'87 Chronology-Severing Ties

Event Date: December 4th, 1987

Event Description: Outlaws Owners Moving On

Source: UPI

Bill Tatham Jr., president and general manager the Arizona Outlaws, announced Monday that the club is severing ties with the USFL in hopes of landing an NFL expansion franchise.

“We are formally announcing our withdrawal from the league, and will take appropriate steps to withdraw from the USFL in proper time,” Tatham said from Hawaii.

“We're out of it, and good riddance.” Tatham said only “technical things” remain to sever ties with the USFL. 

Tatham will head up a group called Arizonans for NFL Football, which hopes to land an expansion franchise as early as 1988.

“Our goal from the beginning was to bring professional football to Phoenix,” Tatham said. “We felt for some time the best way to acquire an NFL expansion team was to take this action.”

The group is the second to join in lobbying the NFL for an expansion franchise in Phoenix. Arizona NFL Expansion Franchise Ltd., headed by former American Football League commissioner Joe Foss and Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr, was the first.

USFL Commissioner Harry Usher said that the league is planning on playing in 1988, and that the Outlaws could be moved to another city in the very near future.

Story-(UPI Modified)