Will Birmingham play in the Southern Professional
Football League?
January 27, 1940
Just after an owner's meeting in Chattanooga of the Southern Association, a
minor league baseball circuit, a discussion arose about the possibility of
starting their own professional football league.
Four teams posted the $500 fee toward league entry; Atlanta, Chattanooga,
Knoxville, and Memphis.
Paul Florence, Birmingham
Barons president, was given until February 15th to see if he could find a
sponsor to organize a team in Birmingham.
Nashville could also join at a later date.
Tentative plans call for the league to begin play this fall, and further
discussion will happen at the next league meeting in early June.
S. A. Godman (Memphis) was chosen as president and Joe Engle (Chattanooga) as
vice president.
January 30, 1940
Florence returned to Birmingham from Chattanooga with the option to join the
SPFL, but the Birmingham Barons will not be operating the franchise.
If the city is to have a franchise, it is up to Florence to find investors
quickly.
February 6, 1940
A. T. Levine, Jr., a Nashville attorney, is tasked with putting together a
possible franchise for Nashville.
He does not think they will be ready for the 1940 season but could join next
year. "We are not going to plunge into this thing blindly. Originally, our hopes
were to form a league on a not-too-ambitious scale. In other words, a league of
four large Tennessee cities; Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis, and Chattanooga,
would be a good nucleus. We could sprout from there after we had established
ourselves. I'm afraid the baseball men who formed the league over at Chattanooga
the other day are al little over-zealous. They want to start out with a big
league, high-salaried officials, and big name players. We've tried to convince
them that they were taking a rishk with endager the sports. But baseball clubs
can stand $15,000 or $20,000 loss, I suppose. Operating a football team would be
like taking money out of one pocket to put it in another, if they made any."
Levine wants to limit each squad to 20 players and set each player's maximum
salary to $50 a game. The others want to double that, to $100 a game. "That
means the weekly payroll would be $2,000, which is pretty stiff."
March 11, 1940
League president Godman says he plans to make the SPFL a six team league. The
first four are set but Birmingham, Montgomery, Nashville, and New Orleans are in
pursuit of the final two openings. He prefers to keep the league's footprint
small to save travel costs, and that is why he prefers Birmingham and
Montgomery. Nashville is a good location, but Godman and the other league
officials want to restrict financial backing to the South, and only Eastern
financiers are offering money there.
"I've painted no rosy picture for the backers, but told them to expect to take a
financial loss at least the first two or three years," Godman said.
Current plans call for each team to have one game a week, most likely on Sunday
afternoons. Mid-week night games could also be possible early in the season.
They will use the same rules as the National Football League has.
Godman hopes for the league to become a minor league feeder to the NFL "for
players who have the ability but for one reason or another fail to grash the
gate right away."
According to Godman, the league will not play in 1940 but will instead
"positively" begin in 1941.
Epilogue
Godman's positivity withstanding, the Southern Professional Football League did
not make it past the middle of May.
An escape clause was written into the original owners agreement that stipulated
fees would be refunded if the Knoxville franchise could not secure a playing
venue.
Luckily for the owners, this was indeed the case.
The Southern Association would make another run at establishing their own
professional football league in 1944. However, that attempt did not fare any
better.
Contact Gene Crowley
Last update: April 22, 2021