1970 NAAF League Meetings

As the annual league meetings began, the conversation was clearly going to be centred around the problem in Kansas City. Luckily, Ryan Jameson was quick to come forth with a potential opportunity.

Over the 1969 season, Jameson had been looking for other options as it became clear that the stadium in Kansas City was not going to be finished in the near future due to the project’s dormant state. He started with further discussions with the city’s Baseball club to potentially share the stadium temporarily, but they would still not budge on their initial desire not to share the stadium. Jameson would return to a couple of secondary options from the original expansion considerations. Omaha still was reluctant to house the team if it would only be temporary, and Jameson was unable to give a confident answer if it would be a permanent team. Des Moines remained noncommittal to a team, especially with the uncertainty of how permanent the team would be, and Grand Rapids was almost as far away from being able to host a team as Kansas City. 

Quebec City would creep back into the conversation for Jameson, but there was still a desire to continue to build out the Western markets, and because they essentially promised Minnesota that they would have a team out there with them. Jameson’s next plan was to visit some markets that already had teams. He ventured to Chicago to meet with the Chicago All-Pros owner, Larry Winfield, about the possibility of either fitting a second team in the city or even if Winfield may be interested in the NAAF as a whole. Winfield was very kind in his rejection of the offer, as he was happy with the current state of the GLFL. However, Winfield would ask Jameson, politely, to steer clear of the other GLFL markets. He wished Jameson not to ask any other owners in the league, stating that there were concerns being voiced by his fellow owners about the NAAF’s expansion out west. While Winfield has done his best to reassure his fellow owners, he does not want to create more problems with Jameson poking around. Jameson, of course, understood and granted Winfield’s request, keeping their conversation between them and moving on to other options. However, the options were becoming increasingly scarce. Jameson did eventually find himself in conversations with a potential owner in Denver, CO. However, the city also had uncertainties over a stadium as well as the market with very few professional sports occupying it, so Jameson tabled those discussions for a later date. 

Jameson was certainly getting worn from all of the travelling and meetings, but he didn’t give up. After his conversation with Larry Winfield, Jameson had been a little hesitant to speak to any other leagues about potential locations, hoping to not disturb them, but at this point, he had to take a shot in the dark. 

Jameson would head North, arriving in Winnipeg, MB during the summer months. He met with Winnipeg Falcons owner, Ed Morrissette, and attended a Western Football Union game between the Falcons and their rivals, the Regina Wheat Kings. Watching the Falcons take down the Wheat Kings, 27-6, was a nice break from all the hard work that he had been doing, but once the final whistle had blown, Jameson was back to business. Following the contest, Jameson and Morrissette had a long discussion about the situation the NAAF was currently in which was quite similar to the conversation Jameson had with Winfield in Chicago. However, this time, Morrissette showed interest in the potential that the NAAF had and invited Jameson to join him in the team’s trip to the West Coast for their game against the Vancouver Wolves. There, they would bring the discussion to Wolves owner, Mark Livingston.

A week later, the conversation continued in Vancouver and Livingston was very intrigued by the potential of an agreement. After the Wolves-Falcons game, the 3 remaining WFU owners would join them in Vancouver to get everyone involved. Jameson would have discussions with the owners for several hours, and by the end of it, there were some owners very interested and others a little more hesitant. Jameson didn’t press further but ultimately invited the 5 owners to come to Ottawa during the NAAF’s league meetings in the fall to further the discussion. The owners accepted and would spend the next while continuing to have conversations amongst themselves.

Jumping back to current events, after Jameson brought forth the possible partnership with the WFU, the league meetings would be devoted to coming up with a proposal for what the partnership could look like heading into next season. Jameson had discussed some aspects with the WFU owners back when they first met, so that became an outline to build off of. The first week would fly by as the league’s representatives worked hard at putting together the deal. On the following Monday, the 5 WFU owners arrived in Ottawa. 

The guests received a warm welcome and got the opportunity to meet with the NAAF’s owners and players. Once they got settled, it was back to business. The NAAF would come forward with their proposal.

A summary of the proposal highlighting the 6 most important points:

- A 2-year agreement that would make the WFU teams partial members of the NAAF for the 1970 and 1971 seasons.
- The WFU teams would compete in the NAAF, using hybrid football rules.
- The 5 teams would join the Minnesota Serpents in creating a 6-team West Division and would be able to compete for the McCallister Cup.
- Due to partial membership status, the teams will not participate in the league’s draft but will retain the ability to sign players out of college from the Western College Athletics Union without those players needing to go through the draft.
- Trades and free agency moves between the clubs would be allowed, but if the agreement comes to an end and the sides agree to part ways, any players who have NAAF memberships, which are acquired when players sign contracts with NAAF teams and enter the draft, would be able to leave their WFU teams and rejoin the NAAF if they so choose. Of course, the same is true for players coming from the WFU.
- The WFU teams would also be included in the partnership with Patterson Athletics and receive new uniforms for the 1970 season.

