American Football: NFL owners disband World League
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.THE World League of American Football, which brought the sport to London and two other European cities, was wound up by the National Football owners at a meeting in Dallas yesterday.
The meeting, which was called in response to the NFL's loss of an anti-trust court case last week, also voted to postpone plans to launch two expansion teams in the NFL in 1994, which had been scheduled to be selected on 20 October.
The verdict against the NFL, made in a federal court in Minneapolis, awarded dollars 1.6m to four NFL players and ruled that the league's limited free agency system was illegal.
The court ruling will force the NFL to negotiate a new labour contract with the players.
The NFL commisioner, Paul Tagliabue, said that if the World League is eventually revived, possibly in time for a 1994 season, it would be oriented more toward Europe, where it proved much more popular than in the United States.
The World League, which was launched in 1991, featured teams in London, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Montreal and six US cities. It drew consistently poor television ratings in the US, where it was screened on the ABC network and a cable channel.
Most of the players on the overseas teams were Americans, who were supplemented by players from the home nations. The London Monarchs, who played their home games at Wembley Stadium, won the inaugural World Bowl in 1991, beating the Barcelona Dragons in the final.
Tagliabue said the NFL might still stick to its timetable and expand into two new cities in 1994, if more pressing issues are resolved.
'Right now, the priorities are labour and a new television contract,' he said. 'It's a matter of priorities.'
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments