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After 21 seasons, it looks like the end has finally come for the Arena Football League.
Beset by financial difficulties, the AFL officially in early August it was suspending operations. Which is a shame, considering how exciting the 50-yard game could be and how it drew upwards of 12,000 fans a contest, rivalling the National Hockey League in some markets.
If it's any consolation, the Arena League has plenty of company on the scrap heap of history, joining an illustrious and occasionally infamous list of circuits that once stood tall on the sporting landscape, only to crumble and fall.
10. International Hockey League
(1945-2001)
The IHL was once arguably the second-best hockey league in North America. During its heyday in the 1990s, the "I" had as many as 19 teams in the U.S. and Canada, many of which were affiliated with National Hockey League teams, giving them access to a deep pool of talented players such as Sergei Samsonov, Marty Turco and Radek Bonk. Unfortunately, the league expanded too fast and eventually folded in 2001, with six of its stronger franchises joining the rival American Hockey League.
9. XFL
(2001)
OK, I'll admit the XFL was a joke ... but at least it was a funny one. The brainchild of pro wrestling meathead Vince McMahon, the league was supposed to be a more "in-your-face" version of the NFL, with lingerie-clad cheerleaders, no penalties for rough play and WWE-style marketing. Apart from the ridiculous name (the X didn't stand for anything), the funniest aspect might have been the loose rules regarding names on the back of jerseys, which prompted Las Vegas Outlaws RB Rod Smart to go with "He Hate Me." Two opposing players mocked Smart's choice by putting "I Hate He" and "I Hate He, Too" on the back of their jerseys. Unable to generate anything more than snickers, the league folded after one season.
8. Coloured Hockey League
(1894-1930)
In 1894, six decades before Fredericton's Willie O'Ree broke the colour barrier in the NHL, an all-black hockey league was formed in the Maritimes. Featuring a fast-paced style of play and such innovations as the slapshot and goalies leaving their feet to make saves, the CHL operated for more than three decades before disbanding.
7. All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
(1943-1954)
In 1943, with many minor-league teams disbanding due to the Second World War, a void had formed in the American sports landscape. Into that void stepped Chicago Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley, who together with a group of midwestern businessmen founded the circuit that would be immortalized in the 1992 film A League of Their Own. With 64 Canadian players, the league wasn't exactly "All-American," nor was it really baseball, since the game initially featured softballs and underhand pitching. After drawing almost a million fans through its turnstiles in 1948, the league's popularity steadily dwindled until it folded in 1954.
6. North American Soccer League
(1968-1984)
Formed by the merger of the National Professional Soccer League and the United Soccer Association, the NASL began play in 1968 with 17 teams, including two from Canada. The league sputtered along until the mid-1970s, when aging superstars Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cruyff were brought in to add a little lustre. The signings worked in the short term, as attendance rose to an average of just over 14,000 in 1980, but the league expanded too quickly and had to close up shop in 1984.
5. United States Football League
(1983-1985)
Despite being plagued by financial troubles for most of its three-season run, the USFL enjoyed moderate popularity, mainly because its spring/summer schedule didn't compete with the NFL. The league was also able to lure several talented players -- including Heisman winners Herschel Walker, Mike Rozier, Archie Griffin and Doug Flutie -- thanks to the hefty paycheques offered by its owners. Ultimately, though, the USFL didn't have enough cash to continue, especially after "winning" its antitrust lawsuit against the NFL to the tune of a mere $3 award.
4. American Basketball Association
(1967-1976)
Founded by a group of owners whose long-term goal was a merger with the established National Basketball Association, the ABA didn't exactly have a long shelf life. But in its nine seasons, the fledgling league managed to breathe new life into the game of basketball, popularizing wide-open offence, the three-point shot, slam dunks and giant afros. The foremost practitioner of the latter two was Julius (Dr. J) Erving, who became the league's biggest star, winning three scoring titles, three MVPs and two championships with the New York Nets. In 1976, the owners of the Nets, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs got their wish, as their teams were absorbed into the NBA, spelling the end of its flashy sibling.
3. American Football League
(1960-1969)
Hoping to carve out their own piece of the profitable pro football pie, Texas oilman Lamar Hunt and several other high rollers formed the AFL in 1959. With teams in Houston, Dallas, Buffalo, Boston, Oakland, Los Angeles, Denver and New York, the AFL became a flashier alternative to the more conservative NFL, thanks to the high-octane passing attacks favoured by many of its coaches. Although the rival leagues squared off more than once in the courtroom, they soon mended fences, teaming up to hold an AFL vs. NFL "Super Bowl" game and eventually agreeing to a full-scale merger.
2. Negro leagues
(1920-1951)
Because black players weren't allowed on major-league teams, they instead had to ply their trade in one of several professional "negro" leagues that sprouted in the U.S. between 1920 and 1951. These various circuits, known collectively as the negro major leagues, developed such stars as pitcher Satchel Paige, slugger Josh Gibson and speedster Cool Papa Bell. By acting as a proving ground for such future major leaguers as Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, they sowed the seeds of their own demise, as the intense fan interest they once enjoyed dropped off after the majors were integrated.
1. World Hockey Association
(1972-1979)
No renegade league had a greater impact on its sport than the WHA, which began operations with 12 teams in 1972. Although it was financially unstable from the get-go, with many franchises folding or relocating, the WHA proved to be a giant thorn in the side of the NHL, luring away star players with the promise of higher salaries. Among the stars who defected to the rival league were Bobby Hull, Gerry Cheevers, Paul Henderson and Frank Mahovlich, and those who got their start there included Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Mike Gartner. The league folded in 1979, when four teams were allowed to join the NHL, but its legacy lives on in the form of free agency, overtime and the prevalence of European players ... all of which were spawned by the WHA.
Disagree with our picks? E-mail yours to topten@sunmedia.ca.