Trump Things Never Change
Why 1986 Will Be Forever Known as “The Year That Donald Trump Destroyed the NFL”
By Keith Olbermann [1]
Sports Illustrated
A lot of people have pitchforks out for United States District Court Judge J. Frederick Motz of Maryland, who earlier this week rejected a motion for reconsideration and upheld a jury verdict awarding nearly $1.7 billion in damages to the United States Football League (“USFL”) for monopolistic practices by the NFL. [2] Without that verdict, as many of you surmise, the NFL would have never agreed to absorb the fledgling USFL and expand to an additional seven cities: Baltimore, Birmingham, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Memphis, Oakland, Orlando, as well as resolve the situation with the New Jersey Generals. [3]
We all know that most of these teams are a joke, and that NFL Football cannot be sustained in Alabama. We also know that there just aren’t enough good players to go around to fill 36 NFL teams. Nevertheless, this is what we’re getting. Get used to it. [4] Now, I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t be angry. I’m angry. I just think our collective anger should be directed where it belongs: at real estate mogul Donald J. Trump.
Let’s remember how we got here. It started with an idea – a pretty good idea, in fact.
On May 11, 1982, businessman David Dixon announced the formation of the USFL at the former speakeasy called the “21 Club” in New York City. Drawing upon two years’ worth of market research, Dixon concluded that the Americans had a year-round appetite for watching professional football, and envisioned his USFL as serving in a complementary role to the NFL. Dixon’s vision was that football fans would watch the older, more established NFL during the fall and winter, and then turn to the USFL during the spring and summer. From a business perspective, this “complementary” role would also enable the USFL to secure lucrative television broadcast contracts. [5]
Dixon’s USFL would be made up of 12 teams from the largest television markets in the nation: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Tampa Bay, Oakland, Denver, Washington, Philadelphia,
Birmingham and San Diego, although the San Diego franchise was relocated before USFL play even began. [6]
Dixon also assembled a credible infrastructure for his fledging league, including Judge Peter Spivak, who served as President of the League, and former ABC and ESPN executive Chet Simmons, who served as Commissioner. As a result, the USFL was able to secure lucrative television contracts with both ABC (for $18 million for the first two seasons) and ESPN (at $11 million for the first two seasons), deals that were contingent upon the USFL fielding teams in the top three U.S. television markets – New York, Los Angeles and Chicago – and a minimum of four of the five other top-ten television markets in which teams were originally located (Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area and Washington, D.C.).
The final component of Dixon’s “complementary” vision was that fans would see little drop-off in the talent level of play on the field. USFL franchises would be coached by many former NFL head coaches, including the legendary George Allen, Chuck Fairbbanks, Frank Kush, Walt Michaels, Red Miller, and John Ralston, up-and-comers like Jim Mora and Marv Levy, and famous college coaches Steve Spurrier and Lee Corso. And USFL franchises would (mostly) play in major stadiums such as Soldier Field in Chicago (capacity 65,793), Giants Stadium in New Jersey (76,891), and RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. (54,794) – although a few franchises wound up playing in substandard locations. [7] Moreover, by playing in the spring, the USFL could draft college players and have them in uniform playing pro ball before the NFL draft was even scheduled to start. This proved prescient, as USFL teams managed to attract top college talent such as Mike Rozier, Doug Flutie, Bo Jackson, and Herschel Walker. [8]
Dixon wisely presaged that the USFL could not afford to get into a bidding war with the cash-flush NFL, so his league had a built-in salary cap of $1.8 million. Owners were advised to expect losses in the first season (advice that turned out to be correct), and to work diligently to control costs. In addition to the hard salary cap, the USFL also established budget guidelines for player salaries of between $1.3 and $1.5 million per team. [9] Dixon’s USFL also adopted three rules that are expected to be implemented in the merged NFL: (1) the two-point conversion; (2) a rule borrowed from college football whereby each new first down stops the clock after the two-minute warning; and (3) an instant replay system for challenging rulings on the field (already an NFL experiment likely to have been implemented this season anyway). [10]
Branch Rickey famously remarked that luck is the residue of design, and Dixon’s design earned him a fair bit of luck in the form of the 1982 NFL strike. In fact, the first kickoff in the USFL came just weeks after the Washington Redskins won a strike-shortened 9-game season and impromptu playoffs. The upstart USFL seemed almost
more professional by comparison. And the product on the field, if not of NFL caliber, was pretty good. The USFL averaged nearly 25,000 fans per game, meeting or exceeding initial projections. On TV, the Nielsen ratings for the first week of games was 14.3, which was a close comparable to the average NFL game, and both ABC and ESPN were “very pleased” with the USFL’s rating. [11] Dixon’s “complementary” vision was complete: the USFL could stand side-by-side with the NFL.
