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==Competition vs. NFL== ===The Dixon plan vs. building a league of stars=== At first the USFL competed with the older, more established [[National Football League]] by following the Dixon plan. The plan allowed the league to compete not just by playing its games on a March–June schedule during the NFL off-season, but also by having the following conditions: * Teams play in large, NFL-caliber stadiums. * Teams plan for large year 1 pre-season promotional budgets to introduce the team to the local market. * A tight players' salary cap of $1.8 million per team (the NFL introduced a salary cap in 1994). * A territorial draft, to better stock teams with familiar local collegiate stars to help the gate (similar to the proposed [[All-American Football League]] and used by the now-defunct [[Alliance of American Football]]). The Dixon plan laid out a budget to allow all teams to manage losses in the initial lean years. As mentioned earlier, prospective owners had to meet strict capitalization requirements and post a $1.3 million line of credit for emergencies. The league's TV revenue met the requirements of the Dixon plan. The Plan called for first year attendance over 18,000 per game. In 1983, 10 of the 12 teams exceeded that threshold. Player spending was where the league deviated from the plan, in the name of pursuing stars. The league's biggest splash—the signing of Herschel Walker, a three time All-American and the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner—represented a significant breach from the Dixon Plan. Like the NFL, the USFL barred [[Underclassman (student)|underclassmen]] from signing. However, league officials were certain that this rule would never stand up in court, so they allowed Walker to sign with the [[New Jersey Generals]]. More importantly, Walker signed a three-year contract valued at $4.2 million with a $1 million signing bonus. Due to the USFL's salary cap rules, this was a personal-services contract with Generals owner J. Walter Duncan, and not a standard player contract. Nonetheless, the other owners did not raise any objections, knowing that having the reigning Heisman winner in the fold would lend the league instant credibility. Other marquee stars to sign with the league were [[Craig James (running back)|Craig James]], [[Anthony Carter (American football)|Anthony Carter]] and [[Kelvin Bryant]] as well as some familiar NFL vets like [[Chuck Fusina]] and members of the NFL vet laden [[Chicago Blitz]], like [[Greg Landry]], showed that the upstart league was a credible challenger to the NFL. The league also made a serious run at some other stars, such as [[Eric Dickerson]] and [[Dan Marino]]. The pursuit of top-level talent proved to be a double-edged sword. While the presence of many blue-chip stars proved the league could put a competitive product on the field, many teams wildly exceeded the league's player salary cap in order to put more competitive teams on the field. For instance, the Michigan Panthers reportedly lost $6 million—three times what Dixon suggested a team could afford to lose in the first season—even as they became the league's first champions. The desire to compete with other loaded USFL teams and for the league to be seen as approaching NFL caliber led to almost all of the teams exceeding the Dixon Plan's team salary cap amount within the league's first 6–18 months. Dixon urged the members of the league to reduce spending. Rather than backing off spending, recommitting to a firmer salary cap, and dispersing some of the larger contracts to expansion teams to alleviate the problem, the league sought other options to take on revenue to cover increased costs overruns. These actions magnified the problem. The league added six more teams in 1984 rather than the four initially envisioned by Dixon, to pocket two more expansion fees. This put more pressure on the TV deal, which was not designed to support an 18 team league. A frustrated Dixon sold his stake and got out. Additionally, the league was so determined to appear to put a credible product on the field that on some occasions, it set aside its own vetting procedures–all of which backfired disastrously. When Diethrich sold the Blitz to Hoffman in order to clear the way for his purchase of the Wranglers before the 1984 season, they did not take a close look at Hoffman's financial statements. Realizing he was in over his head, Hoffman was forced to scramble to find minority partners. When there were no takers, he walked away from the team after the second preseason game, forcing the league to take over the team.