Similar 1974 NFL season, 1984 USFL season, 1976 NFL season, 1980 NFL season | ||
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 weeks (in fact, 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). Of those teams, two (the Detroit Wheels and Jacksonville Sharks folded fourteen weeks into the season; two others, the New York Stars and Houston Texans, relocated to other markets (Charlotte and Shreveport respectively) midway through 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.
Final standings
W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against
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 2-0.1974 Playoffs
In the original WFL schedule, the three division champions plus one wild-card were to 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: (1) the playoffs would simply be canceled, and the team with the best record would be declared the champion; (2) three teams (Memphis, Birmingham, and Florida) would qualify for the playoffs (thus leaving West champ Southern California out); (3) eight of the remaining 10 teams would qualify; and, finally, (4) the top two teams in each division would qualify, seeded entirely by won-lost record.
This last format was followed, with Birmingham and Memphis getting first-round byes. Charlotte was due to play Florida and the Hawaiians due to play Southern California in wild-card games. The wild-card winners would advance to the semifinals, and the semifinal winners would play in the World Bowl. However, Charlotte was forced to drop out due to sluggish advance ticket sales; the Hornets' cut of the gate would have been too meager for the financially strapped team to meet its expenses. Philadelphia replaced Charlotte as the East's second qualifier.
Quarterfinals
Hawaiians defeated the Southern California Sun, 32-14 (@ Anaheim, California on Wednesday, November 20, 1974)
Florida Blazers defeated Philadelphia Bell, 18-3 (@ Orlando, Florida on Thursday, November 21, 1974)
Semifinals
Birmingham Americans defeated The Hawaiians, 22-19 (@ Birmingham, Alabama on Wednesday, November 27, 1974)
Florida Blazers defeated Memphis Southmen, 18-15 (@ Memphis, Tennessee on Friday, November 29, 1974)
World Bowl
Birmingham Americans 22, Florida Blazers 21 (@ 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.
Key: PC = voted on by players and coaches of the WFL; TSN = selection by The Sporting News