USFL POD's

I once had a rough outline for a USFL TL, but the person I had lined up to be my writing partner went offline for a while, and the idea took a backseat to my current TL. Here's the basic plot points I developed:

-After he pulls out of the original deal to found the Generals in order to pursue the Baltimore Colts, Donald Trump is firmly rebuked by Pete Rozelle, who, after having a very uncomfortable dinner with Trump says “Donald, I would rather have a brain tumor than have you own an NFL team, especially the Colts, as it would be an insult towards such a historic organization and loyal fanbase. I’ll pick up the tab here, and in exchange, stop this now.” Trump begins talking with the USFL and Generals owner J. Walter Duncan, who sells the team to Trump after the inaugural season, which goes the same as OTL. Trump decides that instead of immediately moving the league to the fall, he wants the USFL to first become established as a major player, which would both feed his ego and allow for him to gain leverage with the major players in sports who would be needed for a fall move later on. Trump plays a much more cautious game in courting Don Shula, and lands him in exchange for a Trump Tower apartment and $800,000 per season over five seasons, in a deal that both gives Shula much of what he wanted in addition to giving Trump back the approximate value of the apartment, as he saved $1,000,000 on the contract compared to the previous offer of $1,000,000 per year without the apartment. Shula is also given the powers of general manager, although he will work with Trump in these matters. Shula picks Gary Zimmerman with the third pick in the second round of the USFL Draft.

-Trump moves the Generals across the Hudson to New York, where they make a deal with Nelson Doubleday Jr. to play in Shea Stadium. They are renamed the New York Generals and undergo a full redesign of their uniforms that sees much more prominent gold and while red is still the primary color, Trump’s extravagance is still shown. Plans for “Trump Stadium”, an 80,000-seater domed megastructure, to be built in Hudson Yards are drawn up and developed, with Trump saying that it would be “the most marvelous, very big sports stadium in the nation and the world.” Trump buys the Hudson Yards land and plans to have the stadium ready by 1986 or 1987. (The stadium would have been consistently pushed back due to disagreements and funding discrepancies)

-Bassett brokers a compromise among the owners, and comes out with an increased salary cap that allows for three players per team (at least one must be from offense and the other from the defense, with the third player up to the owner) to be designated as “Franchise Players” who are exempt from salary cap restrictions. The compromise, dubbed the “Bassett Conventions”, allowed for teams to keep their stars but still remain mostly restrained with the majority of their players.

-Instead of 18 teams, the league expands to 16 teams and instead gets the cash infusion by raising the membership fee, which they are able to do by better convincing the prospective owners of future profits. The teams added are the Houston Gamblers, owned by a group led by Dr. Jerry Argovitz, the Jacksonville Bulls, owned by Fred Bullard, the Memphis Showboats, owned by Logan Young and William Dunavant, and the St. Louis Stallions, owned by a St. Louis-based conglomerate led by Stan Kroenke, his wife Ann Walton, and backed by Anheuser-Busch, a USFL sponsor.

-The showmanship is turned up, as pomp and flair are even more stressed in the “new” USFL, displayed with a new secondary slogan, “Not Just Football”. Games become events, with “USFL’s Sunday Night Football” on ABC and “Monday Night Lights” on ESPN getting higher ratings through a massive ad campaign partially subsidized by the networks and the mass “Endorsement Clause” being put into new player contracts that stipulate 5% of player endorsement revenue will go to the league. The players agree on the basis that with a greater amount of advertising, jersey sales will increase and so will player contracts, as the salary cap grows proportional to the league revenue.

-The Houston Gamblers sign Jim Kelly away from the Buffalo Bills, through a trade with the Chicago Blitz, who held the rights to Kelly. Kelly’s jersey becomes a best-seller, as the hype around him heightens and helps the Gamblers get off on the right foot.
 
Not Just Football”. Games become events, with “USFL’s Sunday Night Football” on ABC and “Monday Night Lights” on ESPN
This is Before ESPN have SNF...maybe ITTL they got both and later on TNT Sunday Nitro stays too? i watched basket and football thanks to TNT.
 
This is Before ESPN have SNF...maybe ITTL they got both and later on TNT Sunday Nitro stays too? i watched basket and football thanks to TNT.

I still didn't know what the end game for this whole TL would be, the only two I could think of are a merger or the USFL staying in spring, and neither of those makes for a particularly exciting ending. I made the games air on ABC and ESPN because of their common ownership under the Disney banner, and I did that with the hope that after J. William Oldenburg collapses as he did IRL, Eisner would have Disney buy the Los Angeles Express ala the Angels and Ducks, and they would make them the flagship team for the west, kind of like how the Lakers were seen at that time in the NBA. Ted Turner and TNT would have little authority if these events occur, and the only way I could see Turner agreeing to broadcast is if he gets a team, like how he would exclusively broadcast his Atlanta Braves nationwide.
 
I made the games air on ABC and ESPN because of their common ownership under the Disney banner
In the 80's, Disney didn't own ABC or ESPN, yet, ABC was 1991-1992 and ESPN 1996, at the time both were different entities all togther.
 
Damn... well than, I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t start the TL.
That is a honest mistake, that is why people thought those two are disney, they've not been disney forever too. As say before make my butterfly possible, ESPN and ABC keep both and later TNT got the NFL fully later on, Monday Night football might stay on ABC for the time being.
 
That is a honest mistake, that is why people thought those two are disney, they've not been disney forever too. As say before make my butterfly possible, ESPN and ABC keep both and later TNT got the NFL fully later on, Monday Night football might stay on ABC for the time being.

Don't forget there's also USA Network.
 
I still didn't know what the end game for this whole TL would be, the only two I could think of are a merger or the USFL staying in spring, and neither of those makes for a particularly exciting ending. I made the games air on ABC and ESPN because of their common ownership under the Disney banner, and I did that with the hope that after J. William Oldenburg collapses as he did IRL, Eisner would have Disney buy the Los Angeles Express ala the Angels and Ducks, and they would make them the flagship team for the west, kind of like how the Lakers were seen at that time in the NBA. Ted Turner and TNT would have little authority if these events occur, and the only way I could see Turner agreeing to broadcast is if he gets a team, like how he would exclusively broadcast his Atlanta Braves nationwide.

Speaking of Disney, I once did a TL where they took over WCW from Turner.

But still, back in the days of the USFL, you still had the USA Network to try to compete with Turner and ESPN/ABC for the USFL contract.
 
ut still, back in the days of the USFL, you still had the USA Network to try to compete with Turner and ESPN/ABC for the USFL contract.
Depend how much, USFL can go too greedy and loss all 3, that contract is the key to survive and have to be deal good enough
 
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