Event Date: April 28th, 1983
Event Description: Simmons Visits Steel City
Source: United Press International
U.S. Football League Commissioner Chet Simmons said he would make an announcement Thursday about the league's future in Pittsburgh and hinted it could be the awarding of a franchise to the city.
“I will have something to say (Thursday) ... about all that's been written and talked about, about a USFL franchise in the city of Pittsburgh,” Simmons said Wednesday at a cocktail party in his honor.
“Pittsburgh probably was the No. 1 city in all our surveys as we looked at possible expansion markets ... and we will have a team in the city of Pittsburgh.”
Pressed if that's what he will announce Thursday, Simmons said, “You asked me to give you a clue. You didn't tell me to tell you what I'm going to say.” Top league officials had said previously that a major announcement about a Pittsburgh franchise was pending.
Simmons defended the new league, which has been the target of critics who cite a dropoff in attendance and the number of television viewers from the start of the season.
“The state of the league is quite healthy, thank you,” he said. “I think people expected an awful lot of something that literally was announced just about a year ago in May.”
Simmons said USFL attendance is averaging about 25,000, and the league has already surpassed the one million mark in attendance. In both instances, he said, the USFL is ahead of the old American Football League in its inaugural season.
He also said that although the television ratings have fallen greatly from the first week, they are two or three points ahead of what was expected. “I think we'll maintain those kind of numbers through the rest of the year,” he said.
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