We know there is one NFL team, that to this day, remains the only one to ever go undefeated. But that team almost wound up in Seattle. (1996 image of Seattle vs. Oakland, QB Gino Toretta).
Famous NFL franchise almost moved to Seattle
Many people probably didn’t know prior to the arrival of Don Shula as the coach of the Miami Dolphins that they were a downtrodden franchise, that did not win very often.
According to a fascinating look at Dolphin’s history, from, the Miami History Blog, showing how between their inaugural season in 1966 through 1969, they never won more than five games in one year. They were 23-43-2 between 1966 and 1970.
Coach Don Shula, formerly coach of the Baltimore Colts, took over in 1970 through 1995, and in 1972 went undefeated and won the Super Bowl. To this day, they remain the only unbeaten team in NFL history through the entire season. Every year, when a team runs of 10-11 or more wins in a row, then they lose, the surviving members of the team pop champagne.
Ownership struggles nearly led to the team leaving.
Joe Robbie, who remained the long-time owner of the team, found himself facing opposition and ‘revolt’ from other partial team owners, and one of the larger stockholders, Willard “Bud” Keland, and others had entered into talks with an ownership group in Seattle. The Seattle group had pushed forward the construction of a stadium to house an NFL team, and talks had progressed to the point they were ready to petition the NFL for the Dolphins to leave.
The biggest differences were Keland’s objections to how the franchise was being operated.
However, Robbie had inserted a clause in the original franchise agreement that he would still have a say in team operations. After a meeting between NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle and Keland and Robbie, Robbie came up with a plan to solve the disputes, and it ended with him winning the power struggle.
Seattle ended up getting a franchise in June of 1974, and the Seahawks began play in 1976. But, were it not for the dogged efforts of Joe Robbie, things might have gone very differently.