Who knows much about the USFL? (1 Viewer)

[BuddyDeesGhost]

Didn't the whole fiasco start when Herschel Walker chose to be drafted by a USFL team instead of an NFL team? I think the USFL was pretty much off the radar until then.

 

[HammondSaint]

And why it failed?

 

[NatureBoy]

The USFL actually won their case against the NFL but were awarded the paltry sum of $1...in other words, the NFL got to the jury.

This is the story.

The USFL owners won their case but were only given a dollar in damages.

I loved the USFL. They had a lot of talent...and some of that talent ended up coming to the Saints and Mora regime.

I had Breakers season tickets. John Walton to Nolan Franz!!! Dan Ross too. And let’s not forget Buford Jordan in the backfield.

If I remember right, the Jacksonville Bulls franchise was very well supported. Also, if I’m not mistaken the TB Bucs were really bad and Tampa supported the Bamdits better.

 

[SystemShock]

The USFL didn't have a bad product, and it played its games at the right time of the year, just when people started jonesing for football.

But then...

 

[Buickman]

Here's a more recent article from Bleacher Report. Kind of hits the nail on the head on all fronts;

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...fl-bombastic-from-the-start-a-jerk-on-purpose

 

[RaginCajun55]

The NFL lost the lawsuit and had to pay out $3, but it should also be clarified to the posters blaming Trump for sinking the league due to its legal dealings that the NFL was forced to pay out $5.8 million to pay for the USFL’s legal fees. This was not nearly enough to save the league.

The USFL was hemorrhaging money before the lawsuit and all the owners were either dropping out or losing money. Trump did hurt the league by pushing for a Fall switch but to solely blame him is naive and irresponsible of the facts. The league was already in dire straights and the owners got greedy and were not following the path that Dixon set forth at the beginning to remain financially stable. Many of the teams in the league could not even pay its players their weekly checks prior to the lawsuit.

Interesting to see what the AAF does with its new spring league.

 

[Dr. Sting]

Read this book:

Football for a Buck by Jeff Pearlman

Best source for learning about what happened to the USFL.

 

[Poison]

I haven't read it yet (it is sitting on my shelf), but Jeff Pearlman is a great author and this book about the rise and fall of the USFL, which came out last year, comes very highly recommended by most reviewers:

Amazon product ASIN 0544454383
As an aside, I emailed Jeff after I read his book on the Dallas Cowboys. He makes a point about responding to everybody who contacts him - he's a really nice guy.

He also wrote the hilarious article (quoted extensively elsewhere on this site) about Super Bowl LIII being the "worst ever":

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/04/opinions/super-bowl-pearlman/index.html

Had this great line:

No, this is the NFL failing to address the uncalled pass interference penalty from two weeks ago — one that would have almost certainly resulted in the far-superior New Orleans Saints (not the Rams) being in Atlanta.

EDIT: Dr Sting beat me to the punch by a minute!

 

[Dr. Sting]

The NFL lost the lawsuit and had to pay out $3, but it should also be clarified to the posters blaming Trump for sinking the league due to its legal dealings that the NFL was forced to pay out $5.8 million to pay for the USFL’s legal fees. This was not nearly enough to save the league.

The USFL was hemorrhaging money before the lawsuit and all the owners were either dropping out or losing money. Trump did hurt the league by pushing for a Fall switch but to solely blame him is naive and irresponsible of the facts. The league was already in dire straights and the owners got greedy and were not following the path that Dixon set forth at the beginning to remain financially stable. Many of the teams in the league could not even pay its players their weekly checks prior to the lawsuit.

Interesting to see what the AAF does with its new spring league.

Yes and no. He wasn't solely responsible but he gets at least 70 percent of the credit. I was a huge USFL fan and consider myself a historian of that League. Any chance they had of making it went out the door after Trump joined it. For instance, did you know that shortly after buying the New Jersey Generals, he got a face to face meeting with Pete Rozelle and told Rozelle that if the NFL let him have a team, he would help the NFL kill off the USFL? Rozelle told him as long as he or his heirs were a part of the NFL, he would never get a team. No wonder he is always bashing the NFL. The guy was an absolute cancer to the USFL.

