the salary cap was a bad joke. Tennessee defensive end Reggie White received $1.5 million for five years from the expansion Memphis Showboats; Arkansas halfback Gary Anderson received $1.5 million for four years from the Tampa Bay Bandits; Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier of Nebraska signed with the expansion Pittsburgh Maulers for three years at $3.1 million, the Houston Gamblers signed University of Miami quarterback Jim Kelly to a $3 million package. After the Los Angeles Express signed Brigham Young quarterback Steve Young for a projected $40 million, mostly in an annuity, the Generals tore up the last year of Walker's contract, 1985, and re-signed him for $5.5 million over four seasons. Most of the wild spending has been done by Donald Trump of New Jersey and J. William Oldenburg of Los Angeles, but that category may be reduced to Trump alone, considering Oldenburg's growing financial problems. Federal bank regulators, as well as those in Utah and Hawaii, are investigating Oldenburg's companies concerning some bizarre financial transactions. The principal one, according to a copyrighted story in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, has to do with a 362-acre piece of property in Richmond, Calif. Oldenburg's mortgage investment company purchased the property in 1977 for $800,000, putting down a payment of just $80,000. Last March 30, it was sold to a savings and loan association in Utah, also controlled by Oldenburg, for $55 million. Three of the college stars signed by the Express, quarterback Young, guard Gary Zimmerman and center Mike Ruether, still are negotiating the deferred-payment portions of their contracts through their agents. "We'd love for them to default on the second, third and fourth years," Jim Kiles, partner of an attorney who represents Zimmerman and Ruether, told USA Today's Gordon Forbes. "Then, we'd try the NFL." Seven of the 12 original USFL franchises had changed hands before the end of the league's second season. Majority interests in the Memphis and Houston expansion franchises also have changed. Now, Jacksonville Owner Fred Bullard, chagrined when his expected investment of $6 million ballooned to $10 million, wants to sell 59 percent of the Bulls. In May, Bill Tatham, president of the Oklahoma Outlaws, met with Hawaiian stadium authorities, but told Tulsa people the move "shouldn't be misinterpreted." Tatham is hoping for construction of a privately financed domed stadium in Tulsa. The biggest ownership problem for the USFL is in Chicago, where the league has been operating the Blitz for most of the season. Conditions of the ABC television contract stipulate that a franchise must remain in Chicago, as well as in Los Angeles and the New York area. There was no such stipulation about Washington, but ABC is not happy about talk of moving the Federals to Miami's Orange Bowl. From the beginning, USFL owners have not been hesitant to undercut the commissioner, Chet Simmons, nor to pursue their self interests without regard to their partners. And the echoes still linger from a comment made long ago. Said Tampa Bay's John Bassett, pleading with fellow owners for some fiscal sanity: "We have a moral obligation to one another." Thirteen new owners have come aboard since then.

Quality Of Play

Wildly uneven, but in many respects improved and more entertaining than in 1983. Several USFL teams made sage Investments in National Football League veterans to strengthen their teams. Birmingham signed Buffalo running back Joe Cribbs and Pittsburgh quarterback Cliff Stoudt and became the leading team in the Southern Division. The Cleveland Browns may have been correct about the deteriorated condition of Brian Sipe's arm, but even a deteriorated Sipe has been able to make the New Jersey Generals the Atlantic Division leader. The Generals' real improvement, though, has come on defense, thanks to the addition of NFL veterans Jim LeClair and Bobby Leopold at linebacker as well as defensive backs Gary Barbaro, Kerry Justin and Greggory Johnson. The quick inflation of salaries, however, is causing problems. The most serious is in Birmingham, where Cribbs, probably the league's most valuable player so far, walked out on the Stallions because they wouldn't bring his five-year, $2.85 million contract up to the level of what Los Angeles pays Young and New Jersey pays Herschel Walker. The Stallions countered by suing their own star for $20 million in the middle of a division race. Houston made itself a representative team by outbidding the Buffalo Bills for University of Miami quarterback Jim Kelly, then signing offensive coach Mouse Davis to build an offense that would produce points and also keep Kelly protected in spite of the Gamblers' inferior offensive line. Privately, many NFL people admit that Kelly probably would be Buffalo's starting quarterback by now if the Bills had signed him after drafting him in 1983. But the USFL's decision to expand by 50 percent this season, adding a half-dozen new franchises, created many bad teams and more bad games. The expansion Pittsburgh Maulers signed Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier, but he's been virtually invisible on that shoddy team. The Oklahoma Outlaws signed Doug Williams, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' starting quarterback, but gave him a supporting cast of nobodies until signing Oklahoma State running back Ernest Anderson recently. One of the most disappointing developments is the failure of George Allen to make the Arizona Wranglers a contender, after the Chicago Blitz franchise was swapped to Phoenix in a bizarre deal following the 1983 season. Allen has been denounced by Arizona fans in letters to the local newspapers. Allen spent lavishly on his team, but not wisely. One of his least sage investments was signing Grambling defensive end Robert (Big Bird) Smith, whose knee troubles were well known by most pro teams.

