Donald Trump just contributed to the USFL’s downfall.
On July 29th, 1986, a jury in the case of the United States Football League suing the National Football League in a federal court pulled the dream or life support system that was keeping the USFL alive. The jury did say that the NFL did violate antitrust laws but misunderstood Judge Peter Leisure’s role in deciding a monetary penalty. The jury gave the USFL a dollar and figured the judge would take care of the rest. That one dollar was tripled but $3 was not going to help out USFL owners who did themselves in long before Donald Trump bought the New Jersey Generals franchise. Trump was merely the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Trump advocated that the spring league align itself with the rest of the American football and play a summer-fall-winter schedule. The other USFL owners followed his lead. They agreed with Trump and filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL with the trial starting in 1986.
USFL owners began overpaying players prior to the inaugural 1983 season. The 12-team league had a TV deal and averaged 25,000 tickets sold per game which was a great showing for a new product. But that revenue was not enough. The league decided to add six more teams in 1984 and charge the new owners $6 million per team. That $36 million went back to the 12 original owners to pay off some of the 1983 financial losses. But the 18-team league was financially struggling and four teams left. The NFL wanted to take in the Baltimore and Oakland franchises as part of some sort of settlement. But nothing materialized. There was an audience for spring football but USFL owners never listened to Tampa Bay owner John Bassett who had an idea of how the league should work. The jury’s decision ended the USFL.
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Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
