Founded 1972
World Hockey Association
The league that signed Bobby Hull, broke the NHL's stranglehold on talent, and planted the seeds of the Gretzky dynasty.
"The Bobby Hull signing was the shot heard round the hockey world. It changed everything."— Alan Eagleson, NHL Players' Association
The Golden Jet Era
The Story
When Gary L. Davidson founded the World Hockey Association in 1972, the NHL had operated as an unchallenged monopoly for decades — controlling player salaries, suppressing competition, and dictating the terms of professional hockey. Davidson changed all of that in a single afternoon. By signing Bobby Hull — the most recognizable name in hockey — to a $2.75 million contract with the Winnipeg Jets, he announced to the world that the WHA was not a novelty. It was a revolution.
Archive Footage
The WHA in Action
Original WHA footage — the league that changed hockey forever.
1972
The Founding
Davidson launched the WHA with 12 franchises spread across the United States and Canada, deliberately targeting cities the NHL had ignored or abandoned. The league's founding principle was simple: players deserved to be paid what the market would bear, and fans in cities like Winnipeg, Quebec, and Hartford deserved major-league hockey. The WHA challenged the NHL's reserve clause — which bound players to teams in perpetuity — in a federal district court in Philadelphia, and won. Players who had earned an average of $25,000–$30,000 were suddenly earning double, triple, and quadruple that. Within its first season, the WHA had signed over 60 NHL players, triggering a salary war that permanently transformed the economics of professional hockey.
Gary Davidson — WHA President
12
Founding Franchises
7
Seasons Played
4
Teams Merged into NHL
$2.75M
Bobby Hull Contract
1972
The Bobby Hull Signing
Davidson & Murphy — WHA Co-Founders
Davidson specifically seized upon public comments from Bobby Hull, who was in a contract spat with the Chicago Blackhawks in 1972. When asked if he'd consider the upstart WHA, Hull said, 'It would take a million dollars.' Within a few weeks, Hull was standing at a press conference with an enlarged $1 million check as the newest member of the Winnipeg Jets — part of a $2.75 million total deal, the largest in professional sports history at the time. It'd be as if Sidney Crosby and three entire NHL locker rooms emptied out for a startup league. Another 60-plus NHL players joined him shortly after.
The Hull signing did more than land a superstar. It established the legal precedent that players were not bound to their NHL teams in perpetuity — a ruling that laid the groundwork for free agency across all professional sports. Davidson's willingness to spend big and fight in court changed the relationship between players and owners forever. The WHA MVP award was named the Gary L. Davidson Award in 1973 and 1974.
Legacy
What the WHA Changed
Player Salaries
The WHA's bidding war for talent forced the NHL to triple average player salaries within three years. Players who had earned $25,000–$30,000 were suddenly earning $100,000 or more.
Canadian Markets
The WHA brought major-league hockey to Winnipeg, Quebec City, and Edmonton — cities the NHL had ignored. All three eventually became NHL cities, with the Jets and Nordiques joining in 1979.
International Players
The WHA was the first North American league to aggressively recruit European players, signing stars from Sweden, Finland, and Czechoslovakia and permanently internationalizing the game.
Young Talent
The WHA signed players before their NHL eligibility expired, including a 17-year-old Wayne Gretzky with the Indianapolis Racers — a signing that would define hockey history.
Free Agency Precedent
The legal battles over player contracts during the WHA era established the precedents that led to free agency in hockey and, by extension, across all major professional sports.
Expansion Markets
The WHA proved that hockey could thrive in non-traditional markets like Houston, Phoenix, and San Diego — markets the NHL would eventually enter in the 1990s and 2000s.
The Players
The Players Who Defined the WHA
The Golden Jet
Bobby Hull
Winnipeg Jets
The most famous signing in WHA history. Hull's $2.75 million contract legitimized the league overnight and triggered a salary revolution that changed professional hockey forever. He scored 303 goals in 411 WHA games.
Mr. Hockey
Gordie Howe
Houston Aeros
At 45 years old, Howe came out of retirement to play alongside his sons Mark and Marty for the Houston Aeros — one of the most remarkable stories in sports history. He won two WHA championships and was named league MVP at 46.
The Great One
Wayne Gretzky
Indianapolis Racers, Edmonton Oilers
Signed by the WHA's Indianapolis Racers at 17, Gretzky was traded to the Edmonton Oilers — a WHA franchise that merged into the NHL in 1979. The rest is history. The WHA made Gretzky possible.
The Big M
Frank Mahovlich
Toronto Toros, Birmingham Bulls
A six-time Stanley Cup champion who jumped to the WHA at 35 and played four productive seasons, Mahovlich's presence gave the league instant credibility with hockey traditionalists.
The Swedish Flash
Anders Hedberg
Winnipeg Jets
One of the first European stars to make a major impact in North American hockey, Hedberg's success with the Jets opened the door for the wave of European players who would transform the NHL in the 1980s.
The Quebec Sniper
Marc Tardif
Quebec Nordiques
The WHA's all-time leading scorer, Tardif scored 316 goals in 446 WHA games and was the face of the Quebec Nordiques franchise — a team that would carry his legacy into the NHL.
Franchises
The Franchises
Merged into the NHL (1979)
Edmonton Oilers
Edmonton, AB
Quebec Nordiques
Quebec City, QC
Winnipeg Jets
Winnipeg, MB
Hartford Whalers
Hartford, CT
Notable Franchises
Houston Aeros
Houston, TX
New England Whalers
Boston, MA
Minnesota Fighting Saints
St. Paul, MN
Birmingham Bulls
Birmingham, AL
1979
The Merger
On March 8, 1979, the NHL and WHA agreed to a merger that brought four WHA franchises — the Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets, and Hartford Whalers — into the NHL. The remaining WHA teams folded. Each surviving franchise paid a $6 million entry fee. It was the second time in three years that Davidson's model had forced a major sports league to absorb its rival. Davidson was inducted into the WHA Hall of Fame in 2010 as part of its inaugural class.
The merger's most consequential outcome was the Edmonton Oilers. The franchise that Davidson's league had nurtured would go on to win five Stanley Cup championships in seven years, led by Wayne Gretzky — a player the WHA had signed as a teenager. The dynasty that defined 1980s hockey was a direct product of the world Gary Davidson built. Howard Baldwin, Davidson's WFL confidant who owned the New England Whalers, later produced the Oscar-winning film Ray — and has been working on a screenplay about Gary Davidson's life.