Did Donald Trump really kill the USFL?

[Bryan]

I've read Jim Byrne's book about the USFL ($3 League I think it was called), and there was a great ESPN 30 for 30 on the USFL (which IIRC was actually called "The Man Who Killed The USFL" in regards to Trump)...with the recurring theme being that Donald Trump killed the USFL with his spending and by building up enough support to move the USFL from a spring league to a fall league.

A lot of great USFL footage has recently made its way to youtube, and I love watching the old games and highlight shows. I was especially impressed that the USFL thought they didn't have enough quality QBs in 1983, so in the offseason they acquired a ton of top QB prospect and ex-NFL guys. Pretty remarkable that in one offseason the USFL got guys like Steve Young, Jim Kelly, Brian Sipe, Doug Williams, Cliff Stoudt, etc.

Looking back on how the USFL played out, I think its wrong to credit/discredit Trump with killing the USFL. It seemed like the USFL was doomed from the start. The league's original plan to slowly build up rosters through the draft, relying on territorial collegiate stars to draw fans, etc. was immediately thrown out the window when George Allen signed several NFL players to large USFL contracts for the Chicago Blitz. After the 1983 season was underway and the Michigan Panthers got off to a slow start, owner Al Taubman basically signed the Pittsburgh Steelers' offensive line and the Panthers went on to win the title. The decision to add new owners and have a huge expansion for 1984 put further financial strain on the existing cash flow structure. The USFL owners either shouldn't have been owning teams in the first place because they didn't have enough money, or the owners who did have the money were spending wildly. I would guess that if Trump never enters the picture and the USFL remained a spring league, they would have crumbled under a huge mound of debt in either 1986 or 1987.

[Mark L. Ford]

Certainly, he didn't move them to a fall season all by himself. There were 17 other franchise owners who voted on that as well. And he wasn't alone in voting to expand the league by 50% after its first season. And it was J. Walter Duncan and Chuck Fairbanks who set the precedent for deficit spending by signing Herschel Walker to the Generals. However, the idea of sacrificing most of the league in order to force a merger was certainly Trump's idea, and he was able to persuade other businessmen that it was a good gamble.

If Trump had never bought the Generals, the league probably would have lasted two or three years longer than it did, but the TV ratings dropped after the first season after the novelty of spring football wore off. If Herschel Walker had never been signed, then I think the USFL would probably have operated into the early 1990s as a decent minor league.

[Mark L. Ford]

One more thing I'd like to add as we talk about Trump and the USFL-- it's tempting, of course, perhaps inevitable that this would stray into becoming a political discussion. It's a fine line, and I'm hoping people will avoid comments and jokes about the U.S. presidential race entirely. By the same token, we can talk about Whizzer White's time with the Detroit Lions without giving an opinion about his opinions in Supreme Court cases.

[Bryan]

And it was J. Walter Duncan and Chuck Fairbanks who set the precedent for deficit spending by signing Herschel Walker to the Generals.

True, but I think you could make financial sense of the Generals signing Walker. He was THE big name for the USFL, and he was a new player that could draw fans for several years. It would be like the AFL signing Joe Namath if Joe Namath was around in 1960. I think you could argue that Herschel Walker was seen as being the 'face' of the league. What Allen and the Blitz did had no positive financial impact...no one is going to shell out money or get excited about seeing Greg Landry, Eddie Brown & Stan White. They might help you win games, but the cost of their salaries are too high, IMO. I think that was the big difference between the AFL and the USFL...the USFL raided NFL rosters while the AFL drafted their own guys (for the most part).

[BD Sullivan]

In reality, Walker's signing meant nothing to the USFL, since whatever credibility was gained by having him in the league was lost by the fact that they went against their spoken pledge (from league commissioner Chet Simmons) of not signing underclassmen.

The actual title of the ESPN documentary was "Small Potatoes," based on Trump's own attitude that his failure there was "small potatoes."

The league had the chance in the spring of 1985 to sign a fair ($150 million, I think) TV deal with ABC/ESPN that could have kept most of the teams afloat, but once the move to the fall was announced, that went down the tubes. Another problem was that one of the league's most responsible owners, John Bassett of Tampa Bay, developed a brain tumor about the time the shift was being debated, and died the following year.

The problem in Los Angeles was that their owner tried to out-Trump Trump in 1984 by signing every top draft pick he could. The indifferent Southern California market just yawned and he ended up taking a bath and essentially bailing out of the league.

[single wing]

Really the first huge mistake was expanding from 12 to 18 teams after year one. Overall all the first year was successful in many ways but some of the teams needed solutions to problems. Boston Breakers had no where to play that made sense. Washington Federals were pitiful so attendance fell off by mid-season. Arizona was underfunded and the owner was not committed to the city. The league should have focused on fixing the problems of the weaker teams. However they choose to expand by 6 teams which only created more problems. While Memphis and Jacksonville were somewhat a success as expansion teams it would have been far better if Boston or perhaps Washington had moved to those locations. San Antonio, Oklahoma,Pittsburgh, and even Houston struggled while the Breakers, Feds, and Chicago because of the team transfer remained in trouble . Thus during year two the league went from 3 potential weak teams to many. Trump actions were the final death by trying to go to the fall. Had Trump never bought in the league would have at least gone on a couple more years with the tv deal.

[BD Sullivan]

Really the first huge mistake was expanding from 12 to 18 teams after year one. Overall all the first year was successful in many ways but some of the teams needed solutions to problems. Boston Breakers had no where to play that made sense. Washington Federals were pitiful so attendance fell off by mid-season. Arizona was underfunded and the owner was not committed to the city. The league should have focused on fixing the problems of the weaker teams. However they choose to expand by 6 teams which only created more problems. While Memphis and Jacksonville were somewhat a success as expansion teams it would have been far better if Boston or perhaps Washington had moved to those locations. San Antonio, Oklahoma,Pittsburgh, and even Houston struggled while the Breakers, Feds, and Chicago because of the team transfer remained in trouble . Thus during year two the league went from 3 potential weak teams to many. Trump actions were the final death by trying to go to the fall. Had Trump never bought in the league would have at least gone on a couple more years with the tv deal.

I think Dick Coury deserved a shot as an NFL coach after coaching the Breakers all three years when they bounced from Boston to New Orleans to Portland. Yes, they declined each year (11-7, 8-10, 6-12), but considering they worked on a perpetual shoestring, it was still a strong effort. The best he could do was as OC for Dick McPherson with the Pats in 1991-92 and with Jack Pardee in his partial final year with the Oilers in '94. Jeff Fisher revamped the staff after the season.

[Gary Najman]

I believe that the 1984 owners in Los Angeles, Chicago and San Antonio were also responsible for the USFL demise. ABC had demanded teams in NY/NJ, LA and Chicago, but only New Jersey succeed somewhat thanks to Herschel Walker. San Antonio owner Clinton Manges "helped" the league to ressemble the WFL, with no paying the players and its office in a trailer in the parking lot of Alamo Stadium.

[JohnTurney]

[BD Sullivan]

Well, they did win a lot (25-11) and people DID get tired of it.