Hi everyone, I am back after a bit of a break following the last season. It was a much-needed break to take care of my mental health as well as take some time to plan out the next decade or so in the NAAF. I am excited about what is to come, so buckle up and get ready for the next era of NAAF football!
*Starting with this season, I am looking to change up the way the League Meetings are presented. They will be broken up into 3 posts: Opening Statements, Proposals, Voting Results and Final Announcements
Opening Statements: Gives each organization an opportunity to mention new developments for the teams, typically regarding ownership, stadium, and brand.
Proposals: The league operates in a system similar to parliament in Canada, with representatives from the League, Players, Coaches/GMs, and Owners. All parties are able to propose potential changes to the league that will be debated and voted on during the 2-week session of meetings.
Final Announcements: There will be a final vote, and all things that pass through the vote will be announced, and the new league season will officially begin.
1974 NAAF League Meetings: Opening Statements
Ryan Jameson, NAAF Commissioner
The commissioner opened the meetings. He congratulated the Montreal Rouge on their 3rd McCallister Cup. He also went on to note that the NAAF had one of its more profitable seasons this past year, continuing to solidify itself as the top football league in North America, despite lacking some of the biggest markets in the continent. Jameson thanked everyone for being here and passed the mic to Boston to start the team statements.
*Note: every team has a statement. Generally, they just do a short introduction. I will only cover teams that have something additional to say.
Boston Independents
Owner Benjamin Harris stepped forward for his final address to the league. Over the past couple of seasons, Harris has been in search of a new owner for the Independents. The process has gone a bit longer than expected. After a couple of family members, namely his Daughter, Stefanie Anderson, and nephew, Gordon Crawford, either turned down the opportunity or were unsure, he had extended the search to external options. There was certainly no shortage of those interested in potentially taking over the historical franchise. Many offered significant sums to take over the team, but Harris took his time, desiring to make sure the team is handed to someone he trusts to take care of the organization that has been in his family for decades.
As the 1973 season was in progress, the list of potential buyers had been narrowed down to a couple of serious contenders; however, that would be shaken up when Harris’ nephew, Gordon, would come around and express a serious interest in taking over his Uncle’s business. Benjamin and Gordon would take some time to discuss the details, and after some final convincing, Crawford committed to taking over control of the team. Benjamin was overjoyed to keep the team in the family and knew he could trust his nephew. The two would come to an agreement where Crawford would get a significant discount on the official sale of the team.
Harris’ statement began with a thank you to Commissioner Ryan Jameson and the rest of the representatives attending the meeting for everything that they did together. He officially introduced his nephew as the new owner of the Boston Independents. Gordon Crawford now stepped forward and delivered his own statement about being welcomed into the position and being ready to get started.
Edmonton Rangers
Norman McKenzie stepped forward and noted that his team would be acknowledging the 50-year anniversary of the formation of the Western Football Union. The team’s former league was founded in 1924 in large part due to his father, Greg McKenzie. The league competed for nearly 50 years before officially being merged into the NAAF in 1971. The team is likely to add a patch to the uniform for the 1974 season. McKenzie also encouraged the other 4 former WFU teams to join him in the celebration.
Montreal Rouge
Rouge owner, Alvon Martineau, stepped up and congratulated his own team on their first title in 20 years. After that, he noted that earlier this year, the City of Montreal had begun construction on their new Olympic Stadium ahead of the 1976 Summer Games. Mount Royal Stadium will be a part of the event, hosting Football (Soccer) matches and potentially other events. Down the road, the new Olympic Stadium could potentially be a future home of the Rouge; however, the plan is to remain at Mount Royal for the foreseeable future.
Pittsburgh Blacksmiths
Owner William Braddock updated the league with the progress on the Blacksmiths’ new stadium. The building broke ground in the spring of 1973 after being officially announced last year. Thus far, the project has had no issues and should be ready to go ahead of the 1975 season as originally planned.
