One of the most ambitious (and short-lived) endeavors in professional sports history, the United States Football League was founded in 1982. Premiering with a spring schedule and an abundance of talent that included top rookies and National Football League veterans, the USFL gained national attention with broadcast and cable television contracts, controversial player signings, ownership battles and an unsuccessful billion-dollar lawsuit against the NFL. The USFL folded after four years yet represented the last major challenge to America’s big four sports leagues—the NFL, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball. Based upon extensive research and interviews with owners, coaches, players and administrators, this book chronicles the league’s formation, its three seasons of play and its long-term effects on pro sports.

Paul Reeths, a web developer from Appleton, Wisconsin, founded OurSports Central, the web’s largest resource of minor league sports news, along with the Internet’s original USFL website.

Paul Reeths
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 428
Bibliographic Info: 60 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2017
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6744-7
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2773-1
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Foreword by Steve Ehrhart  1

Preface  4

1: A New Competitor  7

2: Football’s Spring Debut  77

3: Success at a Price  117

4: Bigger and Better  181

5: After a Big Season, a New Course  233

6: Strong Play but Mounting Problems  284

7: A Long Wait for the Fall  332

8: A Trial and Tribulations  350

9: The Last of Its Kind  375

Bibliography  401

Index  405