for their first season (basically the hardship draft rule) among others. Outside the financial instability of many of the franchises, I don’t blame Trump at all for the move to fall and antitrust suit at that point, your description of it is really what it all boiled down to. So much of the USFL’s history resembles the ABA’s it’s insane except the USFL did get that tv contract with ABC. The USFL antitrust suit basically did to the USFL like the Oscar Robertson suit did to the ABA: ultimately facilitate those respective leagues’ demises.
Posted on 7/11/20 at 10:21 am to dukke v
I research stuff, PEEJ like I research your daughter’s fine arse
Posted on 7/12/20 at 12:22 am to red sox fan 13
quote:
Trump was actually a pretty big reason for the league folding. They had a good thing going but he wanted to go head to head with the NFL and pushed the league to move to the fall. They just couldn’t compete at that point, should have stuck to spring.
I have to disagree with this assignment of blame to Trump for these reasons for I think his gambit was well-founded in ways though logically insane to many:
1. The AFL and ABA did it when they challenged the NFL and NBA and the ABA was run by complete jackasses
2. It seemed to work out well for them respectively (but for the Oscar Robertson lawsuit for ABA/NBA as that blocked an early better merger)
3. The USFL achieved great success in poaching NFL players early on and instituting the hardship rule when they drafted and signed Herschel Walker
4. Despite low attendance figures and lack of a tv contract, the competition factor of the ABA drafting and signing guys like Spencer Haywood, Rick Barry, Billy Cunningham, Dr. J, Artis Gilmore, Jim McDaniels, Charlie Scott, Connie Hawkins, etc and poaching NBA players almost facilitated an early merger before the Oscar Robertson lawsuit
5. By their 3rd season, USFL teams were already playing exhibition games in London
Those pros to move to fall don't sound too bad no?
I tell y'all Trump just thinks on a more progressive, higher plane than most people on Earth can even remotely contemplate, why Establishment simpletons hate him and try to nitpick any perceived flaw to take him down, he's literally Al Davis 2.0, haters can SUCK A DICK
This post was edited on 7/12/20 at 12:25 am
Posted on 7/12/20 at 1:46 am to Jim Rockford
quote:
Fun fact: Larry King, fresh off a guilty plea for embezzling from a business partner in Miami, was the radio voice of the Shreveport Steamer as well as doing publicity for Louisiana Downs.
Even funner fact was that his partner was former Voice of the LSU Tigers Jim Hawthorne
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News