NFL Europa was dissolved in 2007 due to its continued unprofitability and the NFL's decision to shift its focus towards hosting regular-season games in Europe; at the time of its closure, the league consisted of five German teams and one team based in the Netherlands.
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NFL Europa teams were incentivized to allocate players through the granting of additional training camp positions for each allocated player, and each team in NFL Europa Europe was required to employ a number of "local" players.
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The NFL Europa capitalized on this newfound interest by holding American Bowl games, and the popularity of these games, particularly in London, led to a renewed interest from Rozelle in creating an American football league in Europe.
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In 1989, the NFL Europa announced plans to create an international spring football league.
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The NFL Europa initially wanted the new league to be known as the International Football League, but it had to change the name after discovering that the name was already owned by Donald Trump and Charley Finley, who were allegedly in the process of forming their own league.
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The NFL Europa approved the creation of the WLAF in July 1989, with Schramm to head up the project and the league expected to begin play in 1990 or 1991.
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Unlike the NFL Europa draft, the World League draft was a position-by-position draft - potential draftees were divided into ten position groups, meaning each of the ten teams would have the number-one pick at a position group.
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Ultimately, the NFL Europa decided to bring the league back for a second season in 1992.
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NFL Europa Europe commemorated its 10th season in 2002, but still remained far from being profitable.
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The league had been losing a reported US$30 million a year, and the NFL Europa had decided to shift their strategy in marketing football abroad towards holding NFL Europa regular-season games outside the United States.
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The league had nearly folded in 2003, when eight of the 32 NFL Europa owners voted against funding it, one short of the nine votes needed to end the league, and its gradual progression into a German-dominated league had ran counter to the NFL Europa's goals of selling merchandise throughout the European continent.
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John Mara, the co-owner of the New York Giants, said that the league "had some useful purpose in developing players" and that it helped the NFL Europa determine that there was an interest in American football in Europe.
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At a press conference before Super Bowl LI, league commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL Europa had been "actively considering" creating a new developmental league.
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In 2021, the NFL Europa announced its was looking for partners to host a regular-season game in Germany.
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