Sports leagues that went up against the establishment

Vince McMahon’s first crack at disrupting the professional football landscape arrived with much fanfare in 2001. The first-ever XFL game, between the New York/New Jersey Hitmen and the Las Vegas Outlaws, drew some 14 million viewers, and the league’s opening night drew a 9.5 rating overall. However, ratings quickly bottomed out, and the league, which had legitimate football games surrounded by WWE (then WWF)-style shenanigans, folded after one season, which culminated in Tommy Maddox’s Los Angeles Xtreme winning the XFL championship.

Before Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier, African-American (and some Latin American) ballplayers plied their trade in a variety of professional leagues, dating all the way back to 1859. Teams like the Homestead Grays, Pittsburgh Crawfords and St. Louis Stars achieved widespread notoriety, and some of the greatest baseball players ever, like Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige and Cool Papa Bell, played most or all of their careers in the Negro Leagues.

The Continental Basketball Association was founded in 1946, though its original name was the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League and was actually two months older than the National Basketball Association. The CBA utilized a three-point line in the mid-1960s, pioneered the breakaway rim to prevent backboard-shattering dunks and also served as an unofficial feeder system for the NBA. After considerable financial issues, including the league declaring bankruptcy in 2001, two years after NBA legend Isiah Thomas purchased it, the CBA folded for good in 2009.

The World Hockey Association took a run at the NHL and nearly succeeded in destabilizing it, persuading 67 players to jump to the new league, led by Bobby Hull. Several future NHL greats, including Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, got their start in the WHA, which also made efforts to scour Europe for hockey talent, something largely unheard of in the NHL at that time. Despite some of the big names who played in the league, most teams struggled financially, and in 1979 the Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg and New England (later renamed Hartford) franchises were assumed into the NHL.

There have been two iterations of the North American Soccer League: one that ran from 2011 to 2017 and the original, which started in 1968 and lasted until 1984. The first version rode the wave of surprisingly strong television ratings for the 1966 World Cup and had a fluctuating number of teams. It reached the apex of its popularity in the mid-1970s when the New York Cosmos, the league’s flagship franchise, signed Pele to their roster. The Cosmos had three separate seasons where attendance averaged over 40,000 per game, and some NASL games were broadcast on network television, but the league lost momentum and suspended operations in 1985.

The United States Football League lasted from 1983 to 1985 and was successful in creating a well-regarded product. The league’s biggest success was its ability to draw in top talent, signing three consecutive Heisman Trophy winners — Herschel Walker, Doug Flutie and Mike Rozier. Reggie White, Jim Kelly, Gary Zimmerman and Steve Young all got their professional careers started in the USFL. An antitrust lawsuit against the NFL, while technically successful, crippled the league, which suspended operations before the 1986 season and never resumed them.

Founded in 2009, the Lingerie Football League delivered exactly what the name suggested, and as such, met with plenty of controversy, with many criticizing the league for objectifying women and for being dangerous, as many players were injured in part because uniforms were so skimpy. The sport itself was more or less the same as indoor football, with a shortened, narrowed field. The league is still around, too, despite multiple rebranding efforts. It became the Legends Football League in 2013 and was just rebranded to the “X League,” with a lengthened 70-yard field and play scheduled to begin in the spring, though the COVID-19 pandemic put those plans on hold.

In terms of staying power, the Arena Football League was impressive. The league held its first season in 1987 and lasted 32 years, albeit with a few bumps in the road, with its final campaign wrapping up in 2019. Jim Foster founded the league, which was inspired by indoor soccer and intended to be faster-paced and higher-scoring than traditional football. While the league didn’t have many NFL crossover success stories, its biggest one was spectacular; Kurt Warner went from the Iowa Barnstormers to the NFL, where he won two MVP Awards and a Super Bowl and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017.

Founded in 1973, and with its first season in 1974, the World Football League was the brainchild of Gary Davidson, who had a role in starting both the ABA and the WHA. The WFL succeeded in poaching some NFL players with the promise of lucrative contracts, but like so many other startup sports leagues, it was foiled by financial problems. Several embarrassing incidents took place as a result of those financial woes, like one team’s uniforms being repossessed, as well as the IRS having to decide whether to let the league conduct its “World Bowl” championship game, given that one of the participating teams owed nearly $250,000 in back taxes. The league came back for a second season in 1975 but folded after 12 games had been played and is viewed today as arguably the most embarrassing startup league ever.