Costs

Ron Blanding, who sold the Denver Gold recently, said USFL losses would average $4 million per team this year. Payrolls went up an average of $1 million over 1983. The Generals' payroll alone is $5 million, twice the league average. There are other enormous costs. For instance, the Gamblers pay 21.5 percent of their gross income to play in the Astrodome, twice what the NFL's Oilers pay. The Gamblers may pay more than $500,000 this year and they do not share in the concessions or parking. Alfred Taubman, owner of the defending champion Michigan Panthers, wants to move from the Pontiac Silverdome to Detroit, either to Tiger Stadium or to a new stadium built by the city. Tiger Stadium is just about out of the question since the Detroit Tigers have an exclusive summertime lease on the facility. In the meantime, Taubman has a 15-year lease on the Silverdome, which, he contends, "is the most expensive stadium in the country." "Here, I'm a poor man," said Taubman, identified by Forbes magazine as one of America's wealthiest men, with a fortune in excess of $500 million. "The parking is too expensive, the hot dogs are too expensive," Taubman said. "Everything is too expensive." The USFL owners may not have seen anything yet. The league's players are unionized now, and by the time a collective bargaining agreement is signed, costs could soar, considering the potential for minimum salaries, per diem, insurance, travel guarantees, exhibition-game minimums, compensation, pension contributions and, eventually, severance payments. It's doubtful that any more USFL players will be paid off in the dark while the big-name stars get most of the payroll.

Attendance

On the surface, it seems that if the USFL has a chance to make it, it will be as a sun-belt league. Four of the five attendance leaders are Southern teams - Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, Birmingham and New Orleans The only major-market team among the attendance leaders is New Jersey. That's what the advertisers, the key to USFL success, are interested in-major markets. The Generals, of course, are in America's No. 1 market, but the Express, playing in the second market, Los Angeles, is in the bottom four with average attendance of less than 20,000. The Blitz, playing in the third-largest market, Chicago, was averaging about 8,500, good for a share of last place with Washington. Jacksonville is largely responsible for the slight overall attendance rise in the league this year, but the Bulls play in the 66th-ranked television market in the U.S. Denver is down almost 12,000 a game from last year. In Arizona the Wranglers are averaging almost 3,000 fans per game fewer than the Wranglers of '83, the USFL's dead-last team. The Philadelphia Stars' attendance has increased by 7,000 fans a game, but it ranks only ninth in the USFL. The Stars, who have the league's best record, have drawn fewer than 27,000 fans a game. Even the good news is heavily diluted by the bad. When the Boston Breakers moved to New Orleans, they sold 16,000 season tickets in the Superdome. But then they managed to infuriate most of those buyers, who paid full price for their tickets, by selling two tickets for the price of one to buyers who purchased on a per-game basis, a practice widely used in the USFL. On April 8, the Tampa Bay Bandits ran a "bring-a-friend" promotion, giving away two free tickets to each of the 33,000 season-ticket holders for a game against Oakland. A crowd of 58,777 was announced but the Tampa Sports Authority said it counted only 43,230 bodies. The Authority also figured that the Bandits' per-game average, at one point in April, was 11,000 fewer than what the club announced. There have been credibility gaps and bizarre promotions elsewhere. At the Los Angeles Express' first home game, a crowd of 32,028 was announced. The L.A. Coliseum counted 27,215. But the actual paid attendance was a mere 12,126. When Steve Young made his home debut in the Coliseum, a paid crowd of just 10,049 showed up, even though the musical group, Sister Sledge, was featured in a post-game concert. The Blitz offered a $3 discount for tickets for their St. Patrick's Day game against Oklahoma in Soldier Field. Fewer than 7,000 fans showed up. In one game featuring Jacksonville and Tampa Bay, free admission was offered to anyone dressed in a western outfit. Tampa Bay also held a "tax relief night," offering to pay a total of $25,000 worth of taxes for 15 fans. When the Maulers went to Oklahoma, a Dodge Charger, four Seiko watches, a waterbed and a trip to Rome were given away. The game and these promotions at Tulsa drew only 14,236 fans. At each USFL game, Dodge products are given away. Pan-American Airways also offers free trips. The question is, how many fans show up primarily for football and how many are enticed by the giveaways? Maybe somebody should conduct a poll.

