The PHL was founded on January 23rd, 2020 at the University of Florida as a six player League.
PHL I
The first season of the PHL started with six players: Brian, Cris, Hammer, Snakes, Tyler, and Zack. Hammer was the League's first Commissioner before he stepped aside to give the role to Snakes. Shortly before the mid-season All-Star break, Cris was suspended for an undisclosed reason. This led to Cris' retirement from the PHL, 5 games into his career.
At the All-Star break, Cris' retirement left the top four players as Zack (5-0), Tyler (3-2), Hammer (2-3), and Snakes (2-3). The outdoor All-Star Game between Zack/Snakes (Team Orange) and Tyler/Hammer (Team Blue), ended in a 32-15 blowout for Team Orange. Team Blue was able to win over the fans with back-to-back charity shots from the center court circle. Tyler also edged out Hammer to go home as three-point contest champion.
After the All-Star break, the second half of the season was plagued by COVID-19. While the PHL held out longer than other professional sports leagues in the US, it couldn't hold out forever. On March 16th, with 2 regular season games remaining, the League Office decided to cancel the rest of the regular season and resume with the playoffs after an extended break. The season ended with Zack at 6-1, Snakes at 6-3, Tyler at 4-4, Hammer at 4-5, and Brian at 0-8.
Upon return to play, strict COVID-19 rules at Infinity Hall pushed the PHL outdoors to Little Hall. Zack decided to retire and Brian wouldn't make it back in time to compete in the playoffs. This gave Snakes a bye to the Final and a best-of-3 between Tyler and Hammer. Hammer dominated the series winning both games 7-0.
In the Infinity Cup Final Snakes opened with a 7-3 win before Hammer came back with an 8-6 overtime win. Games 3, 4, & 5 were the next day. Hammer won game 3 7-4 giving him a Cup-clinching game at home. This game went to quintuple overtime before Hammer ended the game and the series 12-10. Hammer became the first champion of the Penthouse League.
PHL II
For the PHL's second season, the League decided to go for team names instead of player names. Hammer rebranded to the Howell Hammers, Snakes to the Seattle Snakes, Tyler to the Staten Island Bombers, and Brian to the Fort Lauderdale Fortune. Expansion teams were granted to Kyle Cooper and Mikey Karapetian: the Anaheim Bullsharks and Boston Bartenders. Before the season began, Hammer was promoted to Co-Commissioner alongside Snakes.
Soon after the start of the season, Brian opted out due to COVID concerns. The season was dominated by Anaheim who went 8-0, Staten Island was also looking good before three late season forfeits resulted in a 2-6 record causing the team to fall out of the playoffs. Boston was also 2-6, Seattle 3-5, and Howell 5-3. Seattle beat Howell in a Semi-Finals that went to the PHL's first ever win-or-go-home game. The series featured a 16-13 Seattle victory, an 18-14 win to the Hammers, and a series clinching 15-12 final in the deciding game. Anaheim got to the Final off the back of a Boston forfeit. The Final was a breeze for Anaheim with 16-6, 15-4, and 15-7 scores in a sweep for a Bullsharks Championship.
PHL III
Staten Island and Boston hung up their sneakers after disappointing PHL II campaigns. Brian came back as the Fortune. PHL III was very much a continuation of PHL II in the sense that Anaheim was still just as dominant at 6-0. Fort Lauderdale continued their PHL I ways going 0-6. The two middling teams, Howell & Seattle, split the season series resulting in a pair of 3-3 teams; Seattle got the #2 seed on a tiebreaker.
The playoffs featured an easy Semi-Finals for the Bullsharks who won both games 16-0. Howell played similarly in game 1 with a 15-2 victory but the Snakes put up much more of a fight in game 2. Howell walked away with a trip to the Finals from a 25-21 overtime win. The Final started off with two wins for the Bullsharks. In game 3, Howell had a strong start; they were up 7-2 before giving up 8 straight points. The Hammers kept it close and an offensive rebound brought it to 14-13 sending the game to overtime. Anaheim scored the next basket clinching the second undefeated campaign for the franchise in as many seasons.
PHL IV
Anaheim and Fort Lauderdale both announced that they had played their last games in the PHL. Matt Stone & Youssuf Elbakry were granted expansion teams, the Colorado Crushers & Minnesota Mystery. The regular season was expanded back to 8 games. Howell won the franchise's first Commissioner's Plaque with a 6-2 record. The expansion brothers both went 4-4, Minnesota won the tiebraker. Seattle sat at 2-6 on the year.
The Howell-Seattle Semi-Finals was part of a new playoff format. The #1-#4 meeting was twice-to-beat. Howell didn't let it get that far winning the first and only game. Minnesota swept Colorado in the other series but Colorado forced overtime in game two making the Mystery work for it. In the Final, day one saw to split; Minnesota won 16-11, then Howell took game 2 16-12. For the first time in the Modern Era, the Final wouldn't be a sweep. Game 3 went to the Mystery in overtime 16-13. Howell forced the PHL's first game 5 with a 15-8 win. Game 5 gave Howell the franchise's second Infinity Cup with a 16-8 win.
PHL V
Seattle and Minnesota both announced retirements following the PHL IV playoffs. Andre Marrou & Jonathon Dolson were granted expansion teams: the Albuquerque Coyotes & Lakeland Destroyers. The regular season was expanded to 10 games. Lakeland dominated in their expansion season goin 8-2 for the #1 seed, followed in order by Colorado, Howell, and Albuquerque.
In the playoffs, Albuquerque beat Lakeland in game 1, forcing a win-or-go-home game 2. While it was close, the Destroyers did advance to the Final with a 3-point win. Albuquerque became the only team to score more points in a playoff series and lose. On the other side, the road team won each game in a very close series that saw no game decided by more than one possession. For the fourth straight time, the Howell Hammers lost game 1 of the Final. after evening it up in game 2. Lakeland never let it get close again and walked away with the Destroyers first Infinity Cup championship in 4 games.
PHL VI
Shortly before the season began, Destroyer starter, Jonathan Dolson sustained an ankle injury that would keep the team out of PHL VI. In a convenient balancing act, the Seattle Snakes came out of retirement and returned to the PHL. Rest did the Snakes very well as they had their best season in history and won the franchise's first trophy: the PHL VI Commissioner's Plaque, awarded to the best regular season team (6-2). The remaining teams in the standings were Howell, Albuquerque, and Colorado.
For the first time, both Semi-Finals series went to three games. The SEA-COL series saw the home team win each game while the HWL-ABQ series saw the road team win each game. The Coyotes beat the Hammers for their first Infinity Cup Final berth. In the Final, the Snakes and Coyotes split the first two game, although some controversial reviews could've given Albuquerque a 2-0 lead following day 1. The Coyotes didn't let that bother them and rolled through games 3 & 4 to win the franchise's first Infinity Cup championship.
PHL VII
Dolson and the Lakeland Destroyers return from the IR. Meanwhile, defending Infinity Cup Champion Andre Marrou and the Albuquerque Coyotes announced their retirement. Just after opening day, the Las Vegas Jokers were introduced as the newest PHL team set to begin play immediately in PHL VII.