The World Football League (WFL) was a disastrous attempt to set up a fall-season rival to the National Football League (NFL) in the mid-1970’s. It opened to much fanfare in July of 1974, but was soon undone by scandal and financial issues.
The Indianapolis Capitols (1968-1970) were a short-lived effort in professional minor league football, a form of entertainment which largely ceased to exist by the mid-1970’s. The Caps were one of the first pro football franchises to put their team in the hands of a black quarterback. They were also one of the first dabblings in pro sports by future NFL and NHL power broker Edward DeBartolo.
The Baltimore Elite Giants got their start in Nashville, before moving to Columbus, Ohio for one year, then to Washington, D.C. They moved down the road in Baltimore in 1938 and played there until 1950, before spending their final season back in Tennessee.
The original Winnipeg Jets were charter members of the WHA in 1972. They moved to the NHL in 1979, along with three other WHA squads. In 1995, they were sold and moved to Phoenix for the 1996-97 hockey season. The name was revived when the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Manitoba in 2011 and assumed the Jets name but not their history.
The Atlantic City Surf were one of the six original franchises in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The Atlantic League was (and remains) the most ambitious league to arise out of the independent baseball boom of the 1990’s. The Surf played at the Sandcastle, a 5,900-seat ballpark built on the grounds of Atlantic City’s municipal airport, Bader Field. The stadium was built with $11.5 million in Casino Reinvestment Development Authority funds and $3 million in taxpayer bonds.
The Orlando Sundogs were a pro soccer team that endured a single grim campaign in the USISL A-League during the summer of 1997. The A-League was the 2nd Division of men’s pro soccer in the U.S. at the time, one level below Major League Soccer. The Sundogs’ troubles were many, but a big one was their choice of stadium: the 64,000 Citrus Bowl, a former World Cup (1994) and Olympic (1996) stadium. The ‘Dogs averaged an invisible 1,278 fans per match in the gargantuan bowl.
This brief entry in the Arena Football League shared Portland, Oregon’s 19,000-seat Rose Garden arena with the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. Largely undistinguished in competition, the Dragons did help to jumpstart the NFL career of wide receiver Oronde Gadsden, who went on to a solid 6-year stint with the Miami Dolphins after excelling in Portland.
The American Basketball Association (ABA) was formed in 1967 as a competitor to the established National Basketball Association (NBA). It started with 11 teams, and within a few years was angling for a merger with the older league. In 1976, the NBA took in four ABA teams, while three other surviving teams disbanded.
The San Antonio Texans were a One-Year Wonder in the Canadian Football League, playing a single season at the Alamodome in the autumn of 1995. The franchise had a twisty backstory, dating back to the formation of the NFL-backed World League of American Football (WLAF) in 1990.
