'85 Chronology-Competition Breeds Contempt

Event Date: December 18th, 1985

Event Description: Usher Issues Challenge

Source: UPI

Trying to stir interest in his troubled league, U.S. Football League commissioner Harry Usher has challenged the NFL's Los Angeles teams -- the Raiders and Rams -- to play charity games against the Express.

The Raiders and Rams, through spokesmen, said they were not interested in the challenge.

Usher, appearing at a Wednesday news conference, said televised football games have become dull because they lack new competition. He suggested the sport could be revitalized through several games between the NFL and the USFL.

“Competition breeds quality and fan interest and therefore more viewership,” Usher said. “In my opinion, over these 15 years with the monopoly the NFL has had on the major television networks, you have created a product that is becoming duller and duller and more stagnated.”

Usher insisted NFL television ratings have declined because competition has waned, not because there is a glut of televised football games.

The new commissioner of the three year-old league is making a nationwide tour of USFL cities in an effort to boost attendance.

He challenged the Rams and the Raiders to play the Express this summer.

“The knee-jerk reaction to that kind of suggestion is “no,” as the NFL would have everything to lose and nothing to gain,” Usher said. 

“Rather than looking at it as a situation where nothing can be gained and everything lost, the NFL teams should look at it as a situation where they can build fan interest by stimulating the community.”

Usher issued a similar challenge in Houston last week, but he said the NFL Oilers rejected the idea.

“If there's anybody who needs help, it's the Oilers,” Usher said. “They should really think about it.”

The idea of a charity game between the leagues was originated last year by New Jersey Generals owner Donald Trump, who challenged the NFL's New York Giants to a game with his team. The Giants never publicly responded.

Usher claimed Tampa, Florida, is an example of how the USFL has forced the NFL to do more for its fans.

“I got off the airplane and saw a billboard sequence from the (NFL) Bucaneers, saying  Thank you, Tampa Bay,'' Usher said.

“In the 10 years of the Tampa Bay Bucaneers, they never before thanked Tampa Bay. But, the (USFL) Tampa Bay Bandits have captured the hearts of the fans in that city and suddenly (Buccaneers owner) Hugh Culverhouse has to go out and say, 'We have to take into account what the fans want.''

(Story/Date Modified)