DBWI: No NFL/USFL Merger?

Just watched the Super Bowl and the New Jersey Generals are the Super Bowl champs. Again!!! (What do you expect when Donald Trump owns the team?)

How appropriate as tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of the merger between the NFL and USFL.

I just cannot imagine what would happen to the USFL if the merger never took place.
 
OOC: If the USFL and NFL had merged the Generals would have been gone, the Giants wouldn't have allowed another additional NFL team to play in their stadium. The Generals would have had to move. They would have taken the best 4 teams, at most. Every one else would have been folded. The most likely franchises would have been the Generals, the Arizona Outlaws, Jacksonville Bulls and the Memphis Showboats.
 
I can't even imagine Jim Kelly playing for anyone but the Houston Gamblers. Steve Young playing for the LA Express also seems too perfect. And if the Baltimore Stars weren't there would the city of Baltimore STILL not have a football team?
 
Considering that the NFL has a consistent pattern in its history of absorbing every competing league by money or by force (AAFC, AFL) I can't imagine that the USFL would've been able to buck the overture for a merger without consequence. Maybe a lawsuit. The NFL, as much as I love it, doesn't like competition in the States.

That said, USFL-NFL merger was almost too good to not happen as it gave the NFL immediate access to a lot of upper-mid sized geographical markets without having to spend that much money comparatively speaking. Arizona, Jacksonville, and Memphis namely.
 
Considering that the NFL has a consistent pattern in its history of absorbing every competing league by money or by force (AAFC, AFL) I can't imagine that the USFL would've been able to buck the overture for a merger without consequence. Maybe a lawsuit. The NFL, as much as I love it, doesn't like competition in the States.

That said, USFL-NFL merger was almost too good to not happen as it gave the NFL immediate access to a lot of upper-mid sized geographical markets without having to spend that much money comparatively speaking. Arizona, Jacksonville, and Memphis namely.

Thats exactly why they would only have taken those three plus the Generals, who could have gone anywhere, I say Oakland, because it would be cool to have the Raiders move out of California.:D
 
What really helped, however, was the new NFL realignment that followed the absorption of the USFL's most successful teams into the NFL. I'm old enough to remember the old NFL-AFL merger, which pretended to keep the old league alignments intact as "conferences" in the new NFL. However, to create two equal-sized conferences, several old NFL teams such as the Baltimore(Indianapolis) Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers were exiled into the former AFL ("American Conference"), which really sucked. To this day, some old AFL fans (like me) still don't consider the Steelers, Browns, or Colts "real" American Conference teams.

This time, the NFL did things right. They took only the Outlaws, Bulls, Showboats, and Generals, and after one year, relocated the Generals to San Antonio. They then used this as the opportunity to completely reorganize the Divisions, eliminating such idiocy as the Dallas Cowboys being in the East.
 
OOC: Divisions

Just a thought I had about the hypothetical merger. Heres the set up I found to be the best.

AFC

East
New England Patriots
Buffalo Bills
New York Jets
Baltimore Generals

North
Indianapolis Colts
Cleveland Browns
Pittsburgh Steelers
Cincinnati Bengals

South
Miami Dolphins
Houston Oilers
Kansas City Chiefs
Jacksonville Bulls

West
Denver Broncos
Seattle Seahawks
San Diego Chargers
Los Angeles Raiders

NFC

East
Washington Redskins
Philadelphia Eagles
New York Giants
Atlanta Falcons

North
Green Bay Packers
Detroit Lions
Minnesota Vikings
Chicago Bears

South
Dallas Cowboys
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
New Orleans Saints
Memphis Showboats

West
San Francisco 49ers
Arizona Outlaws
Los Angeles Rams
Saint Louis Cardinals
 

OOC: Looks good, except they would keep the Cowboys in the East as not to split up those old rivalries.

IC:
So the question remains, who's the best ever Arizona Wranglers Quarterback? Doug Williams, the first black Quarterback to win a Superbowl AND the first black quarterback to throw for both 30 TD's and 4,000 yards or Phillip Rivers the 2 time Superbowl MVP?
 
OOC: Looks good, except they would keep the Cowboys in the East as not to split up those old rivalries.

IC:
So the question remains, who's the best ever Arizona Wranglers Quarterback? Doug Williams, the first black Quarterback to win a Superbowl AND the first black quarterback to throw for both 30 TD's and 4,000 yards or Phillip Rivers the 2 time Superbowl MVP?

OOC: I agree, but in IC someone stated the Cowboys were allocated to a new division.
 

FDW

Banned
OOC: If the USFL and NFL had merged the Generals would have been gone, the Giants wouldn't have allowed another additional NFL team to play in their stadium. The Generals would have had to move. They would have taken the best 4 teams, at most. Every one else would have been folded. The most likely franchises would have been the Generals, the Arizona Outlaws, Jacksonville Bulls and the Memphis Showboats.

OOC: I strongly think that USFL can get as many 10 teams in the NFL if it plays it's cards right, though I do think that 6-8 is more realistic. And there is a way to keep The Generals in Giants Stadium. (two actually)
 
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