<ref name=Reeths>{{cite book|title=The United States Football League, 1982–1986|last=Reeths|first=Paul|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|date=2017|isbn=978-1476667447}}</ref><ref name=Buck>{{cite book|title=Football For A Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL|last=Pearlman|first=Jeff|author-link=Jeff Pearlman|publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]]|date=2018|isbn=978-0544454385}}</ref> In San Antonio, the league was so enamored at Manges' apparent oil wealth that it not only did not closely vet his application, but did not require him to make an initial capital investment. Instead, Manges paid team expenses out of pocket as they arose, resulting in an operation that appeared short of professional standards. The Gunslingers' offices were in a double-wide trailer, and they used folding chairs to bring [[Alamo Stadium]] up to minimum capacity. Manges' practices caught up with him in 1985, when the oil market collapsed. The result was a litany of bounced checks, culminating in the team going the last four games without pay.<ref name=Reeths/><ref name=Buck/> It later emerged that Manges had been in financial difficulty as early as 1980. The worst situation of all, however, was in Los Angeles. Original owners Alan Harmon and Bill Daniels sold the Express to mortgage banker J. William Oldenburg before the 1984 season. Swayed by Oldenburg's apparent net worth of $100 million, the USFL took his word as evidence that he would be a solid owner for one of its marquee franchises. However, in June 1984, investigations by the FBI, ''[[The New York Times]]'' and ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' revealed that the man who made waves by signing a roster of high-priced young talent did not have even a fraction of the money to buy the team. He abruptly walked away from the team during the playoffs. Gamblers minority owner Jay Roulier took over the team in October, only to be pushed out just months later when it emerged that he too had lied about his net worth. The league was forced to run the team on a shoestring that season.<ref name=Reeths/><ref name=Buck/> With the new wave of teams, more college stars like [[Marcus Dupree]], [[Mike Rozier]], [[Reggie White]], [[Jim Kelly]], [[Steve Young (American football)|Steve Young]] and other young stars of the day signed high dollar contracts to play for USFL teams in 1984, as did high-profile NFL stars like [[Doug Williams (quarterback)|Doug Williams]], [[Brian Sipe]], [[Joe Cribbs]], and [[Gary Barbaro]]. ===Spring schedule vs. fall schedule=== In 1984, the league began discussing the possibility of competing head-to-head with the NFL by playing its games in the fall beginning in 1986. The strongest proponents of playing in the fall were Chicago owner [[Eddie Einhorn]] and Generals owner Donald Trump. Einhorn and Trump argued that if the USFL moved to the fall, it would eventually force a merger with the NFL in which the older league would have to admit at least some USFL teams. They also argued that if a merger did occur, the surviving teams' original investment would more than double. A consulting firm recommended sticking with a spring season. Despite the protests of many of the league's "old guard", who wanted to stay with the original plan of playing football in the spring months, on August 22, 1984, the owners voted to move to the fall starting in 1986.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/23/sports/usfl-votes-to-switch-to-playing-fall-schedule.html|title=U.S.F.L. Votes to Switch to Playing Fall Schedule|first=Gerald|last=Eskenazi|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 23, 1984|access-date=March 3, 2019|archive-date=February 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190218202018/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/23/sports/usfl-votes-to-switch-to-playing-fall-schedule.html|url-status=live}}</ref> On April 29, 1985, the league's owners voted 13–2 to reaffirm their decision to begin playing a fall season in 1986. Tampa Bay Bandits owner [[John F. Bassett]], who had registered one of the two "nay" votes, declared his intention to pull his team out of the USFL and organize a new spring football league.<ref name="mizell">{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4R5RAAAAIBAJ&dq=john-bassett%20bandits&pg=3946%2C6765755 | title=By its own hand, USFL will fall into oblivion | work=St. Petersburg Times | date=30 April 1985 | access-date=1 March 2014 | author=Mizell, Hubert | pages=1C | archive-date=March 22, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322100044/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4R5RAAAAIBAJ&dq=john-bassett%20bandits&pg=3946%2C6765755 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4R5RAAAAIBAJ&dq=john-bassett+bandits&pg=6235,6592417|title=St. Petersburg Times|via=Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com|access-date=August 13, 2021|archive-date=August 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813221437/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4R5RAAAAIBAJ&dq=john-bassett+bandits&pg=6235,6592417|url-status=live}}</ref> However, failing health (he died from cancer in May 1986) forced Bassett to abandon his plans and sell the Bandits to minor partner Lee Scarfone, who agreed to keep the franchise in the USFL.