NFL Europe League was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League .
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18 Facts About NFL Europe
2.
League operated under rules nearly identical to the NFL Europe, but featured some differences and experimental rules changes designed to appeal to fans of association football and rugby football.
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3.
The IFL did not materialize - the Pro Football Researchers Association attributed this failure to NFL Europe not being ready for American football, potential competition with the World Football League, a players' strike during the summer of 1974, and the recession.
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4.
The NFL 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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5.
In 1989, the NFL Europe announced plans to create an international spring football league.
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6.
The NFL Europe 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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7.
The name World League of American Football was eventually settled on; this name was chosen to avoid associating it with the dissolved World Football League, and the term "American football" was included in the league's name because "football" in NFL Europe typically refers to association football, known in the United States as soccer.
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8.
The NFL Europe 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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9.
Unlike the NFL Europe 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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10.
Ultimately, the NFL Europe decided to bring the league back for a second season in 1992.
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11.
The league name was shortened to World League by league officials, who felt the surprising success of the league in NFL Europe made the "American football" part unnecessary, and the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks folded, replaced by the Ohio Glory.
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12.
NFL Europe commemorated its 10th season in 2002, but still remained far from being profitable.
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13.
The league had been losing a reported US$30 million a year, and the NFL Europe had decided to shift their strategy in marketing football abroad towards holding NFL Europe regular-season games outside the United States.
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14.
The league had nearly folded in 2003, when eight of the 32 NFL 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's goals of selling merchandise throughout the European continent.
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15.
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 determine that there was an interest in American football in Europe.
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16.
Two NFL Europe alumni were included on the NFL's 2000s All-Decade Team.
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17.
At a press conference before Super Bowl LI, league commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL Europe had been "actively considering" creating a new developmental league.
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18.
In 2021, the NFL Europe announced its was looking for partners to host a regular-season game in Germany.
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