Women ' s Professional Football League The Women ' s Professional Football League ( WPFL ) is the original and longest operating women ' s professional American football league in the United States . Now with teams across the United States , the WPFL had its first game in 1999 with just two original teams : the Lake Michigan Minx and the Minnesota Vixens . Fifteen teams nationwide competed for the championship in 2006 . The league has been recognized in national media campaigns , in the book " Atta Girl " , and even had a team ( the New England Storm ) that has a commercial relationship with an NFL team , the 2002 Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots . Unlike the other women ' s American football franchises , the WPFL operates as a fall league and not a spring league . History . In the early 1960s , many women thought that sports in the US were sexist and needed to shift in another direction , moving beyond the stereotype that women were passive . This sentiment formed the background for the women ' s football league that was started in order to prove that women had the power to do what men did , with hopes that people would enjoy women ' s football as much as they did men ' s . In 1965 , the name changed to its current incarnation . Since there were no college women ' s football teams in the US , most of their athletes came from basketball , rugby , and international football ( soccer ) . After a few years , the sport began to fade . In 1999 two businessmen , Carter Turner and Terry Sullivan , decided to research the feasibility of a professional women ’ s football league by gathering together top female athletes into two teams and playing an exhibition game in front of an audience . The game between the Lake Michigan Minx and the Minnesota Vixens at the Hubert H . Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis , Minnesota was a success and turned into a six game exhibition tour across the country dubbed the “ No Limits ” Barnstorming Tour . The success of the Barnstorming Tour led to the first official WPFL season in 2000 with 11 teams competing nationwide . This first season ended with some turmoil however ; the regular season was shortened by several games , players were not given their promised $ 100 per - game salaries , and there were allegations regarding instability with some of the league ' s financial backers . The WPFL rebounded the next year completing the 2001 season after several organizational changes . Notable changes included the departure of founders Sullivan and Turner ( Turner then founded the WAFL ; restructure of the league by several WPFL team owners : Melissa Korpacz - New England Storm , Robin Howington - Houston Energy , and Donna Roebuck and Dee Kennamer - Austin Rage ; changes to player / team compensation ; and the moving of the start of the season from fall to summer . Effects . Fifteen teams competed in the 2006 WPFL season . The league has hundreds of players and is growing , but the league is more " semi - pro " as none of the athletes earn enough money playing football to make a living . However , the league still refers to them as professional athletes . Other leagues that connect to women ' s football include the United Football League , the Independent Women ' s Football League , the National Women ' s Football Association and the Women ' s Football League . Unfortunately , these individual leagues do not see eye - to - eye , so the possibility of forming one unified league is not likely . Three - fourths of the teams that had played in the WPFL for the 2007 season have since defected to other leagues to begin play in 2009 ; many of them have moved to the IWFL , although some moved to the NWFA and a few others have joined the upstart Women ' s Football Alliance . Only two currently remain in the league , and as such , the league ' s future with so few teams would be in obvious jeopardy . Because of the efforts of these organizations , some women ' s teams are allowed to play in some of the million - dollar domes and arenas originally built for men ' s teams . Noted stadiums have included the Astrodome in Houston , Texas , and some of the highly facilitated places in Detroit , Michigan .