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nbxOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zvsDAAAAIBAJ&dq=bassett%20bandits%20scarfone&pg=2874%2C161217 Lakeland Ledger] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119120931/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nbxOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zvsDAAAAIBAJ&dq=bassett%20bandits%20scarfone&pg=2874%2C161217 |date=November 19, 2015 }} (via Google News Archive Search)</ref> The spring advocates had lost, and the fall advocates now set their sights on forcing a merger with the NFL, or at the very least winning a sizable settlement and securing a TV network for fall broadcasts. As a direct result of this decision, the Pittsburgh Maulers folded rather than compete with the [[Pittsburgh Steelers]], the sale of the struggling Washington Federals to Weiser's Miami-based ownership group collapsed, the New Orleans Breakers and 1984 champion Philadelphia Stars had to relocate, and the 1983 champion Michigan Panthers surprised the commissioner with an announcement that they would not be playing in the Detroit area for the 1985 season. Panthers owner [[A. Alfred Taubman]] informed the league at the meeting that he had negotiated a conditional merger with Tad Taube's Oakland Invaders depending on the outcome of the vote, with Taubman as majority owner. With an expectation of fall play in 1986, Einhorn decided not to field a team for the final [[wikt:lame duck|lame duck]] spring 1985 season. Within a few weeks of the decision, the USFL had been forced to abandon four lucrative markets, abort a move to a fifth and suspend operations in a sixth. In hindsight, this destroyed the USFL's viability, although the Maulers folding likely would've happened anyway due to the team being owned by [[shopping mall]] magnate [[Edward J. DeBartolo Sr.]] (who also owned the [[National Hockey League]]'s [[Pittsburgh Penguins]] at the time), whose son [[Edward J. DeBartolo Jr.]] owned the [[Super Bowl XIX|Super Bowl]] champion [[San Francisco 49ers]] (a team now owned by his sister [[Denise DeBartolo York]]), causing a potential [[conflict of interest]] for the family between the USFL and the NFL.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/23/sports/nfl-sees-conflict-in-bid-by-debartolo.html|title=N.f.l. Sees Conflict in Bid by Debartolo|first1=Michael|last1=Janofsky|newspaper=The New York Times|date=23 March 1983|access-date=February 9, 2018|archive-date=October 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018013437/http://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/23/sports/nfl-sees-conflict-in-bid-by-debartolo.html|url-status=live}}</ref> ABC offered the USFL a 4-year, $175 million TV deal to play in the spring in 1986. ESPN offered $70 million over 3 years. Following all the mergers and shutdowns, there just were not enough spring football advocates left in the league to accept those contracts. The owners in the league walked away from what averaged out to $67 million per year starting in 1986 to pursue victory over the NFL.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} After the 1985 season, more plans were announced to accommodate the fall schedule, pool financial resources and avoid costly head-to-head competition with NFL teams. Two mergers were announced. The Denver Gold merged with the Jacksonville Bulls, with the Bulls as the surviving team. Trump bought the assets of the Houston Gamblers for an undisclosed amount and merged them with the New Jersey Generals. While the Generals were the surviving team, Gamblers coach [[Jack Pardee]] was named as the merged team's new coach. Both the Gold and Gamblers had seen their attendance plummet to unsustainable levels, as their fanbases were not willing to abandon the [[Denver Broncos]] and [[Houston Oilers]], respectively. In spite of all of these changes, the USFL would never play a fall game. ===''USFL v. NFL'' lawsuit=== In another effort to keep themselves afloat while at the same time attacking the more established [[National Football League]], the USFL filed an [[Competition law|antitrust]] [[lawsuit]] against the older league, claiming it had established a [[monopoly]] with respect to television broadcasting rights, and in some cases, on access to stadium venues. The case was first heard by United States District Judge [[Peter K. Leisure]] in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York]]. The USFL claimed that the NFL had bullied ABC, [[CBS]] and [[NBC]] into not televising USFL games in the fall. It also claimed that the NFL had a specific plan to eliminate the USFL, the "Porter Presentation." In particular, the USFL claimed the NFL conspired to ruin the Invaders and Generals. The USFL sought [[damages]] of $567 million, which would have been [[Treble damages|tripled]] to $1.7 billion under [[United States antitrust law|antitrust law]]. It hoped to void the NFL's contracts with the three major networks. The USFL proposed two remedies: either force the NFL to negotiate new television contracts with only two networks, or force the NFL to split into two competing 14-team leagues, each limited to a contract with one major network. The lawyer for the USFL, Harvey Myerson, had what he felt were three "[[smoking gun]]s". # A memo from March 1973 to NFL broadcasting director Robert Cochran, from attorney Jay Moyer stating that an "open network" might be open to the "invitation to formation of a new league." # A memo from August 1983 from NFL management council executive director Jack Donlan to his staff. The memo laid out plans for NFL teams to "increase salary offers to USFL to existing players or run the risk of losing them." # A 1984 presentation to NFL executives by Harvard Business School professor [[Michael Porter]], which included a plan on "how to conquer" the United States Football League.