'83 Chronology-Connecticut Flyer

Event Date: April 13th, 1983

Event Description:

Source: United Press International

A Fairfield County lawmaker says he has suggested to the United States Football League it should include Connecticut in any expansion plans under consideration for the fledgling professional operation.

House Minority Leader Rep. R.E. Van Norstrand, R-Darien, said Monday he has written to USFL Commissioner Chet Simmons to ask Connecticut be considered for one of at least four new franchises tentatively approved for next year.

“A pro team would put Connecticut on the football map and I certainly hope the commissioner will look at Connecticut and that financial backing for a team can be developed,” he said.

Van Norstrand suggested Hartford, Bridgeport and the University of Connecticut at Storrs as possible locations for a team he said would be a natural rival for the USFL's Boston Breakers.

Lucrative television contracts and teams geared to play at small fields has made the success of the new football league “almost a certainty,” he said.

The last regular professional football games in Connecticut were played in the mid-1970s as the then New York Giants of the NFL leased Yale Bowl in New Haven for home games while their new stadium in New Jersey was completed.

Story-(UPI)