Regina Wheat Kings
Owner Bill Kingsley did show up to start the league meetings, but it was the President of Football Operations, Scott Hoffman, who took the lead as the team’s representative. Hoffman noted first that Regina managed to make a slim profit this season for the first time since joining the NAAF, showing progress with the team. Attendance was slightly up, and other promotions added revenues elsewhere. However, there are growing concerns about the team’s stadium. Broad Street Stadium is a very small and patchwork stadium. There have been growing safety concerns as well as complaints from visiting teams about the small locker rooms. The raised concerns are pushing the Wheat Kings to either get a new stadium or provide proper renovations and safety fixes to the current stadium. A new stadium seems far-fetched at this point since the team has struggled to sell out the 19,000-seat stadium, mostly due to fan apathy towards ownership. However, with Hoffman in charge, it has started to turn for the better. The most likely resolution is going to be a renovation, which likely would see the stadium expand a bit as well to get up to 25,000 seats or more. Potential hiccups in the plan is the cost as well as the Wheat Kings probably needing a temporary home for the season in which the renovations would be occurring. They could potentially play games at a smaller field at Royal Regina University or even Saskatchewan Provincial University in Saskatoon. The plan is currently in development as Hoffman stated his dedication to keep football in the prairie province.
Vancouver Wolves
Mark Livingston brought some exciting news from Vancouver. The team was working with the city to begin the process on a new Stadium for the Wolves. There are several sites that the team is looking at for the new building, which will far exceed the 35,200-seat Vancouver Exhibition Stadium. They are talking to the City of Vancouver about two potential spots. One option would keep the building near the current stadium location in Hastings Park. The 2nd, bolder option would move the team to downtown Vancouver along the waterfront. The team is also in discussions with the City of Burnaby, as well, being a potential backup option that would move the team slightly further from downtown Vancouver. The Vancouver city council will discuss the projects in the next month, and the team should have a plan in place to begin the process within the next year.
Kansas City Expansion Team
Finally, Jacob Cross, the prospective owner for the Kansas City expansion bid, had bad news to deliver. However, he started with some good news that the Stadium did make some progress in the past year with some additional investment, which did include a bit of a rework of the original plan. Cutting some of the cost of making a slightly smaller stadium to start. That being said, the stadium could be ready to go by the 1975 season. As for the bad news, Cross announced that he was going to stop his pursuit of an expansion team, stepping down from the KC bid. Cross announced that the last year was very tough on him, losing his mother and having some personal family issues. He was tired and realized that his family was not worth losing over a football team. He said he hopes the NAAF can find a new man to take the lead, and thanked everyone for their hospitality during his time involved in the league.
1974 NAAF League Meetings: Proposals
Proposal 74.A: Expansion Partner for Kansas City
Proposing Party: Commissioner Ryan Jameson
The NAAF will vote on which expansion bid will be paired with the Kansas City expansion team as the league’s 20th franchise. The candidates for selection are Denver, Colorado and Seattle, Washington. One city will be selected and will move forward as the expansion partner to Kansas City. The other is to be tabled for further expansion or a potential backup plan if the Kansas City bid is unable to find new ownership.
Proposal 74.A1: Year of Expansion
Proposing Party: Commissioner Ryan Jameson
The year in which the franchise will join will also be voted upon. The current target is between 1975-1978. Several plans will be brought forward for the various potential timelines, and one will be chosen.
Background:
Read the full post from the 1973 League Meetings for a full refresh on the bids from the two cities. Here is a summary of the bids:
Denver, Colorado - Population (Metro): 1,116,226
Ownership: The group is headed by Don Farley and is hoping to attract sports back into Denver. They are targeting both Football and Baseball, hoping stadium renovations and a refocused ownership group can lead to success in the city. Farley and his group are focused and ready to make the business boom.
Market and Stadium: One of the largest untapped markets in the Western part of the continent. There was an attempted baseball team in 1963, which relocated after 6 years. The baseball park was left without a major tenant, though it has been used by Mile High University. Minor adaptations need to be made to the stadium for a football team to play there full-time. The stadium could be ready to go as early as 1975 if renovations begin as soon as possible.
Seattle, Washington - Population (Metro): 1,832,896
Ownership: Last offseason, the Seattle bid was much earlier in the process of solidifying its leader. John Orson has risen as the lead on the expansion bid. Orson is quite excited about the prospect of the team and is passionate about the city. As a bonus, Orson has connections to Seattle State, which could make working with the University much smoother.