<ref>{{cite news|last=Stock|first=Craig|title=USFL session offered only ideas, say consultants|website=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=May 28, 1986|url=http://articles.philly.com/1986-05-28/sports/26048860_1_presentation-porter-usfl|access-date=January 9, 2015|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042757/http://articles.philly.com/1986-05-28/sports/26048860_1_presentation-porter-usfl|url-status=dead}}</ref> All but one of the league's 28 teams was named as a co-defendant. [[Al Davis]], owner of the then-[[Los Angeles Raiders]], was a major witness for the USFL and his team had been excluded from the lawsuit in exchange for his testimony.<ref name=autogenerated1/> ABC Sports' [[Howard Cosell]] was also a key witness for the USFL. The case went to trial in the spring of 1986 and lasted 42 days. On July 29, a six-person [[jury]] nominally returned a verdict for the USFL. However, the jury's findings were devastating to the upstart league. The jury declared the NFL a "duly adjudicated illegal monopoly", and found that the NFL had willfully acquired and maintained monopoly status in professional football through predatory tactics. However, it rejected the USFL's other claims. The jury found that the USFL had changed its strategy to a more risky goal of forcing a merger with the NFL. Furthermore, the switch to a fall schedule caused the loss of six major markets (Philadelphia, Denver, Houston, Pittsburgh, [[Detroit]], the Bay Area) and derailed a move to a seventh (Miami). The jury also made note of a memo Tad Taube wrote about the dispute, which quoted the comic strip ''[[Pogo (comic strip)|Pogo]]'': "[[we have met the enemy and he is us]]." Most importantly, the jury found that the NFL did not attempt to force the USFL off television. (Indeed, ESPN remained willing to carry USFL games in the fall,<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19860805&id=o3dIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=f2ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=3524,4438904&hl=en ESPN, minus USFL, has 66 hours to fill] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160301161711/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19860805&id=o3dIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=f2ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=3524,4438904&hl=en |date=March 1, 2016 }}. Associated Press via St. Petersburg Times (August 5, 1986). Retrieved January 23, 2016.</ref> several of the league's teams also had local broadcast contracts, and 1986 also happened to be the inaugural season of the [[Fox Broadcasting Company]], a network that would establish itself as the nation's [[fourth television network|fourth major broadcast network]].) In essence, the jury felt that while the USFL was harmed by the NFL's [[de facto]] [[monopolization]] of pro football in the United States, most of its problems were due to its own mismanagement. It awarded the USFL [[nominal damages]] of $1, which was tripled under antitrust law to $3.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hoffer|first=Richard|title=USFL Awarded Only $3 in Antitrust Decision : Jury Finds NFL Guilty on One of Nine Counts|website=Los Angeles Times|date=July 30, 1986|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-07-30-sp-18643-story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210329074023/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-07-30-sp-18643-story.html|archive-date=29 Mar 2021}}</ref> When NFL commissioner [[Pete Rozelle]] and NFL broadcasting chief [[Val Pinchbeck]] initially heard the verdict, they were devastated; Pinchbeck later recalled that he thought Rozelle would have a heart attack. While on their way to the league office, however, they heard that the USFL had lost nearly all of its claims, and headed back to the courthouse.<ref name=Reeths/> The verdict was a classic [[Pyrrhic victory]]. The USFL had essentially staked its future on winning the suit, hoping to finance the move to the fall by forcing the NFL to pay a substantial settlement. It considered the television-related claims to be the heart of its case. On August 4—four days after the announcement of the verdict—the USFL owners voted to suspend operations for the 1986 season, with the intent of returning in 1987; the league accurately foresaw the [[1987 NFL season|1987 players' strike]] and had hoped the strike would give the league access to star players.<ref name=sptimes86/> Players signed to contracts were free to sign with NFL (or other professional teams) immediately. Indeed, the NFL had held a draft in 1984 for teams to acquire the rights to USFL players, in the event of the league (or teams in the league) folding.