IFF Proposed Cities June 1999 (First Down)
| West | Central | East |
| Denver | Toronto | New York |
| Los Angeles | Chicago | Boston |
| Orange County | Detroit | Hartford |
| San Jose | Houston | Orlando |
| Honolulu |
IFF Proposed Cities and Teams 2000 (Remember the IFF)
| West | South East | North |
| Salt Lake City | Fort Lauderdale | Toronto Turbos |
| Denver | Tampa Bay | Chicago |
| Las Vegas | Orlando | Detroit |
| Hawaii (Honolulu) | Kentucky | Cincinnati |
| California | South West | East |
| Los Angeles | Houston | Connecticut Patriots (Hartford) |
| Anaheim (Orange County) | Memphis | New York |
| San Jose | Mexico City | Boston Revolution |
| Northern California |
Report
The International Football Federation was a proposed AAA rival league to the National Football League that intended to begin play in March 2000. It had no formal ownership, and no TV contract, and lasted just one press conference.
12 cities were part of the original plan in June 1999, according to First Down, with the owner of the League, Dennis Murphy, , who has an Irish name and who was involved in starting up the World Hockey Association and American Basketball Association in the 1970s, both of whom ended up merging with an established Major League: the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association.
There were five cities placed in an NFL market: New York, Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Denver; three markets the NFL had deserted: Los Angeles, Orange County and Houston, and five non-NFL markets: Hartford (Connecticut), San Jose, Toronto and Orlando. Honolulu (Hawaii) joined as a 13th team later in June 1999.
The League planned to start in February 2000, and according to the Remember the IFF website 15 Cities were reported to be in the deal by the end, with Mexico City a possibility also, but the formation of the XFL, and its multi-million dollar TV contract with NBC put and end to the league.
According to Marty York of the Toronto Globe, Toronto Turbos, Boston Revolution and Connecticut Patriots were the rumoured names of three of the teams, and the league had intended to have a $4 Million salary cap, with most players paid no more than $85,000 per year.
References
[1] Remember the IFF (2020) Home [Internet] Available from: https://sites.google.com/site/remembertheiff/home [Accessed 15 April 2020]
Images
[2] Remember the IFF (2020) IFF Press Conference 2000 [Internet] Available from: https://sites.google.com/site/remembertheiff/_/rsrc/1327467333265/home/iff.jpg?height=176&width=200 [Accessed 15 April 2020]
Newspapers
[3] (1999) “New League ‘will start in February'” First Down. June 17-23, 1999. pg. 9.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Ed Murphy
About this document
Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the
Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive
Last Updated: 21 August 2021
(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2020-2021
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