Today's Tidbit... Mergers And The Continental Football League
Since the APFA formed in 1920 and changed its name to the NFL two years later, many alternative leagues competed with or chose an orbit a level below the NFL. Generally, leagues founded by individuals with deep pockets tried competing with the NFL in bigger cities, while those with humbler beginnings were content operating as minor league teams, often in "lesser" towns.
The history of both types of leagues shows a consistent pattern of failure due to a mix of two reasons. One occurs when a dimwit owner overspends on player acquisition without the revenues to support that strategy, as occurred with the original USFL circa 1985. The other, more common, situation results from the failure to attract paying customers and media so that even the most frugal franchise cannot survive. An example of the latter was the Continental Football League, which took the field between 1965 and 1969.
The CFL started in 1965 with ten franchises on the East Coast, including teams in Montreal and Toronto. Most were remnants of the United Football League and the Atlantic Football League. Since I was a geography major, I will note that it should have been called the Subcontinental Football League at that point, but no one listens to geography majors anyway.
The former baseball commissioner Hap Chandler was the CFL’s first president. Their initial plan was to remain independent of NFL and AFL teams, but they abandoned that posture and Hap Chandler before the 1966 season, taking players on assignment from the big boys. They could not ink a TV deal other than earning $500 for the rights to broadcast the 1966 championship game on ABC's Wide World of Sports.
They added a 7-team Western Division in 1967, including several teams from the Pacific Football League, and stretched from Victoria, BC, to Orange County. Adding a few teams in the East led to a 7-team Atlantic North Division and a 3-team Atlantic South Division. While there was interdivisional play between the Atlantic Divisions, East and West did not meet until the league championship game, when Orlando beat Orange County 38-14.
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