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.espn.com/30for30/film?page=small-potatoes-who-killed-the-usfl|title=Small Potatoes: Who killed the USFL? ESPN Films: 30 for 30|website=www.espn.com|access-date=July 30, 2017|archive-date=July 31, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731023437/http://www.espn.com/30for30/film?page=small-potatoes-who-killed-the-usfl|url-status=live}}</ref> However, it is unlikely the USFL would have been able to put together a viable product in any case. Many of its players had signed contracts with NFL teams after the 1985 season, and the league was some $160 million in debt. Five days after the verdict, the Tampa Bay Bandits were effectively shut down when a judge placed a [[lien]] on the franchise to satisfy back pay owed to former player [[Bret Clark]]. All of the team's remaining assets were seized to satisfy the debt.<ref name=sptimes86>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=o3dIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=f2ADAAAAIBAJ&dq=bandits%20scarfone&pg=4973%2C4408827 ''St. Petersburg Times''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222144742/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=o3dIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=f2ADAAAAIBAJ&dq=bandits%20scarfone&pg=4973%2C4408827 |date=February 22, 2017 }} (via Google News Archive Search)</ref><ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9O4lAAAAIBAJ&sjid=K_MFAAAAIBAJ&dq=bandits%20bret-clark&pg=3098%2C205702 ''The Miami News'']{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (via Google News Archive Search)</ref> In a desperation move, the [[Arizona Outlaws]] arranged a meeting in January 1987 with officials with the [[Canadian Football League]] hoping to negotiate a merger between the USFL and CFL; the CFL's owners were "lukewarm" and ultimately rejected the offer.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3811251.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309194824/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3811251.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2016-03-09 |title=New football league hope slim // CFL 'lukewarm' to merger with the defunct USFL |work=Chicago Sun-Times |date=1987-02-18 |access-date=2012-07-04}}</ref> With nearly all of its players under contract to the NFL and CFL, Usher announced the league would stay shuttered in 1987 as well. (Many of the USFL players who were not under NFL contract would end up playing in fall 1987 as [[replacement player]]s during the strike.) The USFL unsuccessfully appealed the award to a panel of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]], which affirmed the district court's judgment in 1988. United States Circuit Judge [[Ralph K. Winter]] wrote the panel's opinion. This decision ended any chance of the USFL returning to the field, and the league's six remaining teams (the Outlaws had already decided not to return) voted to formally disband shortly afterward. However, because the USFL was at least nominally the winner of the lawsuit, the NFL was required to cover the USFL's [[attorney fees]] and costs of litigation, and the USFL was awarded over $5.5 million in attorney fees and over $62,000 in court costs. That award was appealed by the NFL; it was affirmed on appeal and ultimately allowed to stand by the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] in 1990, four years after the USFL had ceased operations. The USFL finally received a check for $3.76 in damages in 1990, the additional 76¢ representing interest earned while litigation had continued. Notably, that check has never been cashed.<ref>{{cite news|last=Somers|first=Kent|title=Twenty years later, USFL still brings fond memories|newspaper=USA Today|date=August 7, 2006|url=https://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/2006-08-07-usfl-retrospective_x.htm|access-date=September 17, 2017|archive-date=October 23, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091023132501/http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/2006-08-07-usfl-retrospective_x.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> ===Aftermath=== The USFL had a significant impact on the NFL both on the field and off. Almost all of the USFL's on-field innovations were eventually adopted by the older league, and a multitude of star players in the USFL would go on to enjoy very successful careers in the National Football League. The NFL would also eventually have franchises in some of the USFL markets which had proved fertile for pro football or showed renewed interest in the game. Jacksonville, in particular, was being courted by the [[Houston Oilers]] as a potential relocation destination as early as 1987; that city eventually got the expansion [[Jacksonville Jaguars|Jaguars]] in 1995. The Oilers would instead relocate to Tennessee in 1997, playing temporarily for one season in Memphis (to minuscule crowds) before moving to [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]] to become the [[Tennessee Titans]]. Although the USFL's stay in Baltimore was brief, the city's acceptance of the Stars, coupled with the success