50 Fun Facts About USFL

Which real-estate developer bought the USFL's New Jersey Generals in 1983 and pushed for fall games?

Donald Trump argued that playing in the fall would force a merger with the NFL. The owners voted his way in 1984, but the league never played a fall game.

A jury sided with the USFL in its 1986 antitrust suit against the NFL but awarded what sum in damages?

One dollar was the whole award, tripled to three under antitrust law. The league had asked for $567 million to fund its move to the fall and never played again.

Which Hollywood actor, a former Florida State football player, was a part-owner of the USFL's Tampa Bay Bandits?

Burt Reynolds fronted the team's early marketing. Many assumed the name came from his Bandit films, but the managing owner said it came from his daughter's German Shepherd.

Which Mississippi Valley State receiver was the top pick of the 1985 USFL draft but signed with the NFL instead?

Jerry Rice chose the San Francisco 49ers, who took him in the first round. Only one of the four top overall picks in USFL draft history ever played in the league.

Which BYU quarterback signed a 10-year, $40 million contract with the USFL's Los Angeles Express in 1984?

Steve Young agreed to take the record deal as an annuity paid out over forty years to help the struggling team. The Express collapsed anyway, and he left for the NFL after 1985.

Which Georgia running back, the 1982 Heisman winner, left college early to sign with the USFL's New Jersey Generals?

Herschel Walker's signing broke the league's own ban on underclassmen, a rule officials doubted would survive in court. He ran for 5,562 yards in three USFL seasons.

Which University of Miami quarterback threw 44 touchdown passes as a Houston Gamblers rookie and won the 1984 USFL MVP?

Jim Kelly had turned down the Buffalo Bills to play indoors in Houston. When the USFL folded he joined the Bills after all and took them to four straight Super Bowls.

Which future Philadelphia Eagles defensive end began his pro career in 1984 with the USFL's Memphis Showboats?

Reggie White piled up 23.5 sacks in two seasons in Tennessee, his college state. Counting those, his 221.5 career sacks are the most in professional football.

Which former Buccaneers quarterback joined the USFL's Oklahoma Outlaws in 1984 and was later named Super Bowl MVP?

Doug Williams had sat out a year before signing with the Outlaws. Back in the NFL with Washington, he threw four touchdown passes in one quarter of Super Bowl XXII.

Which Boston College quarterback, the 1984 Heisman winner, signed with the USFL's New Jersey Generals in 1985?

Doug Flutie's deal was reported at $7 million over five years. Because he had already signed, the NFL draft passed on him until the 285th pick, in the 11th round.

Which future national champion college coach got his first head-coaching job with the USFL's Tampa Bay Bandits?

Steve Spurrier was 37 when hired, the youngest head coach in pro football, and his wide-open Bandit Ball offense produced three winning seasons and two playoff trips.

Which NFL rushing great was offered $2 million a year by the USFL's Chicago Blitz in 1984, a deal later withdrawn?

Walter Payton was still weighing what would have been football's richest contract when the Blitz pulled the offer. The club had realized it did not have the money.

Which future Buffalo Bills head coach led the USFL's Chicago Blitz in 1984, his only season in the league?

Marv Levy went 5-13 with the Blitz. Two years later he took over the Bills and coached them to four consecutive Super Bowls, a record streak that ended in four defeats.

Which NFL coaching great nearly joined the USFL's New Jersey Generals in 1983 before talks stalled over an apartment?

Don Shula was open to leaving the Miami Dolphins but insisted on a rent-free apartment. He broke off talks in fury after the Generals' owner aired the snag in public.

Which rival spring league, co-owned by Dwayne Johnson, merged with the USFL to form the United Football League?

XFL and USFL owners announced the deal in September 2023. The combined league kicked off on March 30, 2024, with each old league surviving as a conference.

Which broadcaster owned the revived USFL that kicked off in 2022 and aired many of its games?

Fox Sports started as a minority partner of league founder Brian Woods and took sole ownership by 2023, reportedly committing at least $150 million over three years.

Which Ohio city hosted the championship games of the revived USFL in both 2022 and 2023?