Enter Donald J. Trump, a man who’d rather seize the spotlight than share the stage. After purchasing the New Jersey Generals on September 22, 1983, Trump promptly blew through the league’s salary cap, seducing Lawrence Taylor away from the New York Giants. Trump’s profligacy rippled throughout the league; in effect, the floodgates were opened as other USFL teams scrambled to sign NFL stars such as Joe Cribbs, Gary Barbaro, Doug Williams, Jim Kelly and Reggie White. It culminated, of course, in the ridiculous $40 million contract the Jacksonville Renegades gave to quarterback Steve Young – a sum that
exceeded the value of the franchise itself. [12]
These expenditures ran the USFL’s already-shaky financial footing off the cliff, forcing the owners to abandon Mr. Dixon’s slow-growth “complementary” plan, which even under the most optimistic conditions was never intended to generate sufficient revenue to keep up with runaway spending. [13] After three seasons, a dozen USFL teams had gone bankrupt, and only four of the original owners remained in the league.
On May 9, 1984 in New York, Donald Trump hatched the plan that would make him The Most Hated Man In America. [14] His strategy was a complete 180 from Mr. Dixon’s “complementary” vision; instead, the USFL would take on the NFL directly, ultimately forcing the NFL to merge the two leagues, which would provide the cash infusion necessary to pay off the debts incurred bidding for players. Trump's merger strategy involved escalating financial competition for players as a means of putting pressure on NFL expenses, moving USFL franchises out of cities where NFL teams played into cities thought to be logical expansion (through merger) cities for the NFL, and, most critically, moving the USFL season from the spring/summer to the fall to compete directly with the NFL’s television revenues. [15]
At the league’s August owners’ meeting, the USFL voted 14-4 to move their schedule to the fall in 1986. To compete directly with the NFL, USFL owners decided to move many of the leagues franchises from cities which had both USFL and NFL teams to potential “merger” cites that lacked NFL teams. Over the next year and a half, the USFL relocated franchises out of NFL markets like Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C. and into Baltimore (which had lost its NFL team in 1984) and Orlando (which had no NFL team). The USFL also facilitated the mergers of various franchises, strengthening the teams in Oakland (which had lost the NFL Raiders to Los Angeles) and Indianapolis (which had been discussed as a possible NFL expansion city). [16] The stage was set for an NFL merger.
The only problem was that the NFL wasn’t interested. Their internal feasibility studies showed that the talent pool of available players simply couldn’t support an additional eight teams; this “dilution factor” would either noticeably lower the overall quality of play on the field (if talent were redistributed to the new teams) or result in such disparity that most of the new teams would go winless not only for the season but the immediate future.
To force the NFL’s hand, the Trump-led USFL filed an antitrust lawsuit in federal court, alleging that the NFL unfairly used its monopolistic influence to deprive the USFL of the fair market value of the broadcast rights to its product. The suit would be heard by Judge J. Frederick Motz of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, in front of Baltimore jurors – whom, it must be said, still harbored a grundge against the NFL for allowing Robert Irsay to move the NFL Colts to Arizona in the dead of night the previous year. [17]
As the case unfolded, the Trump-led USFL’s star witness turned out to be… Donald Trump, who testified under oath that NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle had offered him an NFL franchise in exchange for blocking the USFL’s proposed move to a fall schedule. Trump insisted that he turned down the bribe out of a sense of moral obligation to his co-owners. Rozelle, for what it’s worth, vociferously denied that any such offer was made. His credibility was probably not helped by Al Davis, owner of the NFL’s Los Angeles Raiders, who voluntarily cooperated with the USFL (in exchange for not being named in the lawsuit), and who testified that Rozelle orchestrated “an understanding” at a 1983 NFL owners’ meeting to keep a USFL team out of New York. [18]
Last week, Trump’s USFL won that lawsuit, and a Baltimore-based jury awarded him nearly $1.7 billion in damages. The NFL was never going to pay that. Instead, they gave Trump exactly what he wanted all along: eight new NFL franchises.
