International Football Federation

Last updated
International Football Federation
Sport American football
Founded1999
Ceased1999
PresidentEdward Litwack
No. of teams13
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
Last
champion(s)		N/A
Official website Official Site

The International Football Federation was a proposed professional american football minor league. It had intended to launch in spring 2000, but folded while still in its preliminary stages. It is often considered to be one of the shortest-lived high-profile leagues in history, lasting, in the words of one observer, "one press conference."

Contents

It was the first sport league in the United States that had plans of streaming its games on the internet. [1]

League formation and structure

The league was unveiled at a press conference in New York City on June 11, 1999, with Dennis Murphy (a co-founder of both the American Basketball Association and World Hockey Association), league president Edward Litwack, and entertainer Dionne Warwick involved in its launch. [2] The plan was to play a 16-game schedule with two preseason contests. Teams salary cap would've been $4,000,000, with most players would've been paid between $65,000 and $85,000 while three star players splitting an additional $1,000,000 per team. [3]

Teams

The team intended to field 13 teams at its launch. These teams would be based in New Jersey (ostensibly, like other professional teams in that state, representing New York), Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Denver, two in Los Angeles, Toronto, San Jose, Texas, Hawaii and Connecticut. Warwick would own a share of both Los Angeles teams, at least one of which would have played at the Rose Bowl. The "New York" team would play at Giants Stadium; [2] Hawaii, the last entry into the league, had plans to play in Aloha Stadium and was to be owned by entertainment promoter Bob Peyton. [4]

Rumors had the names "Toronto Turbos" and "Connecticut Yankees" as two of the team names; no other names were announced or leaked.

Television and radio

The league had preliminary discussions with NBC and Turner Broadcasting but both executives said neither NBC nor Turner would be able to put together a package on such short notice. ESPN was referred to as a league partner. Litwack ran his own cable television systems that he said could be used for a syndicated package and sold individually to local stations or cable networks. He also said the games could be shown on the internet. [2]

Both NBC and Turner looked toward sponsoring another league, deciding initially to back an entirely new league of their own. [5] NBC eventually put its support behind the XFL, which took the field in 2001.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TNT (American TV network)</span> American pay television channel

TNT is an American basic cable television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery that launched on October 3, 1988. TNT's original purpose was to air classic films and television series to which Turner Broadcasting maintained spillover rights through its sister station TBS. Since June 2001, the network has shifted its focus to dramatic television series and feature films, along with some sporting events, as TBS shifted its focus to comedic programming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Major League Baseball on television</span> Overview of coverage of American professional baseball on television

Major League Baseball (MLB) has been broadcast on American television since the 1950s, with initial broadcasts on the experimental station W2XBS, the predecessor of the modern WNBC in New York. The World Series was televised on a networked basis since 1947, with regular season games broadcast nationally since 1953. Over the forthcoming years, MLB games became major attractions for American television networks, and each of the Big Three networks would air packages of baseball games at various times until the year 2000. Fox would rise to major network status, partially on its acquisition of MLB rights in 1996; Fox has been MLB's primary broadcast television partner ever since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NFL Network</span> American sports-oriented pay television network

NFL Network is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NFL RedZone. Dedicated to American football, the network features game telecasts from the NFL, as well as NFL-related content including analysis programs, specials and documentaries. The network is headquartered in the NFL Los Angeles building located next to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, and broadcasts its worldwide feed from Encompass Digital Media in Atlanta, Georgia. The network has secondary East Coast facilities in the NFL Films building in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SportsNet New York</span> Regional sports network

SportsNet New York (SNY) is an American regional sports network owned by Sterling Entertainment Enterprises, LLC, itself a joint venture between the Fred Wilpon Sterling Equities, Charter Communications through its acquisition of Time Warner Cable in May 2016 and Comcast, through its NBC Sports Group subsidiary. The channel primarily broadcasts games and related programming involving the New York Mets, but also carries supplementary coverage of the Mets and the New York Jets as well as college sports events.

Major League Baseball on NBC is the de facto branding for weekly broadcasts of Major League Baseball (MLB) games that are produced by NBC Sports, and televised on the NBC television network; and, as of 2022, as well as on its co-owned streaming service, Peacock. Major League Baseball games first aired on the network from 1947 to 1989, including The NBC Game of the Week, when CBS acquired the broadcast television rights.