Canton first got the playoffs because the league's regular-season hub was busy with the 2022 World Games. The title game came back to Hall of Fame Stadium a year later.

Which Florida city's support for the USFL's Bulls helped it land an NFL expansion team in the 1990s?

Jacksonville packed the Gator Bowl for the Bulls, and many experts say the NFL would not have considered awarding the city the Jaguars in 1993 without that success.

Which scoring play, borrowed from college football, did the USFL allow a decade before the NFL adopted it in 1994?

Two-point conversion tries were then allowed in only one other pro league, Canada's CFL. The USFL rulebook was a hybrid of the NFL's and the college game's.

Which cost control did the USFL's founding plan include, years before the NFL adopted one in 1994?

A salary cap of $1.8 million per team was in the plan, but it was never hard, and bidding wars for stars pushed nearly every payroll past it within 18 months.

Which NFL commissioner was in charge when the USFL took the older league to court in 1986?

Pete Rozelle was devastated on first hearing that the jury had found the NFL an illegal monopoly. He headed back to the courthouse on learning the USFL had lost nearly every other claim.

Which team, coached by Skip Holtz, won both championship games of the revived USFL in 2022 and 2023?

Birmingham Stallions players had a home crowd throughout 2022, when every regular-season game was staged in their city. They went on to win the first UFL title in 2024.

Which team beat the Philadelphia Stars 24-22 to win the first USFL championship game in July 1983?

Michigan Panthers ownership spent on NFL veterans after a 1-4 start. The team took the title while reportedly losing $6 million, three times what the league's founder had budgeted.

The champion Philadelphia Stars moved to which city for 1985, hoping to replace an NFL team that had just left?

Baltimore had lost the Colts in March 1984, but baseball's Orioles blocked use of the city's stadium, so the Stars played their home games 29 miles away in College Park.

What officiating tool did the USFL introduce in 1985, a year before the NFL first tried its own version?

Instant replay challenges in the USFL worked almost exactly like today's NFL system. The older league's first version of 1986 took a different form and was dropped after 1991.

A USFL head coach cut running back De'Veon Smith in 2022 after he asked for which food instead of chicken salad?

Pizza was the lunch request, judged a breach of team protocol. The clip, shot for the league's documentary series, stirred controversy before the first game was played.

Which Nebraska running back, the 1983 Heisman winner, was the only No. 1 USFL draft pick to play in the league?

Mike Rozier went first in 1984 and spent two seasons in the USFL before joining the Houston Oilers. The league's three other top picks all ended up in the NFL instead.

Chet Simmons left the presidency of which fledgling cable network to become the USFL's first commissioner in 1982?

ESPN was not yet three years old; Simmons had overseen its launch and the creation of SportsCenter. The network then became one of the USFL's two television partners.

Which New Orleans businessman, a force behind the Saints and the Superdome, conceived the USFL as a spring league?

David Dixon first floated the idea in 1965 and spent years studying earlier challengers to the NFL. He sold his stake after one season, dismayed by the owners' runaway spending.

Which Hall of Fame coach, who took Washington to Super Bowl VII, led the Arizona Wranglers to the 1984 USFL title game?

George Allen had built the Chicago Blitz in 1983, then moved with most of that roster to Arizona when the two franchises were swapped. His Wranglers lost the final 23-3.

Which coach took the USFL's Stars franchise to all three league title games before leading the New Orleans Saints?

Jim Mora won two of those three finals and went 48-13-1 with the Stars. Six months after the last title, the Saints made him their head coach.

Which Louisiana quarterback, nicknamed the Cajun Cannon, was MVP of the first USFL championship game in 1983?

Bobby Hebert threw a 48-yard touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter that decided the final. He later gave the New Orleans Saints their first winning season.

Which North Carolina running back was named USFL MVP in 1983 as a Philadelphia Stars rookie?

Kelvin Bryant ran for 1,440 yards and 16 touchdowns that first season. He was also MVP of the league's last title game in 1985 before joining Washington in the NFL.

Which 5-foot-9 linebacker, once cut by the Browns, became the defensive leader of the USFL's Philadelphia Stars?