 

[Complex Kid]

Trump!

All you really need to know.

The reason the NFL refused to sell him a team numerous times.

They can dislike your post all they like but you are correct.

He forced the league to chase players out of their price range (then tried to get the other owners to pay for it, hmmmm sound familiar?). Then as others have said forced them to move to fall hoping to force a merger hoping his team would be the one (yeah Donald having two New York teams and the eagles right there the NFL would totally welcome a Jersey squad).

Like others have said the Pearlman book is great (as are his other books).

 

[RaginCajun55]

Any chance they had of making it went out the door when they started blowing money to sign average or over the hill ex nfl or college players and when they expanded from 12 teams to 18 after just one year. Trump didn’t help the league but to say he is 70% responsible is simpy your own anti-Trump bias. The other league owners hold just as much responsibility. The move to Fall was a mistake, but the USFL was already doomed, the lawsuit was essentially its life raft which actually was pretty close to getting the league the money that could have rejuvenated it.

Pearlman’s book is excellent and full of great football nuggets. His dislike for Trump is a bit too apparent and the book even gets a little political at one point, but if you can overlook that it is well worth a read to learn about the USFL and all the crazy stories.

 

[KtoLV]

Jim Mora won two championships. I don’t know why it failed.

 

[Complex Kid]

Jim Mora won two championships. I don’t know why it failed.

Also “Bobby Hebert Championship QB”.

 

[Dr. Sting]

Any chance they had of making it went out the door when they started blowing money to sign average or over the hill ex nfl or college players and when they expanded from 12 teams to 18 after just one year. Trump didn’t help the league but to say he is 70% responsible is simpy your own anti-Trump bias. The other league owners hold just as much responsibility. The move to Fall was a mistake, but the USFL was already doomed, the lawsuit was essentially its life raft which actually was pretty close to getting the league the money that could have rejuvenated it.

Pearlman’s book is excellent and full of great football nuggets. His dislike for Trump is a bit too apparent and the book even gets a little political at one point, but if you can overlook that it is well worth a read to learn about the USFL and all the crazy stories.

The law suit was the league's life raft? The law suit was an ill-advised strategy that blew up in the USFL's face. If they followed Dave Dixon's original plan for growth, which closely mirrors the AAF's, the USFL would still likely be around today.

And to be clear, I am not getting political. Talking about how by all accounts (except Donald Trump's), the league suffered from his presence is not in any way engaging in Presidential politics. If anything, you are making this political. That being said... I'm out of this thread. I can see where this is going and I don't have the time for it.

 

[RaginCajun55]

The law suit was the league's life raft? The law suit was an ill-advised strategy that blew up in the USFL's face. If they followed Dave Dixon's original plan for growth, which closely mirrors the AAF's, the USFL would still likely be around today.

And to be clear, I am not getting political. Talking about how by all accounts (except Donald Trump's), the league suffered from his presence is not in any way engaging in Presidential politics. If anything, you are making this political. That being said... I'm out of this thread. I can see where this is going and I don't have the time for it.

Yes it was the league’s life raft in that if they had won the amount of money they were expected to win it would have saved the league. The league was not doing well financially in the spring which is why all the owners agreed to switch to fall. You are trying to lay the majority of blame on Trump. Sounds like a great talking point since most could never name one other owner, unfortunately its simply not the case.

We both agree that had they followed Dixon’s path the league would have been better. They stopped doing that well before Trump and in fact bringing Trump in as one of 2 very wealthy owners was a part of abandoning that path.

He actually ran a decent team and made sure everything was at a high level. He wasn’t afraid to spend his money on the team from what I have read (player amenities, marketing, new jerseys etc...) Can’t say the same for many owners in the league. Compared to the LA Express owner ( the wealthiest owner in the league) he was a Saint and I don’t think players hated playing on his team. The Generals were run way better under Trump than their first owner.

You said Trump was 70% responsible for the league’s ruin. I say he was but one of many problems. The league knew what he was when they brought him on. They abandoned Dixon’s plan before he came around. My points have nothing to do with politics. The USFL proved plenty capable of digging its own grave without Trump no matter how you try and twist it.