Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers
23,028
edits
American Football: Difference between revisions
→Other American Pro Leagues: Fixing|links to disambiguation pages
(Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.8) |
Derivative (talk | contribs) (→Other American Pro Leagues: Fixing|links to disambiguation pages) |
||
Line 389:
* '''World Football League''' (1973-1975): A complete and total flop (and [[Never Trust a Trailer|not even a]] [[Non-Indicative Name|"world" football league]], the only team not on the American mainland was a team in Hawaii). Managed to last for two seasons despite laughable amounts of ineptness (one team had its equipment confiscated following the league's championship game) from almost everyone involved. Only two WFL alumni - Larry Csonka and Paul Warfield, both former NFL stars at the end of their careers - made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
** This is not the same as the World League of American Football, a league that began in the early 1990's and later evolved into NFL Europa; they are discussed later, under "American Football in Other Countries".
* '''United States Football League''' (1982-1987): The first serious competition with the NFL since the AFL's halcyon days. The league ran in the spring and signed several star college players (the first being Herschel Walker) before the NFL could snatch them up. The league had problems with solvency early on, and the more cash-strapped teams moved frequently making it hard to cultivate fanbases or secure long-term TV deals. Stories abounded of teams playing in near-empty stadiums and players having their paychecks bounce. Even so, it was rather popular in some markets and looked to be on the way towards success until Donald Trump (yeah, ''[[The Apprentice (trope)
** That $3 check [http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/2006-08-07-usfl-retrospective_x.htm was never cashed (as of 2006)], and is considered one of the biggest collectors' items out there. Incidentally, the original amount of the award in that case was only $1, but under anti-trust law at that time, any damages awarded by a civil jury were to be automatically tripled, hence the odd value.
* '''Arena Football League''' (1987-2008, 2010-present): Just based on longevity and popularity, the Arena Football League is probably the best known alternative league since the 60's American Football League, even though the Arena League isn't technically a competitor to the NFL. The league plays "Arena football" which is different in several ways to regular football, stuff we'll let [[The Other Wiki]] [[wikipedia:Arena football|explain better]]. Did decently in the ratings and in popularity until the league surprisingly crashed and burned in 2008, and was re-activated in 2010. Like the AFL, a list of notable NFL players who also played/currently{{when}} play in the Arena league would be way too long for this page.
* '''[[Let X Be the Unknown|X]] Football League''' (2000-2001): Founded by [[
* '''United Football League''' (2007-present): The most recent entry into the NFL competitor sweepstakes, it's remained largely low key and currently{{when}} features only four teams in small markets. Has recently gained media attention for extending invitation to NFL players to play for them if the 2011 NFL lockout lasted until the regular season. This didn't happen. Current teams are in Virginia Beach, Virginia; Omaha, Nebraska; Las Vegas, Nevada and Sacramento, California. Not exactly football hotbeds, but each team has a small yet devoted fanbase.
* '''Lingerie Football League''' (2010-present): At this point, the only "major" [[Distaff Counterpart|female football league]] with any media attention, though most of it is [[No Such Thing as Bad Publicity|negative attention]] because the players basically play in athletically-minded [[Chainmail Bikini]]s with padding and helmets, with games carried in edited form on [[MTV]]2. Some of the female players are just glad to play at all (using the example of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League seen in ''[[A League of Their Own]]'') and try to ignore that the league basically exists as [[Fetish Fuel]] for guys too cheap to even get [[Cinemax]]. Uses a 7-on-7 indoor format with no punts and field goals. Started to exploit the publicity that came with the Lingerie Bowl, a pay-per-view event that counterprograms the Super Bowl yearly.
| |||