United States Football League

The United States Football League was a professional American football league that played three seasons between 1983 and 1985, in the process presenting the rival National Football League with its greatest competitor since the 1960s version of the American Football League.

Franchise instability

While no teams folded during any season of the USFL, it was a close call in many cases. The league experienced a great deal of franchise instability, relocation, and closure:

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• During the 1983-1984 off-season:
• The Boston Breakers franchise, which was unable to gain access to Foxboro Stadium and had played the 1983 season in Boston University's Nickerson Field, relocated to New Orleans.
• The owners of the Arizona Wranglers and Chicago Blitz franchises basically traded teams, with all 1983 Arizona players playing in Chicago for 1984 and vice-versa.
• Needing fresh capital, the league expanded from 12 to 18 teams, adding the Pittsburgh Maulers, Houston Gamblers, San Antonio Gunslingers, Memphis Showboats, Oklahoma Outlaws and Jacksonville Bulls.
• During the 1984-1985 off-season:
• The Breakers moved a second time, this time to Portland, Oregon.
• The owner of the Los Angeles Express franchise went bankrupt, abandoning his franchise and putting the league's television contract with ABC in jeopardy.
• The league champion Philadelphia Stars were evicted from Veterans Stadium, forcing the team to relocate to Baltimore, Maryland.
• The league's 1983 champion Michigan Panthers would merge with the Oakland Invaders, as team owner Alfred Taubman did not wish to compete head-to-head with the NFL's Detroit Lions in 1986.
• The Washington Federals were relocated to Orlando, Florida where they would become the Orlando Renegades.
• The Arizona Wranglers (nee Chicago Blitz of 1983) would merge with the Oklahoma Outlaws, forming the Arizona Outlaws.
• The Pittsburgh Maulers, owned by billionaire shopping mall magnate Edward J. DeBartolo folded; and
• The Chicago Blitz (nee Arizona Wranglers of 1983) also folded.