Perhaps they would have been better off just coughing up the money.
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1986 NFL Standings and Playoffs [19]
AFC East
New York Generals (10-6) - *
New Jersey Jets (9-7)
New England Patriots (9-7)
Buffalo Bills (7-9)
AFC Central
Cleveland Browns (12-4) - *
Baltimore Stars (9-7) - +
Cincinnati Bengals (8-8)
Pittsburgh Steelers (7-9)
AFC South
Kansas City Chiefs (13-3) - *
Miami Dolphins (11-5) - +
Houston Oilers (8-8)
Birmingham Stallions (4-12)
Indianapolis Panthers (0-16)
AFC West
Denver Broncos (11-5) - *
Seattle Seahawks (9-7)
Los Angeles Raiders (8-8)
San Diego Chargers (6-10)
Oakland Invaders (3-13)
NFC East
Washington Redskins (13-3) - *
New Jersey Giants (11-5)
Dallas Cowboys (6-10)
Philadelphia Eagles (4-12)
NFC Central
Chicago Bears (15-1) - *
Minnesota Vikings (11-5) - +
Detroit Lions (8-8)
Green Bay Packers (7-9)
Memphis Showboats (1-15)
NFC South
New Orleans Saints (9-7) - *
Atlanta Falcons (8-8)
Jacksonville Renegades (6-10)
Orlando Bandits (4-12)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-12)
NFC West
Los Angeles Rams (12-4) - *
San Francisco 49ers (11-5) - +
St. Louis Cardinals (7-9)
Arizona Colts (7-9)
* -division winner
+ -wild card team
Wild Card Games:
Baltimore Stars 27 @ Denver Broncos 21
New York Generals 42 over Miami Dolphins 14
Minnesota Vikings 15 @ Los Angeles Rams 10
San Francisco 49ers 21 over New Orleans Saints 13
Division Championships:
Kansas City Chiefs 17 over Baltimore Stars 10
New York Generals 24 @ Cleveland Browns 7
Chicago Bears 34 over Minnesota Vikings 14
Washington Redskins 27 over San Francisco 49ers 6
Conference Championships:
Kansas City Chiefs 38 over New York Generals 35 (2 OT) [20]
Chicago Bears 21 over Washington Redskins 3
Super Bowl XXI [21]
Chicago Bears 49 over Kansas City Chiefs 10
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NOTES:
[1] Olbermann is a professional sportscaster in Los Angeles as of the date of this TL (July 29, 1986); IOTL, he would join ESPN as the co-host of SportsCenter in 1992. His long-form piece here was written independently and then sold to
Sports Illustrated.
[2] IOTL, the USFL also won its antitrust suit against the NFL; however, the New York-based jury in that suit (brought in the Southern District of New York in front of Judge Peter K. Leisure) accepted the NFL’s mitigation arguments and reduced the USFL’s damages to a “nominal” sum of $1, which was then tripled by law to $3, and increased to $3.76 with the application of prejudgment interest. (The USFL famously never cashed its $3.76 check from the NFL.) Here, the case is brought in Baltimore before the United States District Court of Maryland, presided over by a different judge and subject to a very different jury.
Legal strategists suggest that could have produced a more favorable verdict for the Plaintiffs.
[3] These represent the four USFL teams that were left standing by 1986 IOTL (the Baltimore Stars, Birmingham Barons, Jacksonville Bulls, and Memphis Showboats), Donald Trump’s New Jersey Generals (who relocate to New York), a team in Indianapolis (replacing OTL’s Arizona Outlaws), a team created from the merger between OTL’s Orlando Renegades and Tampa Bay Bandits (which would continue to carry the Bandits name), and the Oakland Invaders.