Ultimately, should the two leagues agree to the deal, they would be able to renegotiate the terms of the deal after the first season, however, both must commit to playing in the same league for both seasons, unless extreme circumstances occur. 

After Jameson laid out the proposal, the WFU owners continued to discuss and ask questions of the NAAF representatives. The whole situation proved to be very helpful in ironing out some of the finer details, like the WFU still having a competition for their own trophy, the Mackenzie Cup. After a couple of days, the WFU owners would return to Western Canada to hold their own meetings and make a final decision, leaving the NAAF to continue with their own meetings and await the results.

TL;DR
Ryan Jameson spent the entire 1969 season having conversations with many expansion options
Had a conversation with Larry Winfield of the Chicago All-Pros, but was kindly told to steer clear of the GLFL.
Jameson began conversations with Winnipeg Falcons' owner Ed Morrissette about a potential partnership, and the rest of the WFU was soon involved
WFU is invited to the NAAF league meetings and the NAAF proposed and potential agreement that the WFU would later vote on.

Last edited by Wallflower (2/01/2023 9:54 pm)

Yeah, i've been waiting for a move like this from the NAAF for a long time. Can't wait to see what comes next!

1970 WFU Meetings

Typically the WFU would have their owners meet in Edmonton, AB during the offseason, but since there was a possibility of heading back out to Ottawa, the group set up camp in Winnipeg. Each owner had their own thoughts about the opportunity and they were voiced over the next while. Eventually, two sides started to form between those who were for accepting the deal and those who were reluctant. 

Now, the WFU had a specific system for making decisions that affected the league. For typical, year-to-year changes, like rules and regulations, 3 of the 5 owners had to agree to the move. However, bigger decisions that could impact the league as a whole, like expansion, relocation, and of course a major deal with another entity, required 4 of the 5 owners to vote. Based on the voting procedure, those sides started to form in a typical political way. 

Headlining the side for partnering with the NAAF was Vancouver Wolves owner, Mark Livingston. As an owner and leader in the WFU, Livingston was highly respected as being smart and ambitious, which had been a good thing for the WFU in bringing in and maintaining talent. The other owners respected his point of view even if they sometimes got frustrated when he would lure talent away from their teams with his deep pockets. For a while now, Livingston had been looking at options for the future of the league and even more so his own team. While Livingston had his love for Canadian Football and the WFU, he had ambitions of growing his brand and competing at a higher level. The fact that Vancouver had won the last 3 Mackenzie Cups, only strengthens the argument for the Wolves to seek stronger competition. Livingston saw the NAAF opportunity as one where he could find his Wolves in a league with teams from other major markets like Toronto, Montreal, Boston, and Minneapolis. Another impact is likely the opportunity to finally get some national tv coverage which Livingston has been trying for over the last few seasons.

Also on Livingston’s side was Calgary Tigers owner, Tyler McNeil. McNeil only recently took over the team after the team’s original owner, Hank Barker, passed away and left the team to his son. His son elected to sell the team to McNeil instead of continuing as the owner.  McNeil is a pretty nice guy, and is very open to new ideas, after all, he comes in with a completely new view of the sports world. He also doesn’t have a strong attachment to the team’s history, which may be concerning for some of the longtime fans, but McNeil has shown restraint so far. Either way, with the new opportunity to partner with the NAAF, McNeil is certainly interested and feels like passing up on this opportunity would be a big regret for the WFU.

On the other side was Edmonton Rangers’ owner, Norman Mackenzie. Mackenzie is the oldest of the 5 WFU owners and is the most traditional. Norm’s father, Greg, was a very important figure in Western Canadian Football, helping to form the WFU and get it off the ground. Hence, the championship trophy is named in his honour. Norm has lots of respect for what his father did and is the first defender of what he built. From Norm’s perspective seeing the WFU potentially merge with the NAAF would be a tough pill to swallow. He believes in Canadian Football and knows that the sport would be gone if the WFU makes this move. While Mackenzie isn’t unreasonable, he certainly has been playing devil’s advocate and challenging the other members throughout this process with the other side of the conversation.

