'82 Chronology-Young at Heart

Event Date: August 31st, 1982

Event Description: USFL Plans

Source: United Press International

The U.S. Football League plans to begin an 18-game schedule the first weekend in March leading to a July 10th championship game, Commissioner Chet Simmons said Tuesday.

League owners and administrators met for three days in Washington and settled a variety of questions, but none pertained to George Allen, coach and general manager of the Chicago Blitz.

Last week, Allen signed 6-foot-6, 280-pound lineman Willie Young from Illinois. Young, 26, has three years of college eligibility remaining and enrolled at Illinois after four years of football in the Army.

Young said he quit the Illinois squad because he could not support his wife and five children. Allen signed him, but USFL rules prohibit signing players with collegiate eligibility remaining.

“Those are our rules,” said Simmons. “In fact, we recognize the fifth year of eligibility in red-shirt cases. But I have made no sanctions against any club. I don't have all the facts in the signing of Young. When I do, I suppose you could say I'll be judge and jury, and probably the executioner. But not until.”

Allen did not attend the meetings but sent his son, Bruce, the club's general manager, to represent the Blitz.

Simmons said the league will comprise of three divisions - Atlantic, Central and Pacific. The three division winners will join a wild-card entry, the team with the next-best overall record, in a two-week playoffs.

New York-New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington and Boston will form the Atlantic Division, with Birmingham, Chicago, Detroit and Tampa Bay in the Central. The Pacific Division will have Arizona (Phoenix), Los Angeles, Denver and The Bay Area (San Francisco-Oakland).

Each team will play each team in its division twice and meet each other team once. The remaining four games will be against two teams of each of the other divisions.

“We hope to have the schedule available in the next few weeks,' said Simmons. 'In a few cases, we're working out scheduling problems for stadiums that house major-league baseball. In one case, we're working with scheduling conflicts for a North American Soccer League team.”

The league set its collegiate draft for Jan. 4, after the bowl games but before most of the All-Star games that the NFL uses to help evaluate its talent. USFL teams, all planning to use a scholarship-incentive clause in contracts with rookies, will have 40-man rosters with a 10-man development' squad.

(Story-UPI)