Market and Stadium: The City has Baseball and Hockey teams. There is a strong college following behind Seattle State University. However, the University might be skeptical about the potential competition. Overall, potential ownership is more prepared now under Orson, but still a bit more organization is needed. The current plan would see the team share Seattle State’s Stadium in the early seasons; however, there is a potential to look at the Baseball Park as a second option.
Proposal 74.B: 56th McCallister Cup Host - Eastern Canada Region
Proposing Party: Commissioner Ryan Jameson
The 56th McCallister Cup host will be in the Eastern Canada Region. The candidates for hosting are Mount Royal Stadium (Montreal, Quebec), Royals Stadium at Brewer Park (Ottawa, Ontario), and Anderson Stadium (Toronto, Ontario).
Proposal 74.C: Single Team Affiliations to Semi-Professional Teams
Proposing Party: Toronto Steelheads
Single team affiliations would allow teams to hold a partnership with semi-professional teams in the Eastern Canadian Semi-Professional Football League and the New England Semi-Professional Football Championship. The partnership would grant teams the ability to send reserve players to the affiliated team to grow.
Current Status: Players on NAAF Reserve Lists are eligible to sign with any Semi-Professional team to play games while on Reserve.
The benefits of this proposal would be that teams could more easily get players to their Active Roster during the season if a close partnership is established. They will also have more control over player development. The primary negative is that the teams further west have no local options for sending players, with the most Western team in either league being the Kitchener Blue Tigers.
Proposal 74.C1: Formation of Partnered Semi-Professional League in Western Canada
Proposing Parties: Vancouver Wolves, Winnipeg Falcons
If 74.C is passed, to address the disadvantage to Western teams, a new Semi-Professional league will be formed in Western Canada. Partnerships with these teams will be exclusive to teams from the NAAF West Division. Several potential markets could be Victoria and Kelowna in BC, Lethbridge, Alberta, and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Proposal 74.D: Increase to Player Minimum Wage
Proposing Party: NAAF Players Committee
The players are proposing an increase to the NAAF’s minimum wage for Active Roster players. A $2,500 increase from the current $10,000 minimum wage. The increase would bring the minimum wage up to $12,500.
Proposal 74.E: Slowed Increase of League Salary Cap
Proposing Parties: Halifax Mariners, London Tigers
The NAAF is expecting a major increase to the salary cap under the current system, which estimates the cap should be around $945,000. The 1973 salary cap was $785,000. This would mark a $160,000 increase or a 20.38% increase. The Tigers and Mariners are proposing a more gradual increase of the salary cap to ensure that the smaller organizations will still be able to spend up to the league’s salary cap and compete with richer teams in the league. The likely resolution is to instill a cap on the salary increase that prevents the cap from extending beyond a certain percentage of the previous season. The current range of percentage increase is 5-10%.
Proposal 74.E1: Pre-announced Salary Cap Values
Proposing Party: Long Island Raiders
The Raiders are proposing that the NAAF determine the Salary Cap for the upcoming season before this season, so teams have a better opportunity to plan for future salary caps. For example, the league would determine the Salary Cap for this season, 1974, and then the 1975 season as well.
1974 League Meetings: Voting Results and Final Announcements
Proposal 74.A: Expansion Partner for Kansas City
Result: Denver, Colorado - Passed
Denver was selected as the Expansion Partner for Kansas City. Don Farley will head the expansion bid, as Denver will join the NAAF as the league’s 20th franchise, while Kansas City, as of now, will be the league’s 19th franchise.
The common opinion on the decision was that Denver, despite being the smaller market, had a better organized ownership group and plan. The city also gets the NAAF into a new region of the mountains, while Seattle is much an extension of Vancouver. However, most also agree that Seattle is a market where the league should place a team in the near future, so it is expected that Seattle will be a part of the next set of expansion teams.
Proposal 74.A1: Year of Expansion
Result: 1976
Once Denver was decided as the Expansion Partner, proper expansion plans were drawn up and debated. The passed plan sets the Kansas City-Denver Expansion to take place for the 1976 season. Both cities would be able to have their stadiums ready to go for the 1975 season. However, with Jacob Cross stepping down from the KC bid, the league felt it was best to allow for more time to secure a new owner for the team.
In more detail, here is what each bid has planned:
Denver, Colorado - Denver Stadium (Previously named Mountaineers Park), is set for renovations to properly house a Football configuration. The new renovations will bring in new seating options, expanding on the current capacity as well. The renovations should be completed by 1975.
