Boston Herald, June 18, 1985
After three years of overachieving on the field, attendance woes, and uncertain stadium options, the USFL’s Boston Breakers are preparing to set sail for sunnier shores. The USFL announced today that the franchise has been sold to a consortium led by league founder David Dixon and New Orleans developer Joseph Canizaro, and that the franchise will begin play as the New Orleans Breakers in the Spring of 1986. For those who have been following the plight of the Breakers over these past three years the news is neither unexpected nor shocking.
For their entire three-year stint in Boston, the Breakers have been one of the USFL’s more problematic franchises. Underfinanced, underappreciated, and suffering from stadium envy for their entire existence, the Breakers just could not catch a break. Since the awarding of a franchise to Boston, owner George Matthews has struggled to match the spending and the signings of many other franchises. At the same time he has hit roadblock after roadblock in his attempts to obtain a contract to play at either of the region’s premier stadiums, either Boston College’s Alumni Stadium or the NFL Patriots’ Foxboro Stadium. Forced at first to play at BU’s tiny Nickerson Field (22,000), and the past two years at venerable (a nice word for old and outdated) Harvard Stadium (33,000), the Breakers have found it very difficult to break even. Despite these challenges, the Breakers have had some success on the field. Led by lesser known, lower cost talent such as former QB Johnnie Walton, RB Richard Crump, and LB Marcus Marek, the Breakers were 10-6 and just barely missed the playoffs in 1983 and in 1984 the 9-7 Breakers qualified as a Wild Card team. This season, with an erratic combination of Tony Eason and Matt Robinson at quarterback, the Breakers have struggled to a 6-8 record, with 2 games left, and may still make the playoffs again as a wildcard. But the on-field trials of the Breakers have not been the real story of this team, it has been in the ledgers and financial records that the true drama has developed.
With the sale of the Breakers, Boston loses out on the prospect of year-round football. New Orleans is rolling out the red carpet, and more importantly a favorable rental agreement for their premier football facility, the Super Dome. Rather than trying to encourage fans to sit on the cold metal bleachers of either Nickerson or Harvard Stadium on a windy, rainswept March day, the Breakers will have the much easier task of attracting fans to the air-conditioned comfort of a true pro football mecca, home to several Super Bowls and the NFL Saints. Rather than compete for attention not only with their rival NFL team, but also with the revered Red Sox, celebrated Celtics, and historic Bruins, the Breakers will now have the spring sports season entirely to themselves, and in a region of the country where football really is king.
And so, after three exciting but difficult years, Boston will bid farewell to its USFL Breakers and to spring football. Unlike Chicago, there is no guarantee that the league will return to our city, and based on the issues encountered with the Breakers, the prospect seems unlikely. And so we say to Dick Coury and the players who will still play for Boston these next few weeks, Good Luck and “Laissez les bon temps roullez”. Some of us will miss you, but we wish you well in the Big Easy.
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