Philadelphia Bell
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| Established | 1974 |
|---|---|
| Folded | October 1975 |
| Based in | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Home field |
JFK Stadium (1974) Franklin Field (1975) |
| Head coach |
Ron Waller (1974) Willie Wood (1975) |
| Owner(s) |
John B. Kelly Jr. John Bosacco |
| League | World Football League |
| Division | Eastern |
| Colours | Blue and gold |
The Philadelphia Bell was a franchise in the World Football League, which operated in 1974 and a portion of a season in 1975. The Bell played their home games in 1974 at JFK Stadium in South Philadelphia. The team logo was a representation of the Liberty Bell. In 1975 the team decided to stop playing at JFK and moved its games to Franklin Field.
The Bell was one of just two WFL teams that maintained the same ownership in both 1974 and 1975. The group was headed by John B. Kelly Jr., a respected business and sportsman in Philadelphia and part of the well-known Kelly family, which included his sister Grace Kelly, movie star turned Princess of Monaco. The major money contributor behind the ownership group was John Bosacco, who came forward during the first season and took over the operations of the franchise. Bosacco believed that the WFL could survive as a league and he was instrumental in the removal of Gary Davidson as commissioner following the 1974 season. Ron Waller was hired as head coach in 1974. Waller was fired during training camp at Glassboro State University (now called Rowan University) in 1975. He was replaced by NFL Hall of Famer Willie Wood for the entirety of the 1975 season.
At first the team seemed to be one of the WFL's most popular, announcing a crowd of 55,534 for the home opener, and 64,719 for the second home game. However, when the Bell paid city taxes on the attendance figures two weeks later, it emerged that they had inflated the gate on a scale unprecedented in professional sports; they sold block tickets to several area businesses at a discount, and the tax revenue was not reported. In turn, many of these businesses gave away the tickets for free. The actual paid attendance for the home opener was only 13,855, and for the second game just 6,200....and many of those tickets were sold well below face value. The "Papergate" scandal, as it was dubbed by the press, made the Bell and the WFL look foolish, and proved to be a humiliation from which neither recovered. The club hit bottom on October 16, when only 750 fans found their way to the Vet for a Wednesday night game in a torrential downpour.
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