Kansas City, Missouri - The current stadium project is about a year out from being fully ready to go. Should be ready by 1975, assuming everything goes smoothly from here. However, there is a temporary pause as the NAAF looks for a replacement for Jacob Cross, who had stepped down as the prospective owner earlier.
Seattle, Washington - With the uncertainty surrounding Kansas City, Seattle’s bid under John Orson is being maintained. If there is a case where Kansas City is delayed any further or the search for a new ownership fails, the league will replace Kansas City with Seattle for 1976. Orson will continue to organize his bid further and secure a facility to play at and plan for the 1976 season. If the plan for Kansas City follows through and KC joins Denver in 1976, Seattle will be awarded a team in a subsequent expansion before 1980.
Proposal 74.B: 56th McCallister Cup Host - Eastern Canada Region
Result: Anderson Stadium - Toronto, Ontario
Toronto was selected to be the host for the 56th McCallister Cup. The league agreed that Canada’s largest market deserved to have the spotlight this season as they continue to grow the game in the city. Toronto has hosted the championship game once previously in 1966. The 48th McCallister Cup featured Buffalo defeating Montreal 30-12 in the most lopsided McCallister Cup in NAAF history.
Proposal 74.C: Single Team Affiliations to Semi-Professional Teams
Result: Passed
The league passed the proposal to allow teams to agree to affiliation partnerships with Semi-Professional teams for the 1974 season. The agreements will allow teams to partner with a team and send their reserve players to play for them during the season. Teams are not required to have an affiliated team. If a team chooses to remain unaffiliated, players on the reserve are free to sign with any Semi-Professional team they choose during the season, which is the current rule. Once partnerships have been agreed to, a full list of team affiliations will be compiled and released for transparency.
The debate did extend the idea of growing the Semi-Pro leagues, or forming a new league, into a proper Professional Minor league(s) which would more properly serve player growth in the NAAF. The NAAF values the partnership that they have had with the Semi-Pro leagues, as several undrafted players have gone on to have successful NAAF careers after starting in the Semi-Pro leagues, notably, DB Santino Arriola, LB Byron Seabrooke, and DL Ernest Schenn.
Proposal 74.C1: Formation of Partnered Semi-Professional League in Western Canada
Result: Passed
As a result of the passing of Proposal 74.C, the NAAF will organize a smaller Semi-Professional league in Western Canada for the West Division team exclusively. As stated before, the league will only be available for West Division teams to create partnerships with. As for likely team locations, Victoria and Kelowna are pretty much locks to get teams, with Lethbridge and Saskatoon as strong potential markets. The goal right now is to have at least 4 teams in place for this season. However, there is still potential for the league to push for 6 teams in total so that all West Division teams have an option.
Proposal 74.D: Increase to Player Minimum Wage
Result: Failed
This narrowly failed to pass this time around. With the proposed increase, there would be at least a $105,000 increase to the teams’ baseline (the amount needed in order to fill a roster of 42 players at the minimum wage). Regina heavily argued against the increase, stating that they believe the increase would potentially force the team back into a loss next season, which is not going to help with improving their current stadium situation. Ultimately, the league measured the arguments and believed the best course of action was to hold off on the increase and come back to it in the upcoming seasons.
Proposal 74.E: Slowed Increase of League Salary Cap
Result: Passed - 10% Increase Upper Limit for next 3 Seasons
With similar arguments to the previous Proposal, the league voted to pass an upper limit to the salary cap that will be in place for the next 3 seasons (1974, 1975, and 1976). With this rule, the maximum amount the salary cap can increase is by 10% of the previous season’s salary cap. The 1974 season will have this rule come into effect as the cap will only increase to $863,500 for this upcoming season. The max it could increase for 1975 is to $949,850, then to $1,044,835 in 1976 if the limit is reached for the 1975 season; otherwise, the increase can only increase by 10% of what the 1975 salary cap ends up being.
Proposal 74.E2: Pre-announced Salary Cap Values
Result: Failed
The league ultimately decided that the 10% increase was enough information that this rule was not necessary. There is an upper threshold that the cap can increase, which should give teams enough information to manage their future finances.