Regina Wheat Kings’ owner, Bill Kingsley, who never had too much to say, seemed to lean towards voting against the agreement. Kingsley took over the team around a decade ago once his agribusiness took off and he bought the team. He often had more focus on the business side of the team and his own company so he often remained pretty quiet when it came to league matters. Kingsley was mostly noncommittal when asked questions that related to football, but when it came to business, he had some concerns about his market not being able to hold up in the bigger league. His concerns were likely fueled by the fact that the team had the least potential when it came to growth due to being in the smallest of the 5 markets, despite a pretty strong fan base. 

While the other four owners appeared to be taking strong sides, caught in the middle was Ed Morrissette of the Winnipeg Falcons. It wasn’t a huge surprise as Morrissette has often found himself in this position. Some would say that Morrissette is the glue in the WFU that keeps the owners on the same page. He has especially strong relationships with both Livingston (VAN) and Mackenzie (EDM), who often were at odds with each other, and Morrissette managed to help them see eye-to-eye more often than not. In this situation, Morrissette was leaning in favour of voting for accepting the deal. In his heart, he just felt that it was the best decision for the league’s future and that he trusted they would be in good hands with Ryan Jameson and the NAAF. 

At this point, the votes would count as 3 for yes to accept the deal, and 2 for no. The group continued to debate, but they knew that a decision would have to be made. Livingston, McNeil, and Morrissette were making good arguments in favour of the deal. Despite Mackenzie’s attempts to argue against the decision, he started to wear and knew that the arguments in favour were stronger. However, he kept up the fight and appeared to become desperate. Eventually, Mackenzie would break. The oldest of the owners would get upset. The fear of allowing his father’s creation and the game he grew up falling in love with to slip away, had gotten to him. He let out some yelling statement filled with frustration and emotion, before sitting back and sobbing. Morrissette came over to console him and the group took a break. Morrissette stayed with Mackenzie and the two had a separate conversation. 

Morrissette did his best to reassure Mackenzie. He had always understood what the league meant to Mackenzie, so he was able to get through to the passionate man. He slowly went over the details and the situation that the WFU was in. Unfortunately, they were stuck. There was nowhere to go for the WFU. There weren’t really any other markets for the league to expand to, and despite the efforts of Livingston, some of the top talents in the league were considering looking for new opportunities. Livingston had conversations with the Pacific Football League along the West Coast, but they were very strict on maintaining that they play American rules. Even the most ambitious of the WFU owners couldn’t bring himself to further the conversations. However, with the NAAF, the WFU had a chance to still keep its Canadian Football roots with the Hybrid game being much closer to their classic game, plus the NAAF had a great foundation of people who Morrissette felt they could trust. Mackenzie remained quiet but calmed down. At that point, Morrissette figured that there had been enough talking and it was time to vote. 

The owners convened and sat in a circle. Morrissette took the lead, “Alright, we will commence the vote of whether or not to accept the agreement with the NAAF. To continue forward, we must have 4 of 5 owners vote yes. Is that clear?” The other owners nodded in agreement. “Okay, all those in favour of accepting the deal, raise your hand.” Mark Livingston, Tyler McNeil, and Ed Morrissette all raised their hands. Bill Kingsley kept his arms crossed. The group turned to Norman Mackenzie. Mackenzie took a deep breath and raised his hand.

TL;DR
After hours of debate over the new NAAF agreement, the owners of the WFU voted 4 to 1 to accept and move forward with a partnership with the NAAF.

Last edited by Wallflower (2/01/2023 9:55 pm)

Thehealthiestscratch wrote:

Prefix, i love you and i love the NAAF. It’s hard to keep up with this length. I want to follow but my reading level maxed out at children’s picture books. Could there possibly be a TLDR summary tacked on to these bulky boys? I’ll come back to read them but I like being aware of the cool stories in the moment. If not, I get it. I’ll learn 3 years later in fiction from the AHSylum hot tub (my main news outlet for everything from sports to fictional sports to politics) like I’ve been doing. Or you can PM a personal season summary ;)

I appreciate you Scratch. I get it, I have my own struggles keeping up with many of the other projects on here at times, but I absolutely can add a TLDR to the lengthy posts if that helps. I'll probably add some to the last couple of posts either later tonight or tomorrow, so you can check back on the posts later and hopefully, they should be there. 

Edit: They have now been added.

Last edited by Wallflower (2/01/2023 9:55 pm)

Nobody gonna talk about how the NAAF now has two teams called the Tigers? Anyhow, I look forward to what this brings for everyone's favorite fictional hybrid football league. Can't wait to see the looks of the former WFU teams!