[5] Bassett was also a successful squash player; he reached the semi-finals of the 1969 Canadian Open[6] and was champion of Ontario from 1965 to 1967.
Bassett and Tom Ficara owned Federal Broadcasting Company, a seminal American cable TV network.
His other business interests included ownership of a computer software company and a real estate firm based in Sarasota, Florida.
The Bulls operated in Birmingham until 1979, when four of the six surviving WHA clubs (Edmonton Oilers, New England Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, and Winnipeg Jets) were absorbed into the National Hockey League.
[5] He signed three stars from the National Football League's Miami Dolphins — Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Paul Warfield — and they joined the WFL in 1974.
When a majority of the USFL's team owners voted to go head-to-head with the NFL in the fall, Bassett announced he was pulling the Bandits from the USFL and starting another spring league for competition,[8] at one point—possibly driven by cancer-induced delirium—suggesting his league's teams would play multiple sports.
[12] In 2010, Bassett was elected as an inaugural inductee into the World Hockey Association Hall of Fame in the builders category.