Television Ratings

This is the rosetta stone of the USFL. Chet Simmons, the USFL commissioner, spoke of modest ratings gains, 7s or possibly 8s, in 1984. Instead, the league will have to close strongly in order to equal last year's 6. On the first weekend in May, when two of the best teams in the league, Philadelphia and Birmingham, were on television, the USFL recorded its second-lowest rating in history. When the Generals appeared on the tube earlier in the season, overall ratings were buttressed by fairly high viewing in the New York area. But that changed once the baseball season started, and the basketball and hockey playoffs began. The vastly-improved Mets, with exciting young players such as Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden, were an overpowering rival for the Generals in the ratings. On the last Sunday in April, the TV ratings were as follows: Mets-Phillies, 5.3; Knicks-Celtics (NBA playoffs), 4.9; Nets-Bucks (NBA), 4.4; Yankees-Brewers, 4.0; Generals-Panthers, 2.9. Ironically, both the Mets and the Yankees had giveaways at home, and the Generals outdrew them at the gate. On Strawberry Sunday (the fans received ice cream sundaes) at Shea Stadium, the turnout was 28,562. At Yankee Stadium, 50,319 fans turned out to receive free quartz watches. At Giants Stadium, the crowd was 50,908 as the Generals beat Michigan, 31-21. With the Generals off the screen entirely on the second Sunday of May, the USFL's ratings in the nation's largest market slipped below 2.0. In Boston, another large market but one without a USFL team this year, a dozen sporting events were televised over the Kentucky Derby weekend. The USFL game, the Generals vs. Oklahoma, finished last. ABC's "Wide World of Sports" drew a 5.0 rating on Saturday. NCAA gymnastics drew 3.8 the same day. The football game drew just 1.2 on Sunday. The league's owners sought as much as $4 million a team when they began negotiations with ABC on a new contract. The network, whose profits on USFL telecasts are in the $10 million range, pointedly told the owners that it has an option for 1985 for $14 million and $18 million for 1986. John Bassett, owner of the Tampa Bay Bandits and one of the chief USFL negotiators, countered by saying, "We can play all the attractive games on Saturday and Monday and sell them to cable and play all the lousy teams on Sunday on ABC." It seemed an empty threat, especially in view of ABC's recent purchase of ESPN, which is the dominant sports cable network. For the first three Sundays in May, the USFL recorded three of its lowest TV ratings ever. The second and third Sundays drew a mere 3.8, which tied for the second lowest ratings in the league's two-year history. On the first Sunday, it drew a 3.9, fourth lowest. The damage that televised baseball inflicts on the USFL was illustrated graphically on the second Sunday in May, when the football telecast drew a rating of 1.0, while the first-place Chicago Cubs drew 15.0.

Possible Switch to Fall Schedule

Trump, Oldenburg and Joseph Canizaro of New Orleans are the principal proponents of this move. Opposing them are Tanenbaum, Taube and especially Bassett. "The core of the league wants the USFL to go in one direction," said Simmons back in April. "But what you have here are a group of mature businessmen who are immature about owning a football team. With the exception of John Bassett, no owner has been in sports to any degree before. The result is a frustration or an impatience by free wheelers or free dealers." There are enormous questions confronting any plan to move to the fall: What network would televise USFL games in direct competition with the entrenched NFL? If a network was found, would enough viewers watch a Jacksonville-Birmingham game in preference to the Raiders vs. San Diego, or the Jets vs. Miami? How would USFL games draw on Saturday and Friday nights in direct competition with colleges and high schools, especially since the televising of pro games opposite the colleges and high schools is forbidden by law? What about stadium conflicts? One of the stickiest problems is that some of the main TV sponsors of the USFL spring games also sponsor NFL games in the fall. "We would have to take a real hard look at how we would perceive an additional sports franchise in the fall," said Duane Kell, senior vice-president of an ad agency for Chevrolet. Another executive said, "We think there is plenty of Sunday football to choose from now. I have a feeling that everyone is going to lose because it will just add to the proliferation of football in the fall." David Martin, executive vice-president of the Stroh brewery, a major sports advertiser, said, "If Mr. Trump has the kind of research that indicates the league could do well in the fall, he may have to release it pretty quickly if he expects to get a deal for the fall of 1987."

The Question Of Merger

If the USFL does fail, will the "four exciting franchises" of which Steve Young spoke be accepted into the NFL in some sort of merger? Don't count on it. That's the message of NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, who said, "When we expand, we like to pick our own cities." Bassett can attest to the NFL's reluctance to embrace old enemies. When the World Football League disbanded, he kept his Memphis Southmen intact for months, retaining almost everyone on the payroll of a team without a league, while he tried to enter the NFL. Finally, he sued. But the Southmen never made it to the NFL. The NFL owners look on the USFL moguls as the people who caused their own payrolls to soar and their profits to shrink. They are not a forgiving lot. Then, too, the USFL is full of players who could strengthen many NFL teams. Tampa Bay's Gary Anderson and Arizona's
Trumaine Johnson would help the San Diego offense. Kelly would give Buffalo a fresh future. Anthony Carter of Michigan would offer an exciting target for Dan Marino of the Dolphins. Kelvin Bryant of Philadelphia could be the successor to John Riggins with the Redskins. Irv Eatman of the Stars would move into Kansas City's offensive line. Chances are, there won't be any kind of a bailout from the NFL. The USFL must make it on its own or not at all.