1974 World Football League season

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The 1974 World Football League season was the first season of the World Football League.

Contents

Twelve teams began the inaugural 1974 season, which launched July 10 and lasted 19 weeks with no bye week. The league doubled up the week of Labor Day by playing four games over the course of three weeks on a Wednesday, Monday (Labor Day), Friday, Wednesday schedule, giving the WFL teams 20 games each. Two teams, the Detroit Wheels and Jacksonville Sharks dropped out and folded after fourteen weeks, with the New York Stars and Houston Texans relocating to other markets (Charlotte and Shreveport respectively) during the season. Portland and Detroit played a week 9 regular season game in London, Ontario at Little Stadium.

The season culminated in World Bowl 1 on December 5, 1974, won by the Birmingham Americans.

Teams

Usa edcp (+HI +AL) relief location map.svg
Green pog.svg
Blazers
Green pog.svg
Stars
Green pog.svg
Hornets
Green pog.svg
Sharks
Green pog.svg
Bell
Purple pog.svg
Americans
Purple pog.svg
Fire
Purple pog.svg
Wheels
Purple pog.svg
Southmen
Yellow pog.svg
Hawaiians
Yellow pog.svg
Texans
Yellow pog.svg
Steamer
Yellow pog.svg
Storm
Yellow pog.svg
Sun
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WFL teams: Yellow pog.svg West, Purple pog.svg Central, Green pog.svg East
* During the season, the New York Stars relocated to become the Charlotte Hornets (underlined), and the Houston Texans relocated to become the Shreveport Steamer (italics).
1974 World Football League
DivisionTeamCityArenaCapacity
East Florida Blazers Orlando, Florida Florida Citrus Bowl 28,000
New York Stars
Charlotte Hornets 		New York, New York
Charlotte, North Carolina 		Downing Stadium
American Legion Memorial Stadium 		22,000
24,000
Jacksonville Sharks Jacksonville, Florida Gator Bowl Stadium 72,000
Philadelphia Bell Philadelphia, Pennsylvania John F. Kennedy Stadium 102,000
Central Birmingham Americans Birmingham, Alabama Legion Field 68,821
Chicago Fire Chicago, Illinois Soldier Field 55,701
Detroit Wheels Ypsilanti, Michigan Rynearson Stadium 22,227
Memphis Southmen Memphis, Tennessee Memphis Memorial Stadium 50,160
West The Hawaiians Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu Stadium 25,000
Houston Texans
Shreveport Steamer 		Houston, Texas
Shreveport, Louisiana 		Astrodome
State Fair Stadium 		50,000
50,000
Portland Storm Portland, Oregon Civic Stadium 25,218
Southern California Sun Anaheim, California Anaheim Stadium 43,202

1974 season

Final standings

W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against

Eastern Division
TeamWLTPCTPFPA
Florida Blazers 1460.700416280
Charlotte Hornets 10100.500467350
Philadelphia Bell 9110.450493413
Jacksonville Sharks 4100.286258357
Central Division
TeamWLTPCTPFPA
Memphis Southmen 1730.850629365
Birmingham Americans 1550.750500394
Chicago Fire 7130.350446599
Detroit Wheels 1130.071209358
Western Division
TeamWLTPCTPFPA
Southern California Sun 1370.650485441
The Hawaiians 9110.450411422
Portland Storm 7121.375264424
Shreveport Steamer 7121.375240415
Notes:
(a) Jacksonville and Detroit folded after 14 games; each week thereafter, the teams that had games scheduled against those teams played each other.
(b) Shreveport Steamer began the season as Houston Texans.
(c) Charlotte Hornets began season as New York Stars; upon announcing move to Charlotte, played one away game as Charlotte Stars, and remaining games as Hornets.
(d) Chicago forfeited its 20th game to Philadelphia, 2–0.

Source: [1]

1974 playoffs

The original WFL schedule had the three division champions plus one wild-card qualify, culminating in a "World Bowl" on the evening after Thanksgiving at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville.

With financial problems mounting, various formats were bandied about:

Eventually, the playoffs were set with the opening rounds consisting of two teams from each division, with the two qualifying teams from the Central Division (Memphis and Birmingham), who ranked first and second in overall record, given byes to the next round. The Hawaiians faced Southern California in the West, but in the East, Florida instead faced Philadelphia, even though, at 9–11, the Bell were 1 game behind 10–10 Charlotte in the standings. However, when only 1,000 advance tickets were sold for the Blazers-Hornets matchup, league officials replaced the Hornets with the Bell. The Hornets were still reeling from their New York debts, and it was believed that the advance gate would not be nearly enough to justify the trip (reportedly, the players would have been lucky to get $100 for the game). The Bell, on the other hand, were on far stronger financial ground, and it was believed they could cover their own expenses.

Quarterfinals

Hawaiians defeated the Southern California Sun, 32–14 (at Anaheim, California on Wednesday, November 20, 1974)

Florida Blazers defeated Philadelphia Bell, 18–3 (at Orlando, Florida on Thursday, November 21, 1974)

Semifinals

Birmingham Americans defeated The Hawaiians, 22–19 (at Birmingham, Alabama on Wednesday, November 27, 1974)

Florida Blazers defeated Memphis Southmen, 18–15 (at Memphis, Tennessee on Friday, November 29, 1974)

World Bowl

Birmingham Americans 22, Florida Blazers 21 (at Birmingham, Alabama on Thursday, December 5, 1974)

1974 All-WFL Team

Head Coach: Jack Pardee, Florida Blazers (TSN, P&C)
Tri-MVPs: Tony Adams, Southern California, J.J. Jennings, Memphis, and Tommy Reamon, Florida. [2]
Key: PC = voted on by players and coaches of the WFL; TSN = selection by The Sporting News

See also

References

  1. ↑ "1974 World Football League Game Results" . Retrieved November 11, 2015.
  2. ↑ "WFL All-Star teams". WFL.org. April 6, 2009.
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