Originally conceived as the World League of American Football, NFL Europe became referred to as such in 1998. The league lasted in that form until its final season, in 2007. NFL Europe was primarily a developmental league for younger NFL talent, and some truly notable NFL stars did ply their trade in the league for at least a short period of time. Kurt Warner, Dante Hall, Jon Kitna, Brad Johnson, James Harrison, Jake Delhomme and Adam Vinatieri all spent some time with NFL Europe franchises. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, though: The league folded in 2008 because it was losing too much money.

You know about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, but you might not realize it at first. The league, which existed from 1943-1954, was the inspiration for the movie, “A League of Their Own.” Teams were based in the Midwest, and in 1948, the 10-team league attracted 910,000 fans over the course of its season. The league played a game that was a hybrid of baseball and softball and had differences in terms of the length between bases and the size of the ball itself, among other things. The Rockford Peaches were its greatest team, winning four championships, most in league history.

As the AFL was to the NFL, the ABA was to the NBA. The league lasted from 1967-1976 when a merger assumed several teams into the NBA. ABA basketball was more wide-open than the NBA of that time, and the league also utilized the three-point shot. The ABA used a red-white-and-blue ball, much flashier than the orange ball of the NBA, and had a bona fide superstar and standard-bearer in the person of Julius Erving. The league also invented the slam-dunk contest at its final All-Star Game. Four ABA franchises — the New York Nets, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs — were assumed into the NBA when the leagues merged in 1976.

When startup leagues are being discussed, one of the phrases that tends to crop up often is “franchise instability,” and Roller Hockey International was no different. Numerous teams moved or were renamed, and despite the sport’s basic similarities to ice hockey, with just a few rules tweaked or changed, the league never really caught on as it was ultimately a less exciting, less skilled version of ice hockey. Roller Hockey International lasted from 1993-2001, with only the Anaheim Bullfrogs taking home multiple championships in that span — but I’m sure you already knew that.

World TeamTennis chugged along for a long time, from its inception in 1974, all the way until 2021. Rules were modified somewhat from traditional tennis, with all matches being five sets in length and a different style of tennis played in each set. Players from the ATP and WTA tours played in World TeamTennis, and the season took place in the summer. Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Serena and Venus Williams and Chris Evert are just a handful of the notable greats who participated in WTT.

In an attempt to capitalize on the excitement and interest generated by the United States Women’s National Team’s win at the 1998 World Cup, the Women’s United Soccer Association was born. The WUSA has the distinction of being the world’s first women’s soccer league where all of the players were paid as professionals. Notable founding players included Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Michelle Akers and Julie Foudy. The league’s first season was in 2001, with eight teams participating, but despite significant investment from a variety of communications companies, the league suffered major financial losses and folded in 2003 after just three seasons.

The American Basketball League came onto the scene in 1961, and it had a clear hook: a three-point line. This same gimmick would be used by the ABA before eventually being adopted by the NBA in 1979. The ABL also featured a 30-second shot clock, which was six seconds more than the NBA’s shot clock. George Steinbrenner was one of the driving forces behind the league, and his Cleveland Pipers won the ABL’s only championship. Steinbrenner attempted to make a secret deal to join the NBA, but the deal backfired, and after plenty of off-season turmoil the ABL folded on Dec. 31, 1962.

The Alliance of American Football was a complete mess. The AAF did not last a full season, managing to play just eight of its 10 weeks in early 2019 before Tom Dundon, who bought the league when it was floundering financially, decided to shutter it. Though there were some interesting innovations, like the SkyJudge, the quality of football was poor, and there was no real connection with fans. Stories that came out after the league ceased operations made it clear that the whole thing was a house of cards financially and was being run incompetently. Here’s a fun party game: See if anyone can name a single AAF team. Bet they can’t!

Was SlamBall competing with the NBA? Not directly, of course. But was SlamBall trying to take what most casual fans love about the NBA — the dunks — and turn them up to an 11? Absolutely. SlamBall also encouraged plenty of physicality, so it was really a hybrid of basketball, hockey and football played on trampolines. The concept itself was novel and fun at least in terms of the highlights it produced, but SlamBall never caught on and took a long break after its first two seasons, in 2002 and 2003. Like so many things from the early aughts, SlamBall was resurrected in 2023, with none other than Blake Griffin as one of its principal financial backers.