of the [[Canadian Football League]]'s [[Baltimore Stallions]] a decade later, were factors in [[Art Modell]]'s decision to [[Cleveland Browns relocation controversy|relocate his Cleveland Browns NFL franchise to Baltimore]] to become the [[Baltimore Ravens]] in 1996. Phoenix was never one of the USFL's strongest markets but still managed to lure the former [[Arizona Cardinals|St. Louis Football Cardinals]] to take up residence in Arizona in 1988. Oakland saw the return of the [[History of the Oakland Raiders|Raiders]] to its city one decade after the demise of the USFL (the team [[Las Vegas Raiders|moved again]], to [[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]], in 2020). Other cities that did not get NFL franchises, such as Birmingham, Memphis, Orlando, and San Antonio, would receive teams in numerous short-lived or international pro football leagues in the years that have followed, such as the [[World League of American Football|WLAF]], [[Canadian Football League in the United States|CFL]], the [[XFL (2001)|first XFL]], [[United Football League (2009–12)|UFL]], and [[Alliance of American Football|AAF]]. The [[United States Football League (2022)|2022 revival of the USFL]] began with eight franchises that were in existence during the 1984 USFL season, including the [[Birmingham Stallions]]. Also, three decades after the USFL's failure, the NFL played the [[2017 Pro Bowl]] in Orlando. Outside the NFL, Tampa's embrace of Bandit Ball and the rapid growth of the Sun Belt prompted the establishment of other major league teams in the Tampa Bay area: the [[National Hockey League]]'s [[Tampa Bay Lightning|Lightning]] and [[Major League Baseball]]'s [[Tampa Bay Rays|Devil Rays]] (later renamed the Rays). The collapse of the USFL had a particularly positive effect on the NFL's [[Buffalo Bills]]. The Bills, as a small-market NFL franchise, were particularly hard-hit by the USFL; as its players from the moderately successful early 1980s era aged, the team was unable to find quality replacements for them on the free agent market, as the USFL was drawing away much of pro football's top talent (including Bills running back [[Joe Cribbs]] and the team's planned franchise quarterback of the future, [[Jim Kelly]]). With subpar talent, the Bills went 4–28 over the course of 1984 and 1985, and average attendance at [[Rich Stadium]] plummeted to under 30,000 fans per game, putting the team's long-term viability in jeopardy. When the USFL collapsed, the Bills signed a large number of former USFL players: Kelly, [[Kent Hull]], [[Ray Bentley]], special teams coach [[Bruce DeHaven]], general manager [[Bill Polian]] and coach [[Marv Levy]], which, combined with the high draft picks compiled during the USFL years, would allow the Bills to rise to perennial Super Bowl contenders by the early 1990s. In 2014, after founding owner [[Ralph Wilson]] died, Trump tried to purchase the Bills, but was largely rebuffed in favor of [[Terry Pegula]], who bid $400 million more for the team. In a 2015 interview with [[Sports Illustrated]], Trump claimed that if he had bought the Bills in 2014, he "probably would not be" running for [[President of the United States]] the following year.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/sports/did-donald-trumps-failed-nfl-ownership-bid-pave-the-way-for-his-presidency|last1=Chase|first1=Chris|title=Did Donald Trump's failed NFL ownership bid pave the way for his presidency?|date=9 November 2016|work=Fox News|access-date=5 October 2020|archive-date=October 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009035537/https://www.foxnews.com/sports/did-donald-trumps-failed-nfl-ownership-bid-pave-the-way-for-his-presidency|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="si-general-trump">{{cite magazine |last1=SI Staff |title=General Trump |magazine=Sports Illustrated |date=28 September 2015 |url=https://vault.si.com/vault/2015/09/28/general-trump |access-date=5 October 2020 |archive-date=October 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008081231/https://vault.si.com/vault/2015/09/28/general-trump |url-status=dead }}</ref> The league also had an indirect impact on the scheduling of televised football games. The USFL had planned to go against the NFL in the fall of 1986 without directly playing its games opposite the larger league by playing its games on Sunday nights, when the NFL did not play yet. One year later, ESPN and the NFL launched ''[[ESPN Sunday Night Football|Sunday Night Football]]'' in the time slot. The last player of the USFL on an NFL roster was [[Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars]] punter [[Sean Landeta]], who was signed in late [[1986 NFL season|1986]] by the [[New York Giants]]. He officially announced his retirement on March 6, 2008, the 25th anniversary of the first USFL game. (He last played in [[2006 NFL season|2006]] but he did not officially retire during the [[2007 NFL season|2007 season]].) The last non-kicker to retire was [[quarterback]] [[Doug Flutie]], who played in both the CFL and NFL until [[2005 NFL season|2005]].
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