1975 Season Book - WFL Folds

Sports Daily

October 23, 1975

World Football League Suspends Operations after Losses of $30 Million

New York Times, October 23, 1975 - Unable to sustain itself without television or season-ticket support, the World Football League went out of business on October 22, 1975. Our product was exciting but fragile, said Chris Hemmeter, the Hawaiian businessman who reorganized the financially troubled league this year after a disastrous opening season. We couldn't withstand bad weather or the National Football League or media skepticism. Hemmeter, speaking at a news conference in New York, said termination of operations would take effect immediately. The 10 team league was to have played its 14th round of games in its 20-week schedule this weekend. There were no problems that 20,000 people in every stadium wouldn't have solved, said Hemmeter, but we found its harder to renovate an old house than to build a new one. The vote to disband reportedly was 6-4, leaving 380 players without jobs.

In the wake of the announcement, there was confusion over the status of a number of top players lured from the NFL by big-money deals with the new league. The stranded group includes Larry Csonka, Paul Warfield and Jim Kiick, former Miami Dolphin stars. Ed Keating, business agent for the three former Dolphins, said they had received $1.6 million so far from the Memphis Grizzles. He estimated the whole package, including extras, at $3.6 million, and he said over the phone from Cleveland that the three players were now free agents . However, other sources indicated Csonka, Kiick and Warfield had signed personal services , contracts with John Basset of the Memphis franchise, and were still under obligation to him. Memphis and the Birmingham franchise, known as the Vulcans, plan to apply for admission to the NFL.

Pete Rozelle, commissioner of the NFL, issued a statement saying that teams in his league would be permitted to sign players from the WFL if the players were free from all contractual obligations. Such signings, he ruled, must be completed before the trading deadline of 4 pm on October 29th. The New York Jets hold the NFL rights to Anthony Davis, former University of Southern California All-American who has been the WFL's leading rusher. In Cleveland, owner of the Browns, Art Modell, said he would be interested in picking up any quality players to beef up a team with a 0-5 won-lost record. I would be insane if I said I wasn't interested in Csonka and Warfield, said Modell. Don Shula, coach of the Dolphins, refused to say whether he would actively seek the return of his three former stars.

Since its inception, in 1974, the WFL has teetered on a fiscal tightrope. It reportedly lost $ 20 million its first season as a number of franchises failed to meet payrolls, shifted to other cities or went bankrupt. The deficit this year was said to have reached $ 10 million. Average attendance through last week's games had declined to 13,371 for the season, a decline of 28 per cent over the last five weeks. Apparently, the decision to suspend operations was a case of the board of directors deciding not to throw good money after bad. They say pro sports can take a grown man and make a child out of him in a matter of minutes, Hemmeter said. But prudence prevailed in our decision. Seven of our board members are directors of banks. Accordingly to the league president it would have taken a two-year expenditure of $ 25 million to $ 40 million to make the WFL a success. In light of an unstable economy, continuing inflation, no assurance of national television rights and a softening market for new sports leagues, Hemmeter said, we considered this enormous expenditure an unwise investment.

Hemmeter broke the news of the WFL's demise at a conference in a small office on the 39th floor of the Time-Life Building. Stapled to the wall behind him, like bright colored college banners, were pennants of the WFL teams: Memphis Grizzlies, Birmingham Vulcans, Philadelphia Bell, Portland Thunder, San Antonio Wings, Charlotte Hornets, Shreveport Steamer, Jacksonville Express, Southern California Sun and the Hawaiians. The use of singular nicknames such as Bell and Sun was popular from the start of the WFL, but the frequent changing of names reflected the league's instability and its lack of fan-appeal tradition. For example, the Charlotte Hornets were the Charlotte Stars after the New York Stars shifted their franchise in midseason to Charlotte. In Charlotte last night, the club's president, Upton Bell, said the league would have prospered if it had made it through the 1975 season. We just ran out of time , Bell said. We never were able to overcome the problems we had the first season.

Hemmeter promised that the league would pay all its outstanding debts, but that individual team debts would be a matter for the various franchises to settle. He defended the Hemmeter Plan - the incentive program he developed in which players shared in gate receipts. The plan worked beautifully, he said, But it was never intended to develop a market. What we needed was a marketing plan. You can have an exciting product, but if it doesn't have customer appeal on the shelf, its' worthless. Calling his league's failure a serious commitment on the world of professional sports, Hemmeter suggested the default would have a dramatic effect on the acquisition of new franchises.

NOTE: The page was researched by Jim Cusano. The story appeared in the New York Times on October 23, 1975.