It’s worth noting that IOTL, all of these have proven to be successful NFL destinations with the exception of Birmingham, Alabama and Orlando, Florida.
[4] Forcing a merger with the NFL was always seen as Trump’s key goal in acquiring the New Jersey Generals; such a merger would drastically increase the value of his investment. Here, the NFL agrees to the merger rather than fork over nearly two billion dollars in damages (which it does not have).
[5] As OTL.
[6] Mostly as OTL, with the San Diego franchise falling through just as in OTL (due to the inability to get the rights to play in Jack Murphy Stadium), followed by a subsequent move to Phoenix in 1983. That team, the Arizona Wranglers, would be the worst team in the USFL, finishing 4-14, but with a surprise 30-29 victory at home over arguably the league’s
best team, the Chicago Blitz. In the Dirty Laundryverse, the Wranglers lose that game. Coupled with TTL’s Baltimore Colts moving to Phoenix in ’84., the Wranglers simply declare bankruptcy and close up shop after the inaugural season. This avoids the
very weird franchise swap with Chicago that essentially destroyed the credibility of both USFL franchises IOTL.
[7] As OTL. In its inaugural season, the USFL averaged nearly 25,000 fans per game.
[8] As OTL, with the notable addition of Bo Jackson.
[9] As OTL.
[10] All three rules were USFL rules IOTL as well; the two-point conversion was adopted by OTL’s NFL in 1994, and instant replay was adopted in 1986, as Olbermann says. The NFL has never attempted to apply the NCAA first-downs-stop-the-clock rule IOTL, which strikes me as a bit of a shame.
[11] With minor butterflies, as OTL.
[12] IOTL, it was the Los Angeles Express who handed out the $40 million contract to Steve Young.
[13] IOTL, for example, the
USFL v. NFL trial uncovered an internal memorandum from Oakland Invaders owner Tad Taube warning his fellow owners that “If we are not successful in establishing player [salary] caps I can guarantee you that there will not be a USFL within three years, irrespective of improved revenue [from] television.” The memo included a copy of the famous Pogo cartoon, attributed “We have sighted the enemy and they are us!"
[14] I avoided the temptation to use “The Worst Person In The World” here.
[15] As OTL.
[16] As OTL, with the exceptions of the slightly different fates of Indianapolis and Phoenix.
[17] Ironically, the difference here is that Trump has slightly
less influence with his fellow USFL owners; IOTL, Trump insisted that his New York legal team, led by Harvey Myerson, file suit in federal court in New York instead of a city like Baltimore or Oakland. I am not identifying the USFL’s Baltimore-based legal team, since in all likelihood it would be comprised of many of my real-life friends and colleagues.
[18] As OTL.
[19] Under the terms of the USFL-NFL settlement, the USFL New Jersey Generals would play their 1986 games in Yankee Stadium as their usual home (the Meadowlands) was the primary home to the NFL’s New York Giants. This led to the NFL referring to the Giants as the “New Jersey” Giants (and the Jets as the “New Jersey” Jets), although all three teams referred to themselves and played with uniforms that said “New York.”
Both the Jets and the Giants would miss the playoffs. IOTL, the Jets finished 10-6 and won the first round of the playoffs by defeating the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-15. Here, they lose the tiebreaker to the Baltimore Stars.
OTL’s Giants were a defensive powerhouse, led by MVP Lawrence Taylor’s amazing 20 ½ sacks. The Giants won 14 games and, eventually, the Superbowl by a score of 39-20 over the Denver Broncos. Statistics suggest that the Giants were actually closer to a 12-win team; in the Dirty Laundryverse, they lose three close games they won IOTL, including a crucial Week 11 loss to the Minnesota Vikings that causes them to be the odd team out among the 11-win Vikings and Dolphins.
[20] The 1986 AFC Championship was marred by numerous bad calls, including overturning two separate Herschel Walker touchdowns – one in regulation, and one in the second OT. Most New Yorkers believe that this was a conspiracy by the NFL to ensure that the Generals would not advance to the Superbowl.
[21] This means that the Chicago Bears have now lost exactly one game in two years as well as won back-to-back Superbowls. I didn't set out to make this TL a Bearswank, but I guess it's shaping up that way....
