World Apart -- Fledgling Wlaf Succeeds In Europe, Falters At Home

Four months ago, World League of American Football officials were being told that if they wanted their championship game televised in Europe, they would need to pay $50,000.

Infant to the NFL, where owners can get $200,000 from TV for exhibition games, the WLAF listened to its ego and said no.

"Now they're paying us $50,000," said Mike Lynn, WLAF president. "That might not seem like a lot, but it is."

The league that wowed America mostly with a piece of equipment (the helmet cam) and had its only stars in the television booth (Warren Moon, Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason) closes its inaugural season in the best possible form, with hometown London today facing Barcelona in Bud, er, World Bowl I.

Promoters are expecting a sellout crowd of 80,000 at Wembley Stadium, where the Monarchs led the league in attendance and compiled the best record. The WLAF could not have been more fortunate, considering the prospect of a half-empty stadium if the Monarchs were not playing.

For now, though, morbid thoughts of an Orlando-Birmingham final are far away from Lynn. When a global audience tunes in this morning - albeit via delayed broadcast in the United States - curious souls will see American football presented as viable in Europe. That was the overriding goal of the NFL owners financially backing the league.

"My greatest fear was that we were going to average 7,000 to 9,000 (fans) a game in Europe this season," Lynn said. "No one thought we would average 33,000."

In its first year, the World League:

-- Thrived at the gate and on the fields in London, Barcelona and Frankfurt. Those teams went 9-1, 8-2 and 7-3, respectively, and drew the largest and loudest crowds.

-- Struggled at most of the seven North American franchises, where none of the teams had winning records and the 0-10 Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks averaged only 12,066 fans a game, threatened to leave town, and could not compete in basketball-crazed North Carolina.

-- Choked on American television, drawing horrific ratings on the ABC and USA networks despite nifty helmet-cam footage that brought viewers up-close-and-personal with linebackers' forearms.

-- Misfired on its promise of offensive wizardry, as defenses dominated play and scooped up too many fumbles.

-- Lost money; Lynn won't say how much.

Not bad, though, considering the 10-team, 10-week league was patched together in five months. In February, it still hadn't lined up ownership for every franchise.

Ken Behring of the Seattle Seahawks and the other 25 NFL owners that originally invested in the WLAF liked enough of what they saw to kick in another $13 million ($500,000 each) for next season even though they haven't received a dime in returns.

"These are the best crowds I've ever been with," said Andre Riley, former University of Washington receiver now with the Monarchs. "At Washington, you had the students cheering the whole game and the rest of the crowd only on the big plays. Here, they cheer on everything."

The World League spent more than $3 million promoting the international franchises of Frankfurt, Montreal, London and Barcelona. That was roughly 10 times the sum used to market the six U.S. franchises.

And the bias showed. While Europeans were getting schooled on the principles of the forward pass - and the rap song "Yo Go Monarchs" made the top-40 charts in London - Americans embraced the WLAF with a warmth normally reserved for a Bert Convy rerun.

Games here averaged just 20,388 spectators (freebies included). Nielsen spoke an even meaner truth to USA, the cable network that wanted an average 3.0 rating in the first year of its four-year contract but received a 1.2.

"The league should not have placed its resources so heavily in Europe," said Gordon Beck, executive producer for USA.

The consequence: Most Americans don't even know enough to argue about today's game. That Stan Gelbaugh is the London quarterback and league MVP. That Barcelona's Scott Erney, the second-best WLAF quarterback, threw two touchdowns in the season finale to spoil the Monarchs' perfect season with a 20-17 victory.

That Barcelona is the Dragons.

Lynn admits more promotion needs to be done in the U.S. next year. But the marketing formula the World League borrowed from the NFL is tried and true: Monopolize the audience, and don't take any chances you don't need to.

The WLAF brought big-time football to Europe and smaller U.S. markets, then peppered the games with whatever was required to draw springtime crowds - lower ticket prices (often half the NFL rate), day-care centers at the stadium and invitations to dance on the field with cheerleaders at halftime.

Already profitable, the NFL is not likely to steal many of the bright ideas. Helmet cam, for instance, is considered too expensive and viewer-intimate by many NFL executives. Said Tom Flores, Seahawks president: "Pretty soon, everything is going to be run into the living room."

But in the World League, such innovations are considered prudent business. Lynn said most of the peculiar rules and devices will be back next season, including helmet cam, perhaps the only WLAF element that made an impression among sports fans in Peoria - or Seattle, for that matter.

"There was a reluctance among receivers and defensive backs to wearing them," said Lynn, who wants the weight of the apparatus reduced from two pounds. "But I envision every player in this league wearing a camera in his helmet. It makes for great viewership.

"Unfortunately, we're not getting many people to view it."

To boost TV ratings, the league plans to expand by at least two teams next year and place at least one of those in a top-15 U.S. market. Chicago is mentioned as an expansion favorite, with the other franchise going to a major European city such as Milan or Paris.

No rumblings have been heard about putting a team in the Pacific Northwest. The league hopes to expand across the Pacific Rim by the year 2000, and investors from Taiwan and Australia are among those showing interest. But Lynn said nothing will be done on that side of the ocean until at least four franchises are lined up for a separate division.

Ronnie Lott, one of several NFL veterans who did color commentary on WLAF games, said the World League could gain instant recognition by allowing aging NFL players the chance to play out their final years. Most of the current players are NFL training-camp rejects in their mid-20s making a base salary of $20,000.

Lynn, however, wants more than washed-out talent. He will spend the off-season pleading with NFL teams to use the spring league to develop backup quarterbacks and other players who need game experience.

The NFL was reluctant to cooperate the first year, loaning only eight players and one quarterback, Mike Elkins of the Kansas City Chiefs and Sacramento Surge. The Seahawks did not participate.

Many theories have been ventured as to why the European teams dominated the league and lost only one game (of 12) on the continent to U.S. clubs. The league held an open draft and there are no free agents in the WLAF, dispelling any notion that the league office orchestrated an advantage.

Michael Huyghue, general manager of the 5-5 Birmingham Fire, concludes that maybe football players just don't make good world travelers.

"Ninety percent of our players got their passports for the first time," Huyghue said.

The athletes didn't fit into the shorter beds, couldn't find a hamburger, all the usual cultural traumas. They also "seemed to feel foreign people didn't like them," Huyghue said.

WLAF officials were trying to find respect themselves last week. No royalty had been confirmed for seating in Wembley's royal box. The Queen apparently has higher priorities.

But the league plans a traditional trophy presentation anyway, where the players approach the royal box and take a victory lap around the field.

No one said the bloody Yanks aren't persistent. Times Sports

WLAF ATTENDANCE

The success of European franchises helped the league average 25,356 fans a game:

TEAM ATTENDANCE

London 40,481; New York-New Jersey 32,380; Montreal 31,882; Frankfurt 29,856; Barcelona 29,002; Birmingham 25,500; Orlando 19,537; Sacramento 17,994; San Antonio 14,853; Raleigh-Durham 12,066;

SOURCE: WLAF

INSIDE VIEW

The new World League of American Football takes TV viewers onto the field with "helmet-cam," a camera mounted inside a quarterback's helmet. Here is a look at the camera.