- Spring Football League
infobox sports league
sport=American Football
founded=2000
teams= (4)The Spring Football League (SFL) was a professional
American football that existed for only part of one mini-season in 2000. Founded by several ex-NFL players such asEric Dickerson , Drew Pearson,Bo Jackson , andTony Dorsett , the SFL planned to use the four game mini-season (dubbed "Festival 2000") to test cities, fans, stadiums, the media, entertainment, and springtimeAmerican football as a product. The year before, theRegional Football League staggered through a spring season, then announced it would not return for 2000.The SFL announced its formation on March 1, 2000 and planned to play games less than two months later; league director Bill Futterer said the league would play four games on Saturdays from April 29, followed by a championship game in Miami on May 27.
The teams were:
*Los Angeles Dragons
* Miami Tropics
*Houston Marshals
*San Antonio Matadors SFL teams consisted of 38 players, each of whom would receive $1,200 per game with a $200 winners bonus.
The league's games included pre-game and at half-time shows featuring national musical acts (such as
The O'Jays , Mark Wills, and Poncho Sanchez), a pronounced effort to attract both African-Americans and Latino fans, and innovative use of wireless communication.Mini-season cut short
Due to a lack of media coverage -- the SFL had no TV or radio contracts, and newspaper coverage was spotty at best -- it quickly became obvious that the league was a sinking ship. Attendance was disastrously low, despite very competitive contests. The SFL wasn't even able to finish out its modest, one month season -- league officials ended the test program after only two weeks (and four games, none of which drew more than a few thousand people). Houston and San Antonio, both with 2-0 records, were declared league co-champions.
With funding for the league having been provided by tech-stock entrepreneurs, any chance that the SFL would return was scotched by the tech-market crash of 2000 and the subsequent announcement of the
XFL by the WWF.The last professional football game to be played at the
Miami Orange Bowl was an SFL game: a few hundred fans watched onApril 29th ,2000 as theSan Antonio Matadors defeated the Miami Tropics, 16-13.External links
* [http://www.rememberthesfl.8m.com/ "Remember the SFL"]
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