You’d think that with so many startup professional football leagues failing, investors and brainstorming promoter-types would finally give up. But you’d be wrong. The United Football League was another forgettable entry in a long history of failed leagues, as it had planned to strike during the NFL lockout in 2011 and decided to go head-to-head with the NFL and college football and play a fall schedule. You can probably guess what happened next: The NFL resolved its labor issues in the summer, any chance the UFL had of gaining momentum was gone and it limped along for a few more seasons before folding in 2013. However, if you were a Las Vegas Locomotives fan, these were heady days. The Locomotives won two of three UFL championships and were undefeated when the league ceased operations in 2012.

Big3 deserves some credit for being a fun league that doesn’t seem to take itself nearly as seriously as most other startup leagues did or do. Twelve teams play in the league, where the game is simply half-court, three-on-three basketball, with a handful of unique rules that will be implemented for the 2020 season. Chances are you’ve probably caught at least part of a Big3 game on television, and CBS and CBS Sports Network have the broadcast rights moving forward. Time will tell if the Big3 will have long-term staying power, but it is fun and fast-paced and seems to have found a niche despite only coming into existence in 2017. League founder Ice Cube ought to be proud of his work; he’s done much better than most with his startup.

Perhaps the most successful upstart league in history, the American Football League went from a “little brother” outfit not taken seriously by the NFL to a league that eventually merged with the NFL and became the American Football Conference. The AFL was much more offense-focused than the NFL, and there were plenty of innovators in its coaching ranks. The league’s legitimacy in terms of football product was sealed when Joe Namath and the Jets stunned the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. Perhaps the only thing that needs to be said about the AFL’s legacy is this: It is the only professional football league in history that challenged the NFL, and succeeded.

The Basketball League is a showcase league featuring professional basketball players from all paths including former NBA, G-League, NCAA, and International players looking for that next big break. Founded in 2017, Jamario Moon and Smush Parker are among the notable players to have played and former NBA star Steve Francis is a team owner. Having expanded to 38 teams for the 2024 season, the league's community-driven approach and targeting of under-served markets has allowed it to carve-out a unique space against the NBA's massive footprint.  

Soccer has only recently gained significant popularity in the U.S., and indoor soccer has always been a novelty, particularly in the 1970s, when the Major Indoor Soccer League was founded. The league began play in 1978 with six teams, but by the end of the MISL’s run in 1992, 24 franchises had played in the league. The faster pace and higher-scoring nature of indoor soccer games allowed the league to catch on in popularity, with attendance in its 14 seasons averaging over 7,500 fans per game. The league can also be credited with the creation of Arena Football, as Jim Foster, the founder of that league, credited MISL as his inspiration.

If you like the story of the little, independent business triumphing over the massive corporate entity…uh, stop reading, because the ABL, the first independent women’s professional basketball league in the United States, had the misfortune of forming at the same time that the WNBA was being created. Though the ABL started in the fall of 1996, giving it an eight-month headstart over the WNBA, and even though its product was better and its salaries higher, the WNBA eventually won out, mainly because of the NBA’s financial resources and promotional capacity. The ABL lasted for two-and-a-half seasons before abruptly shutting down during the 1998-99 season. Chalk up another victory for a plucky corporate behemoth.

So far, so good for the National Women’s Soccer League, the most prominent women’s professional league in the U.S. The NWSL came into being in November of 2012 and held its first season in 2013. It is comprised of nine teams and will add a 10th in 2021, in Louisville, Kentucky. The NWSL has an agreement with the United States Soccer Federation, so where other startup leagues have failed, it appears poised to succeed, possibly for a very long time, as soccer’s popularity continues to increase stateside.

Here we go again! If you're having trouble keeping score, the UFL 2.0 is the result of a merger between the XFL 2.0 and the USFL (also 2.0). After competing for viewers in 2023, the two leagues merged late in the year, and will play what is being called a "combined season" starting in March of 2024. And yes, if you're curious, The Rock (part-owner of the XFL) is still very much involved. There will be eight teams, four in the USFL conference, and four in the XFL conference. Will this latest attempt at spring football work? We'll find out soon enough. 

There have been a few efforts at women's professional hockey in recent years; the Canadian Women's Hockey League collapsed in 2019, and the Premier Hockey Federation lasted from 2015-2023. The PWHPA (Professional Women's Hockey Players Association) formed in 2023 and partnered with Mark Walter, who purchased the PHF, and the result was the six-team PWHL, whose season runs through the end of April.