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The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 and most of its second in 1975.Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, only one team – the Hawaiians in Honolulu, Hawaii - was headquartered outside of continental North America.
The 1974 World Football League season was the first season of the World Football League. 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 ...
The Hawaiians were a professional American football team based in Honolulu that played in the World Football League. They played two seasons, 1974 and 1975. Their records were 9–11 in 1974 and 4–7–1 in 1975. Their home stadium was Honolulu Stadium in 1974 and Aloha Stadium in 1975.
The WFL returned with a massive overhaul under new commissioner, Christopher Hemmeter. Four of the inaugural twelve teams returned from the 1974 season : The Hawaiians , Southern California Sun , Philadelphia Bell and Memphis Southmen , as did the Shreveport Steamer and Charlotte Hornets , who moved from Houston and New York City , respectively ...
The most successful of the World Football League franchises, the Americans led the league in attendance and won all 13 of their home games. They developed a reputation for come-from-behind victories and winning by narrow margins. The Americans finished the 1974 regular season at 15–5 and won the 1974 World Bowl by one point over the Florida ...
The World Football League followed suit a few months later, passing into history. In 1981, another Chicago Fire club played in the minor-league American Football Association . Led by running back Billy Marek , the new Fire also played at Soldier Field, albeit in front of small crowds: the biggest attendance of the year was estimated at 8,500.
A week later, after vetoing several prospective owners, the WFL folded the team (as well as the hapless Detroit Wheels), and the Sharks' last six games were cancelled. Today, the name is used by the National Arena League 's Jacksonville Sharks , which began play in the Arena Football League in 2010.
The Bell was one of just two WFL teams that maintained the same ownership in both 1974 and 1975 (the other being Canadian millionaire John Bassett's Memphis Southmen).The group was headed by John B. Kelly Jr., a respected business and sportsman in Philadelphia and part of the well-known Kelly family, which included his sister Grace Kelly, movie star-turned-Princess of Monaco.