The Golden Years

Seltzer paid skaters between $200 and $260 a week, opening franchise teams and forming the National Roller Derby League, or the NRDL. The NRDL consisted of six teams, and playoffs sold out Madison Square Garden for a week.

The NRDL 

The six teams that made up the NRDL were the New York Chiefs, the Brooklyn Red Devils, and Jersey Jolters, the Philadelphia Panthers, the Washington-Baltimore Jets, and the Chicago Westerns. The Red Devils had no official venue and were often cast as villains to add to the sport’s theatrics.