Sam Mills was dubbed the Field Mouse for his speed among far bigger men. He went on to star for the New Orleans Saints and entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2022.

Which Cleveland Browns quarterback, the NFL's MVP in 1980, jumped to the USFL's New Jersey Generals in 1984?

Brian Sipe angered Browns management by negotiating with the Generals during the 1983 season. He played one year in New Jersey and finished his career with a second USFL club.

Which NFL team owner testified for the USFL against his own league and was left out of the 1986 antitrust suit?

Al Davis, owner of the Los Angeles Raiders, was a major witness for the upstart league. In exchange, his was the only one of the NFL's 28 teams not named as a defendant.

Which original USFL team drew the league's biggest crowds in 1983 and was the only club to turn a profit that year?

Denver Gold owner Ron Blanding kept to a bare-bones budget while rivals chased stars. Unwilling to join the spending, he sold the team for $10 million in 1984.

Which USFL team played in a different city in each of its three seasons: Boston, New Orleans and Portland?

Breakers ownership left Boston because the only stadium it could lease held just 21,000. The team then quit New Orleans rather than face the Saints once the league chose fall play.

Which one-season USFL team was owned by the father of San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr.?

Pittsburgh Maulers owner Edward DeBartolo Sr., a shopping-mall magnate, folded the club after a 3-15 season rather than compete with the Steelers in the fall.

Which pass-heavy offense, built around four wide receivers, did the Houston Gamblers showcase in the USFL in 1984?

Run and shoot receivers Richard Johnson and Ricky Sanders caught 115 and 101 passes that year under offensive coordinator Mouse Davis.

Which weekly time slot, then unused by the NFL, was set aside for a televised USFL game in fall 1986?

Sunday nights were open because the NFL did not yet play then. The USFL season never happened, and a year later the NFL and a cable partner launched Sunday Night Football in that slot.

Which venue, home of the New Jersey Generals, hosted the last USFL championship game in 1985?

Giants Stadium got the game only after the planned host, the Pontiac Silverdome, lost its home team in a merger. For Generals games the venue was billed as The Meadowlands.

Which Philadelphia Stars punter became the last USFL veteran still active in the NFL, retiring in 2008?

Sean Landeta won two Super Bowls after the league folded and stayed in the NFL into his forties. He announced his retirement on the 25th anniversary of the first USFL game.

Which TCU return specialist was MVP of the revived USFL's first season and then made the Pro Bowl with Dallas?

KaVontae Turpin had been playing in Poland a year earlier. He joined the New Jersey Generals as a 13th-round pick and was a Cowboys Pro Bowler by that December.

Which former Dallas Cowboys fullback, a three-time Super Bowl winner, ran football operations for the revived USFL?

Daryl Johnston had held front-office jobs in two earlier spring leagues. After the 2023 merger he went on running football operations for the United Football League.

Which Hall of Fame Miami Dolphins fullback fronted a 2022 lawsuit to stop the new USFL using the old league's name?

Larry Csonka sued as a former general manager of an original USFL team. Two days before kickoff a judge refused to block the new league, ruling that any harm could be repaid in money.

Which former Tennessee Titans and Rams head coach returned to the sidelines with a USFL team in 2022?

Jeff Fisher took his first head-coaching job in six years, went 2-8 and resigned after one season. A complaint of his led the league to relax one of its scoring rules in midseason.

What did the revived USFL replace with ball-tracking technology that its broadcasters nicknamed Firsty?

The chain crew gave way to a microchip in each ball that judged first downs. Critics noted the system's margin of error was about the full length of the football.

Which Texas city's USFL team ran its front office from a double-wide trailer and left players unpaid for four games?

San Antonio Gunslingers owner Clinton Manges paid bills out of pocket as they arose, until the oil market collapsed in 1985 and the team's checks began to bounce.

Which ABC sportscaster, a longtime voice of Monday Night Football, was a key USFL witness at the 1986 antitrust trial?

Howard Cosell took the stand for the upstart league, whose spring games his own network had televised since 1983.