In 1983, the USFL kicked-off a spring-summer alternative to NFL football.
The league was the brainchild of Louisiana antique and art dealer David Dixon. Dixon, remembers when 25,000 people would come out to watch Tulane have a scrimmage back in the 1930s. Now in his 80’s, Dixon said in an interview with Greg Garber from ESPN.com, “My God, why can't we play games in the spring? I mean, LSU still draws numbers like that to this day. If Princeton and Rutgers had played that first [intercollegiate football] game in the spring instead of the fall [Nov. 6, 1869], that's when we'd be playing football today.
“Football is such a powerful, powerful piece of entertainment," he said. "To me, it made a lot of sense to start a new league.”
Dixon is also known as the “Father of the New Orleans Saints.” He was instrumental in getting the Saints as an expansion franchise in 1967 and was instrumental in building the Louisiana Superdome.
Teams were placed in 12 locations: Philadelphia, Boston, New Jersey, Washington, Michigan (Pontiac), Chicago, Tampa Bay, Birmingham, Oakland, Los Angles, Denver and Phoenix. True to Dixon’s words, some 45,000 fans turned out in Arizona and Denver. Washington drew 38,000 spectators, while Los Angeles and Birmingham drew more than 30,000.
The total attendance was more than 230,000; an average of 39,170 per game. The national TV ratings for all games played was 14.2, with a 33 share. The USFL kicked-off to a great start.
Originally, owners settled on a $1.8 million dollar salary cap per team, using a 38-plus 2 roster maximum. $1.3 million dollars was allotted to sign 38 players and a 10-player developmental squad; $500,000 was allotted to sign two "star" players that did not count against the cap. This last figure was not "set in stone."
Ed Garvey, who was head of the NFLPA back in 1982, was contacted by Dixon to sit in on the owner’s meetings, says, “I thought the league would succeed because I had such trust in David and the owners trusted him. This wasn’t like the World Football League which was an agent-created nightmare.”
Many experts mocked the spring league saying it would never make it. But could a spring football league work? According to a CBS Sports/New York Times survey in 1984, 53 percent of the nation's sports fans said they most enjoyed watching football, compared to 18 percent for baseball. This survey re-enforced the USFL’s chance of survival on the American sporting landscape.
Steve Erhart, who was the general manager and part owner of the Memphis Showboats in 1985, says, “The league was a product of the NFL’s scarcity of servicing teams, players, coaches and cities that could support pro football. There were cities that needed and wanted football. It was ironic we had great success in certain cities that already had NFL teams."
To support Erhart’s statements, the Tampa Bay Bandits, Denver Gold and New Jersey Generals drew more than 35,000 a game in their inaugural seasons in 1983.
The Michigan Panthers averaged a little more than 22,000 in ’83, but attendance jumped to more than 32,000 in ’84, after winning the USFL Championship. What really rattled the NFL was the fact that more than 60,000 fans showed their support at the Silverdome, when the Panthers beat the Oakland Invaders 37-21 in the divisional playoffs in 1983. The fans stormed the field after the victory.
A week later, more than 50,000 enthusiastic USFL fans attended the first championship, as Michigan went on to stun Jim Mora’s Philadelphia Stars, 24-22, at Denver's Mile High Stadium.
“At the end of the first year, the Detroit media ran a position-by-position comparison of the Panthers verse the Lions," says Erhart. "Anthony Carter was a better receiver than what the Lions had; QB Bobby Hebert was better than Eric Hipple."
TO READ MORE MORE BUY THE USFL BOOK AT WWW.USFL-THEREBELLEAGUE.COM
The league was the brainchild of Louisiana antique and art dealer David Dixon. Dixon, remembers when 25,000 people would come out to watch Tulane have a scrimmage back in the 1930s. Now in his 80’s, Dixon said in an interview with Greg Garber from ESPN.com, “My God, why can't we play games in the spring? I mean, LSU still draws numbers like that to this day. If Princeton and Rutgers had played that first [intercollegiate football] game in the spring instead of the fall [Nov. 6, 1869], that's when we'd be playing football today.
“Football is such a powerful, powerful piece of entertainment," he said. "To me, it made a lot of sense to start a new league.”
Dixon is also known as the “Father of the New Orleans Saints.” He was instrumental in getting the Saints as an expansion franchise in 1967 and was instrumental in building the Louisiana Superdome.
Teams were placed in 12 locations: Philadelphia, Boston, New Jersey, Washington, Michigan (Pontiac), Chicago, Tampa Bay, Birmingham, Oakland, Los Angles, Denver and Phoenix. True to Dixon’s words, some 45,000 fans turned out in Arizona and Denver. Washington drew 38,000 spectators, while Los Angeles and Birmingham drew more than 30,000.
The total attendance was more than 230,000; an average of 39,170 per game. The national TV ratings for all games played was 14.2, with a 33 share. The USFL kicked-off to a great start.
Originally, owners settled on a $1.8 million dollar salary cap per team, using a 38-plus 2 roster maximum. $1.3 million dollars was allotted to sign 38 players and a 10-player developmental squad; $500,000 was allotted to sign two "star" players that did not count against the cap. This last figure was not "set in stone."
Ed Garvey, who was head of the NFLPA back in 1982, was contacted by Dixon to sit in on the owner’s meetings, says, “I thought the league would succeed because I had such trust in David and the owners trusted him. This wasn’t like the World Football League which was an agent-created nightmare.”
Many experts mocked the spring league saying it would never make it. But could a spring football league work? According to a CBS Sports/New York Times survey in 1984, 53 percent of the nation's sports fans said they most enjoyed watching football, compared to 18 percent for baseball. This survey re-enforced the USFL’s chance of survival on the American sporting landscape.
Steve Erhart, who was the general manager and part owner of the Memphis Showboats in 1985, says, “The league was a product of the NFL’s scarcity of servicing teams, players, coaches and cities that could support pro football. There were cities that needed and wanted football. It was ironic we had great success in certain cities that already had NFL teams."
To support Erhart’s statements, the Tampa Bay Bandits, Denver Gold and New Jersey Generals drew more than 35,000 a game in their inaugural seasons in 1983.
The Michigan Panthers averaged a little more than 22,000 in ’83, but attendance jumped to more than 32,000 in ’84, after winning the USFL Championship. What really rattled the NFL was the fact that more than 60,000 fans showed their support at the Silverdome, when the Panthers beat the Oakland Invaders 37-21 in the divisional playoffs in 1983. The fans stormed the field after the victory.
A week later, more than 50,000 enthusiastic USFL fans attended the first championship, as Michigan went on to stun Jim Mora’s Philadelphia Stars, 24-22, at Denver's Mile High Stadium.
“At the end of the first year, the Detroit media ran a position-by-position comparison of the Panthers verse the Lions," says Erhart. "Anthony Carter was a better receiver than what the Lions had; QB Bobby Hebert was better than Eric Hipple."
TO READ MORE MORE BUY THE USFL BOOK AT WWW.USFL-THEREBELLEAGUE.COM