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Will Birmingham play in the Minor League Football System?

February 10, 1989
Ed Watkins announces that Birmingham is one of 14 charter member franchises of the Minor League Football System.

	League commissioner Roger Wehrli (left) and league co-founder Ed Watkins

Representatives from all 14 teams have just completed two days of meetings where they were discussing logistics and other plans for their inaugural season.

Watkins is one of the founders of the MLFS, which is scheduled to begin play in August of 1989. Players will not be paid initially, but organizers believe the league's growth potential will allow salaries to be given within a few years.

Although 17 teams are planned, to date only 14 have been organized. In addition to Birmingham, the other franchises will be based in Seattle, West Palm Beach, Hayward (CA), Fairfax, Portland, Wilmington, Raleigh, Colorado Springs, Omaha, Tulsa, Scranton, Lowell (MA), and one Canadian team which will be based in Ottawa.

Teams will be split into West Coast, Midwest, and East Coast divisions.

Each franchise has paid a $10,000 league entry fee and $2,000 to attend the initial league meetings.

March 16, 1989
The MLFS releases a list of 11 franchises that will begin play in late July of this year.

Birmingham is not on that list.

June 22, 1989
Watkins, now also president of the MLFS, owns the St. Louis Riverboat Gamblers franchise, and says the league is scheduled to begin play next month.

According to Watkins, the league was organized to provide talent for the NFL. Nine of the 11 teams, including the Fairfax-based Virginia Storm, are semipro teams that have played in other leagues. Watkins compared the MLFS to both minor league baseball and the Continental Basketball Association, but not the defunct United States Football League. "This is a feeder system. The USFL was set up for this purpose but it mushroomed and they wanted to compete with the NFL. We have no such designs. You've got so many players out there that believe in themselves - and correctly - that if they were just given a shot they could do it."

Those players include members of about 200 semipro teams in the country, Arena Football players, and athletes who fail to meet NCAA Proposition 48 eligibility requirements. Also eligible for the MLFS are players cut from NFL teams, those not drafted, and athletes lacking either the grades or the desire to attend college.

NFL spokesman Jim Heffernan said the league has no plans to affiliate with the MLFS at this time.

July 1989

			1989                            Minor League Football System
xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx
	Charlotte Barons		Colorado Springs Spirit		Florida Renegades		Harrisburg Patriots		Hayward Outlaws
	Pocono Mountaineers		Pueblo Crusaders		San Jose Bandits		Seattle Express		St. Louis Riverboat Gamblers
	Virginia Storm

Epilogue
The following season, the Minor League Football System expanded by a handful of teams. One of those teams was to be the Alabama Raiders, based in Gadsden. However, the Raiders never played in the league, most likely due to a financial shortfall.

The Minor League Football System managed to play a second season before folding.

			Teams of the                            Minor League Football System
xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx
	Bay State Titans 1990		California Outlaws 1990		Charlotte Barons 1989 to 1990		Colorado Springs Spirit 1989 to 1990		Florida Renegades 1989 to 1990
	Fresno Bandits 1990		Harrisburg Patriots 1989 to 1990		Hayward Outlaws 1989		Middle Georgia Heat Wave 1990		Oklahoma City Twisters 1990
	Pocono Mountaineers 1989		Pueblo Crusaders 1989 to 1990		San Jose Bandits 1989		Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Stallions 1990		Seattle Express 1989
	St. Louis Riverboat Gamblers 1989		Tacoma Express 1990		Virginia Storm 1989

Minor League Football System ball

1989 Seattle Express program

Contact Gene Crowley
Last update: February 13, 2024