'84 Chronology-August League Meetings II

Event Date: August 25th, 1984

Internal Memo: United States Football League Owners Meeting

Re: Letters from Tad Taube and John Bassett;

Oakland Invaders owner Tad Taube and Tampa Bay owner John F. Bassett; 

1. Taube recommendations for 1985 and beyond;
1. A merger or accommodation strategy with the National Football League should be the ultimate goal.
2. The two leagues are moving toward a “merger climate” due to the growing escalation of player salaries.
3. The key area of battle with the N.F.L. will be over future television revenue.
4. The league should abandon the spring and move to the fall.

2. John F. Bassett response to the Taube recommendations;
1. The recommendations from Tad Taube are thoughtful and intelligient.
2. The Taube plan represents one possible strategy.
3. Another possibility would be to divide the league and allow the owners who want to pursue a fall strategy to move forward, while those owners in favor of remaining in the spring should be allowed to do so.
4. The spring entity would be allowed to maintain the ABC and ESPN television contracts, while the fall owners could pursue a fall television contract under the direction of Mr. Taube, Mr. Trump and Mr. Einhorn.

more to come.......