The Royals were founded by
Canadian businessman and
retired tennis player John F. Bassett and
merchant John C. Eaton, III as a charter member of WTT in 1973. Originally, WTT granted the franchise to
Toronto. The team began play in WTT's inaugural
1974 season. The Royals played half of their home matches at the
CNE Coliseum in Toronto,
Ontario, Canada and the other half at the
Buffalo Memorial Auditorium in
Buffalo, New York, United States. While WTT identified the team as the Toronto-Buffalo Royals in its official standings, the team was sometimes called the Buffalo-Toronto Royals by the Canadian
media The Royals' main attraction was player-coach
Tom Okker. However, Okker's contract allowed him to be excused from his commitment to the Royals when he had opportunities to play in
ATP or
Grand Slam tournaments. So, Okker was effectively a
part-time player. On October 16, 1974, team president Bassett announced that the Royals had been sold to Bert Hoffman and Phyllis Morse who said that they would move the team to
Hartford, Connecticut. At the WTT owners meeting on February 1, 1975, each team was required to post a $500,000
letter of credit. Since the Royals failed to do so, the team was contracted by WTT. A dispersal draft was conducted to distribute the players among the remaining teams in the league. ==Home courts==