The Regional Football League (RFL) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

formed to be the self-styled "major league of spring football." Established in 1997, the league played a single season, 1999, and then ceased operations.

History

The RFL season was designed for spring-summer play with teams based primarily in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. The debut season was originally slated to begin in March 1998, however this was delayed by a year. The league adopted rules consistent with professional football of the era, with some exceptions: * running clock until the last two minutes of each half * one offensive player allowed to be in

motion In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and mea ...

towards the line of scrimmage at the snap * ball placed at the 20-yard-line for extra point attempts * receivers only need one foot in bounds to complete a catch The league's inaugural (and only) season was 1999, where each of its six teams was scheduled to have training camp and two preseason games in early April, followed by 12 regular season games; a postseason would follow in July. The league held its first regular season games on April 17, 1999. Financial constraints forced the league to reduce player salaries at the end of April, due to low attendance at games. In late May, the league announced that the regular season would be shortened by three games, with the championship game held in late June. Ultimately, the league only played an eight-week regular season. Near the end of the shortened season, the league cancelled a contest between New Orleans and Ohio, and Shreveport forfeited a game, both due to financial concerns. Four teams qualified for the playoffs, and on June 20, 1999, the Mobile Admirals defeated the Houston Outlaws, 14–12, in the championship game, RFL Bowl I, which was played at Ladd–Peebles Stadium in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

. RFL rosters were limited to 37 active players and five

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

members with salaries in the range of $30,000 to $65,000 per player and team salary caps of $1,500,000. The league held a draft where each team could only draft from their respective region in hopes that fans would turn out to see players they'd followed in college. Players who had been with

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

programs in the south such as Jason Martin ( Louisiana Tech),

Stewart Patridge Stewart Patridge (born December 6, 1974) is a former American football quarterback best known as the leader of the University of Mississippi Rebels from 1995 to 1997. He won the 1997 Conerly Trophy as the best college football player in the state ...

( Ole Miss), Raymond Philyaw ( Northeast Louisiana), Marquette Smith (

Central Florida Central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, including the Tampa Bay area and the Gr ...

) and Sherman Williams (

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

) were signed to southern RFL teams, while players like

Ricky Powers Richard Powers (born November 30, 1970) is a former running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Cleveland Browns and a former University of Michigan Wolverines football co-captain. In the NFL, he had a brief career with the Bro ...

(

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Corey Croom Corey Vincent Croom (born May 22, 1971) is a former American football running back who played three seasons with the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ball State University and attended Sandu ...

(

Ball State Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, industrialists and founders of the Ball C ...

), and Skip Tramontana (

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...

) were assigned to the Ohio franchise based in Toledo. Patridge, playing for Mississippi, was the all-RFL quarterback, while running back Williams was the league MVP with Mobile. This regional approach worked at the outset of play, as evidenced fan interest in the league at the start of the season. The first commissioner of the league was John "Gus" Bell, who was succeeded by Ron Floridia in May 1999. The league did not secure a television contract, and only one game was ever televised—the May 8, 1999,

New Orleans Thunder The New Orleans Thunder were a professional American football team that played during the 1999 season as part of the Regional Football League. They played their home games at Tad Gormley Stadium in City Park in New Orleans. The team was announced ...

at Mobile Admirals contest on WHNO, a mainly-religious television station in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. Despite some efforts made to resume play for a second season, the league folded after its shortened 1999 season. The announced beginning of the

XFL XFL may refer to: Sports * XFL (2001), a defunct American football league that played its only season in 2001 * XFL (2020), a professional American football league Vehicles * Bell XFL Airabonita, a 1940 U.S. Navy experimental interceptor aircra ...

for 2001 precluded any realistic chance of the league resuming operations.

Teams

The league's six charter members were announced on November 12, 1998. They participated in the league's only season, which ran from April to June 1999. Source

Regular season

Notes: * In the seventh week of the regular season, a contest between New Orleans and Ohio was cancelled by the league. * In the eighth and final week of the regular season, Shreveport was unable to play in their home stadium. The league rescheduled their intended opponent, New Orleans, to play at Mississippi, and when Shreveport did not travel to play at Ohio, they were assessed a forfeit.

Playoffs

Games were hosted by the higher-seeded team.

Projected expansion teams

Proposed for the 2000 season, which was not played. *

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

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Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...

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and

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were originally eyed for expansion, but dropped at the initial stages.

External links

Regional Football League (RFL) 1999Remember the RFLRemembering the RFLRFL 1999 New Orleans Thunder at Mobile Admirals
via

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References

{{Profootball Regional Football League Defunct American football leagues in the United States Sports leagues established in 1997 Sports leagues disestablished in 1999 1997 establishments in the United States 1999 disestablishments in the United States