Braves TBS Baseball was an American presentation of regular season Major League Baseball (MLB) game telecasts featuring the Atlanta Braves National League franchise that aired on the American cable and satellite network TBS. The games were produced by Turner Sports, the sports division of the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, TBS's corporate parent. The program, which made its debut in 1973, ended national broadcasts in 2007.

In the United States and Canada, a regional sports network (RSN) is a cable television channel that presents sports programming to a local market or geographical region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raycom Sports</span> College sports television syndicator

Raycom Sports is an American producer of sports television programs. It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and owned and operated by Gray Television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NHL Network (American TV channel)</span> Television sports channel

NHL Network is an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television network that is a joint venture between the National Hockey League and NBCUniversal. Dedicated to ice hockey, the network features live game telecasts from the NHL and other professional and collegiate hockey leagues, as well as NHL-related content including analysis programs, specials and documentaries.

<i>Thursday Night Football</i> Branding for NFL games usually broadcast on Thursdays

Thursday Night Football is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NBC Sports Chicago</span> American regional sports network

NBC Sports Chicago is an American regional sports network that broadcasts regional coverage of professional sports teams in the Chicago metropolitan area, as well as college sports events and original sports-related news, discussion and entertainment programming. It is branded as part of the NBC Sports Regional Networks.

NBC Sports Philadelphia is an American regional sports network owned by the NBC Sports Group unit of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by locally based cable television provider Comcast, and the Philadelphia Phillies. It is the flagship owned-and-operated outlet of NBC Sports Regional Networks. The channel broadcasts regional coverage of professional sports teams in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, as well as college sports events and original sports-related news, discussion and entertainment programming.

NBC Sports Northwest was an American regional sports network owned by the NBC Sports Group unit of NBCUniversal, as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. The network broadcast regional coverage of professional sports events throughout the Pacific Northwest, focusing primarily on the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers and college sports events involving the Oregon Ducks. It also covered other sports events involving teams within the northwestern United States, including those featuring college and high school teams.

NBC Sports Bay Area is an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between NBCUniversal and the San Francisco Giants, and operates as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. Headquartered in San Francisco, the channel broadcasts regional coverage of professional sports events throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. NBCS Bay Area's sister channel is NBC Sports California. The president of the network is Ted Griggs.

The National Hockey League has never fared as well on American television in comparison to the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, or the National Football League, although that has begun to change, with NBC's broadcasts of the final games of the 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013 Stanley Cup Finals scoring some of the best ratings ever enjoyed by the sport on American television.

NBC Sports Network, shorthened to NBCSN was an American sports television channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated to programming primarily involving fishing, hunting, outdoor adventure programs, and outdoor sports. By the turn of the 21st century, OLN became better known for its extensive coverage of the Tour de France but eventually began covering more "mainstream" sporting events, resulting in its relaunch as Versus in September 2006.

ESPN is an American-based global cable and satellite television channel that focuses on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports highlight and talk shows, and other original programming. This article details the development of ESPN from its founding in 1978, and its history since the channel's launch on September 7, 1979.

The history of the National Football League on television documents the long history of the National Football League on television. The NFL, along with boxing and professional wrestling, was a pioneer of sports broadcasting during a time when baseball and college football were more popular than professional football. Due to the NFL understanding television at an earlier time, they were able to surpass Major League Baseball in the 1960s as the most popular sport in the United States. Today, NFL broadcasting contracts are among the most valuable in the world.

The National Hockey League (NHL) is shown on national television in the United States and Canada. With 25 teams in the U.S. and 7 in Canada, the NHL is the only one of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada that maintains separate national broadcasters in each country, each producing separate telecasts of a slate of regular season games, playoff games, and the Stanley Cup Finals.

References

  1. ↑ "On this date in 1999, the founder of the World Football League and the host of the Psychic Friends Network announced plans to start the International Football Federation".
  2. 1 2 3 An IFF-y proposition. Associated Press. 11 June 1999.
  3. ↑ "News Updates on the IFF". Archived from the original on 2016-07-02.
  4. ↑ New league has Hawaii in its plans. Associated Press.
  5. ↑ TIME WARNER AND NBC TO FORM NEW PRO LEAGUE Archived 2012-08-26 at the Wayback Machine . SportsBusiness.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.