By 1975, the World Football League was ready to go for another season. Despite the turbulence of the previous year [link to 1974 post], with teams relocating or folding midseason, the WFL had a plan in place to keep things together in its second season.
In order to keep players and coaches happy, commissioner Christopher Hemmeter decided that they would be paid based on game revenues. All the league had to do now was generate some money.
There was a big shakeup in the teams playing in 1975. Only two, the Memphis Southmen and Philadelphia Bell, returned from the previous year under the same ownership, out of six teams returning overall.
In 1974, we had the Portland Storm, the Jacksonville Sharks, the Chicago Fire and the Birmingham Americans. Those four teams—one of which was the league champ!—were replaced by the Thunder, the Express, the Winds and the Vulcans.
The Florida Blazers, the runners-up of the first season, also folded, but their franchise rights were not retained in the Orlando area. Instead, they essentially relocated to San Antonio and became the Wings.
Because no replacement could be found for the Detroit Wheels, the league began the year with 11 teams. The divisions are as shown in the table above: the Western Division contained the six teams in the left column, while the Eastern Division had the other five.
The goal was to see each team play eighteen games in a 20-week schedule, which began in August. With an odd number of teams, just like the current Canadian Football League, some team would need to be on bye each week. Due to a scheduling conflict, the Wings played the Charlotte Hornets in San Antonio in late July. Everyone else would begin play the next week.
The Chicago Winds faced a unique struggle in their attempt to attract Joe Namath to play for them. The Super Bowl MVP was nearing the end of his pro career; none the less, the Winds put in considerable time and money toward recruiting him. See their team colors, green and white? It’s no coincidence that those are the same colors as Namath’s New York Jets.
When this failed, the Winds folded and the WFL took a big hit. Their national TV contract with sports broadcaster TVS was staked on Namath’s signing. Accompanied by low attendance, the league’s visibility was all but demolished.
The Eastern Division was pretty far ahead of the West in the end. The West contained the only team to fold, as well as three of the four teams to lose 7 games. Four of five Eastern teams had winning records when play ended.
Six teams were set to make the playoffs, just as in the previous season. Notably, one team from each division would qualify by leading their division at the midpoint of the season. Since the Wings and Southmen were those leading teams, I believe Week 11 in my file was that designated midpoint.
After that point, the Southmen and Wings suffered two more losses on the field. The biggest loss of all came next.
On October 22, 1975, the World Football League folded. Active teams had played between eleven and thirteen games at that point. At 9-3, the Birmingham Vulcans were declared the league’s 1975 champions.
Unsurprisingly, the team with the best record also received the best rating here.
That happened in 1974 as well. The Southmen went 17-4 overall then. What’s the difference? That team didn’t win the first and only World Bowl; 17-5 Birmingham did.
I think it’s fair to name the Birmingham Vulcans the best team in the 1975 WFL season, as long as we make a distinction between “best team” and “champion”. There was no champion for this season because there was no designated championship game, or even a playoff.
For all we know, the Wings or the Southmen could have been saving up energy for the postseason when they lost their final games. They could have repeated what the Americans did in 1974: taking their feet off the gas pedal in the pursuit of long-term success.
And of course, there’s the factor of free will and human choice. These ratings are much better when used descriptively—as a way of looking back on how games went—rather than predictively. The Hawaiians, the Steamer, the Bell, any of those teams could have come back from a weak start and won the title. No one can really be ruled out at this point.
In order to keep players and coaches happy, commissioner Christopher Hemmeter decided that they would be paid based on game revenues. All the league had to do now was generate some money.
There was a big shakeup in the teams playing in 1975. Only two, the Memphis Southmen and Philadelphia Bell, returned from the previous year under the same ownership, out of six teams returning overall.
In 1974, we had the Portland Storm, the Jacksonville Sharks, the Chicago Fire and the Birmingham Americans. Those four teams—one of which was the league champ!—were replaced by the Thunder, the Express, the Winds and the Vulcans.
The Florida Blazers, the runners-up of the first season, also folded, but their franchise rights were not retained in the Orlando area. Instead, they essentially relocated to San Antonio and became the Wings.
Because no replacement could be found for the Detroit Wheels, the league began the year with 11 teams. The divisions are as shown in the table above: the Western Division contained the six teams in the left column, while the Eastern Division had the other five.
The goal was to see each team play eighteen games in a 20-week schedule, which began in August. With an odd number of teams, just like the current Canadian Football League, some team would need to be on bye each week. Due to a scheduling conflict, the Wings played the Charlotte Hornets in San Antonio in late July. Everyone else would begin play the next week.
The Chicago Winds faced a unique struggle in their attempt to attract Joe Namath to play for them. The Super Bowl MVP was nearing the end of his pro career; none the less, the Winds put in considerable time and money toward recruiting him. See their team colors, green and white? It’s no coincidence that those are the same colors as Namath’s New York Jets.
When this failed, the Winds folded and the WFL took a big hit. Their national TV contract with sports broadcaster TVS was staked on Namath’s signing. Accompanied by low attendance, the league’s visibility was all but demolished.
The Eastern Division was pretty far ahead of the West in the end. The West contained the only team to fold, as well as three of the four teams to lose 7 games. Four of five Eastern teams had winning records when play ended.
Six teams were set to make the playoffs, just as in the previous season. Notably, one team from each division would qualify by leading their division at the midpoint of the season. Since the Wings and Southmen were those leading teams, I believe Week 11 in my file was that designated midpoint.
After that point, the Southmen and Wings suffered two more losses on the field. The biggest loss of all came next.
On October 22, 1975, the World Football League folded. Active teams had played between eleven and thirteen games at that point. At 9-3, the Birmingham Vulcans were declared the league’s 1975 champions.
Unsurprisingly, the team with the best record also received the best rating here.
That happened in 1974 as well. The Southmen went 17-4 overall then. What’s the difference? That team didn’t win the first and only World Bowl; 17-5 Birmingham did.
I think it’s fair to name the Birmingham Vulcans the best team in the 1975 WFL season, as long as we make a distinction between “best team” and “champion”. There was no champion for this season because there was no designated championship game, or even a playoff.
For all we know, the Wings or the Southmen could have been saving up energy for the postseason when they lost their final games. They could have repeated what the Americans did in 1974: taking their feet off the gas pedal in the pursuit of long-term success.
And of course, there’s the factor of free will and human choice. These ratings are much better when used descriptively—as a way of looking back on how games went—rather than predictively. The Hawaiians, the Steamer, the Bell, any of those teams could have come back from a weak start and won the title. No one can really be ruled out at this point.
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