vpheughan

I heard instead of a coin toss there will be a caged "Death Match" between the opposing coaches. Winner takes all. Saving a fortune in player salaries!!!

Wasn't the "Meat" of the USFL suit the fact that the NFL was a monopoly? The court agreed they were indeed a monopoly as they were the only professional football league playing in the Fall. The USFL should have played head to head with the NFL THEN filed their suit.

burningmetal

Yes, the monopoly WAS the main issue for the suit. They planned to go head to head with the NFL schedule but, among other things, the biggest issue was trying to secure TV rights for their games. For the USFL to try to go head to head with the NFL in the Fall and THEN go ahead with the lawsuit, as you suggested, would not have been an option, in my opinion. They needed to show that the NFL was conspiring with, or, "pressuring" the networks to avoid the USFL, in order to have a chance to compete for said network rights.

It seemed pretty obvious there was a great deal of chicanery going on with the NFL, but the jury (who admitted that the NFL had acted unlawfully, thus their verdict against the NFL) claimed that too much of the evidence was circumstantial, and they complained that they were tired and wanted to go home, so they "compromised" on the 1 dollar settlement, which was tripled to 3 dollars under antitrust law.

They (the jury) also claimed that they thought their low settlement number was going to be a signal to the judge to go ahead and decide the actual damage cost. That isn't how it works, and I don't buy that excuse by those jurors. I believe members of that jury were bought off by the NFL. Of course, that is only speculation on my part, but it is clear that something ridiculous happened with that jury for them to bungle it up as they did.

There is no question that some of the owners in that league were horribly mismanaging their money, which led to the successful owners having to find a way to put pressure on the NFL and perhaps force a merger with some of the teams. But if the USFL had gotten the money they SHOULD have in that suit, it would have given them an excellent opportunity to establish themselves, or at least merge a few franchises. The NFL owners clearly didn't want this competition coming into their markets, and Pete Rozelle (for as much as people act like he was a saint) seemed willing to do whatever it took to block the USFL.

If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, the NFL would fine and suspend me.

darksoul35

In that case I hope they hire Roger and Deontay Wilder and throw Roger in a cage with him and watch him get beat til his last gasping breath.