Continental League

Status:  Proposed
Sport:  Baseball
City:  Denver
Venue:  Unannounced
Season:  None - Proposed for 1961
League:  Continental League
Owner:  Bob Howsam
Head Coach:  Unannounced

A Brief History

The Continental League was the idea of attorney William Shea, who proposed it in November 1958. The hope was to become a third major league, along side the American and National leagues.

On July 27, 1959, the new league was formally announced with teams in Denver, Houston, Minneapolis–St. Paul, New York City, and Toronto. The name of the league was said to have been the suggestion of Colorado senator Edwin C. Johnson.

The Denver team would be owned by Robert Lee Howsam, a professional sports executive and entrepreneur. In 1959, he played a key role in establishing two leagues - the American Football League, which succeeded and merged with the National Football League, and the Continental League, which never played a game but forced the expansion of Major League Baseball from 16 to 20 teams in 1961–62. Howsam first sought an expansion NFL team for Denver. When that bid was turned down, he met with Lamar Hunt and founded the Denver Broncos, one of the eight charter members of the American Football League.

Owners in each city agreed to pay $50,000 to the league and committed to a capital investment of $2.5 million, not including stadium costs. A minimum seating capacity of 35,000 was established by the league for the venues in which its teams would play.

At least three other teams were expected to be in place before play began in April 1961, and the league said it had received applications from 10 cities. The three that were later selected were Atlanta, Dallas–Fort Worth, and Buffalo. Former Los Angeles Dodgers president Branch Rickey was named league president on August 18, 1959.

Threatened by the potential of the new competitor, the major league owners offered an expansion plan to the Continental League. If the league agreed to disband immediately, the owners would take in four of its teams right away, with plans to eventually add the others.

Though the Continental League disbanded and never reached its April 1961 start date, Rickey and Shea succeeded in influencing Major League Baseball to expand to more cities across the country. Of the eight Continental League locations, only Buffalo has not received an expansion team.

Suggestions and comments are welcome!
Nathan@ColoradoProTeams.com