The
World League of American Football (WLAF) was
founded in
1990 with support from the
National Football League to play
professional
American football in
North America,
Europe and later possibly
Asia.
This came
after the NFL had played popular American
Bowls in London
's Wembley
Stadium
and elsewhere since 1986.
The WLAF played two seasons with 10 teams in the spring of
1991 and
1992, with the
World Bowl as championship games. Rules unique to
WLAF included assigning increasing point value to field goals based
on distance, and a requirement that at least one player of non-US
nationality participate in at least every other series of
downs.
New ideas were successfully tested, like using the
two-point conversion rule also on the
professional field before adopting it in the NFL in
1994. Other minor tweaks in gameplay, such
as a shorter kickoff tee, were also first used in the WLAF.
In
1995, games in Europe were resumed as the
World
League, in
1998 as
NFL Europe and in
2006 as
NFL Europa. The league ceased
operations on
June 29,
2007.
WLAF history
The original WLAF was a spring developmental
American football league which had 10
teams playing a 10-game regular season. Two additional franchises
were initially proposed in Paris and Mexico City. Teams were
aligned in three divisions:
The playoff format consisted of four teams: the three divisional
champions, plus a wild card with the best overall non-division
winning record. The two teams emerging from the World League of
American Football semifinal playoffs met at the end of the season
in the
World Bowl. The first two
World Bowl games were held at predetermined
locations much like the modern
Super
Bowl.
The original WLAF was less than popular in the United States. This
might also have been caused by the surprising domination of the
three Europe-based teams in 1991, which had a combined 24-6 record,
while no North American team managed to be better than 5-5. The
Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks even
lost all 10 games as well as their franchise, which was moved to
Ohio for 1992.
In 1992, fortunes changed and the European teams all had losing
seasons. Despite this, the European fans remained loyal, but
operations of the WLAF were suspended after the
1992 season as the league lost money and the involved
NFL owners were not willing to invest more. However, the
National Football League still
liked the idea of a spring developmental league - and they needed
another pro Football league to help their cause in the antitrust
and
free agency lawsuit with the
National Football
League Players' Association.
The Sacramento and San Antonio franchises left the WLAF and were
set to join the
Canadian
Football League in 1993. San Antonio folded prior to the season
but the
Sacramento Gold
Miners did play in the CFL for three years, starting the
CFL USA initiative created in the wake of
the WLAF's suspension.
1991 season
1992 season
1995 comeback
After revamping itself into an exclusively European circuit, the
WLAF re-launched in
1995.
The league consisted
of the three existing European teams from the original format as
well as three new teams in Amsterdam
, Düsseldorf
and Edinburgh
(who would compete as Scotland
).
By the end of the 1997 season, there were growing concerns that
their markets, except Germany, were not living up to their
potential. Radical changes were made to the two British teams.
The London
Monarchs would become the England Monarchs, and play their home
games in London, Birmingham
and Bristol
.
Also, the
Scottish Claymores would divide their schedule between Edinburgh
and Glasgow
.
Then, at a
press conference in San
Diego
during Super Bowl
XXXII weekend, the league announced it too would be changing:
the league would be rebranded as NFL
Europe.
Television coverage
USA Network carried most of the WLAF
games on Saturday & Monday nights in the 1991 season and again
on Saturday nights for the 1992 season. As mentioned, it premiered
the helmet cam to TV audiences.
ABC
Sports broadcast some games in both seasons, mostly on Sunday
afternoons. ABC showed the 1991 World Bowl, while USA carried the
game in 1992.
WLAF teams
North American West
North American East
European
See also
External links
- MacGille's WLAF, NFLE & NFL Europa Website:
http://www.worldleagueofamericanfootball.com
- Natures Images Photography - Photos of the Frankfurt Galaxy
home games: http://www.frankfurt-galaxy.eu
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