USA Today, April 6, 1983
With four weeks of play in the books and better than expected attendance and television viewership, it appears that the idea of professional football in the spring was not as far-fetched as many had claimed. The fledgling USFL has shown over the past month that there is an appetite for more football once the Super Bowl is over, and that even with only a handful of nationally known names, the games can be high quality football and fun for fans.
The league has its issues, of course. Quarterbacking has been hit or miss, and some cities have embraced the experience more than others, but the overall reaction has been solid. Fans in cities such as Tampa, Denver, Birmingham and Detroit have come out strong for their teams, while some teams are struggling at the gate, either from stadium limitations—Boston plays in a 22,000 college stadium—or due to competition from other sports and good spring weather—the 0-4 LA Express are trailing all teams in attendance despite playing in one of the league’s largest stadiums, the cavernous LA Coliseum.
The next challenges for the league will be balancing the revenue across all teams, not just those whose winning records keep fans in the stands, and preparing for what appears to be a growing player war with the NFL. In the USFL’s first year the plan seems to have been to seek out NFL players who were marginal on most rosters, recent retirees or free agents. The biggest names in the league are not NFL vets, but rookies fresh out of college, such as the league’s marquee player, RB Herschel Walker, who came to the USFL after only 2 years at Georgia. He is not alone, of course, as potential NFL first rounders such as WRs Anthony Carter and Eric Truvillion also jumped to the new league.
The USFL is already talking expansion, with hopes of adding 2-6 new teams for 1984. This will bring added revenue through expansion fees and will also help fill in the national TV market for the league. But before they do that, they need to settle on their financial model, and a newly released revenue sharing plan aims to do just that. The USFL will split all television funds evenly across all franchises, and will go a step further, sharing a percentage of both merchandise and ticket revenue as well, essentially ensuring that a team like the LA Express who struggle at the box office are not severely hurt while another, like the New Jersey Generals rake in additional revenue with higher ticket prices. It is a daring plan, and one which might lead to greater franchise stability as the pressure to make local dollars will not be as high. Enforcing that each team will pull its weight to market and contribute to the shared pool will be the challenge going forward.
Another challenge will be player acquisition. With the NFL Draft coming in just a couple of weeks, USFL officials have been making open overtures to top NFL prospects. Those not signed already from the December USFL Draft are free agents at this point in USFL eyes, and each USFL franchise is doing their best to entice NFL prospects to consider the USFL if they are not pleased by their selection in the NFL Draft. With big noise coming from anticipated #1 pick John Elway about the unwanted prospect of being chosen by the Baltimore Colts, and rumblings that other players (and their agents) plan to use the USFL to bargain with the NFL, it is possible that we will see even more top prospects jump to the USFL in 1984 rather than play this fall for the NFL. With each team now allowed 3 players who do not count against the USFL’s salary cap (a rule most are calling the “Walker Rule” in honor of Herschel Walker’s signing by New Jersey), it is possible that teams could start to sign not only top rookie prospects but a few NFL vets as well, a prospect that clearly has the NFL worried.
All this and the league has only played 4 weeks. Perhaps it will all continue to come together, or perhaps there is trouble ahead for this spring phenomenon. Only time will tell. But, as first impressions go, the USFL has certainly made an resounding one.
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