USFL to get a second chance
It wasn’t long after the Pittsburgh Maulers first took the field in 1984 that they learned it wasn’t meant to be. Financial struggles and impulsive decisionmaking by the United States Football League’s leadership saw the local franchise fold just a year after it was founded.
But 37 years later, the Maulers might get something that most people don’t — a second chance.
The USFL announced June 3 that it plans to return in spring 2022, nearly 40 years after the league collapsed. Under the leadership of co-founder Brian Woods and minority owner and official broadcast partner Fox Sports, a minimum of eight teams will return and retain their original names, meaning the Maulers could be brought back to life.
In 1983, the USFL debuted with 12 teams. The league hosted a draft to load up rosters with college stars to attract fans and played its inaugural season in the spring. In 1984, it expanded to 18 teams, and two groups filed for a Pittsburgh franchise in the winter of 1983.
Edward DeBartolo Sr. was one of two to file for the franchise, which came as a surprise because his son owned the San Francisco 49ers and Penguins at the time. The league debated whether to approve his bid because of his ties to other teams, but when he secured the lease at Three Rivers Stadium, it couldn’t turn him down.
The Maulers won just three games that season, tying the Washington Federals for the league’s worst record. Despite being an expansion team that struggled to win games, fan support was strong.
They arrived at a convenient time when the Steelers were in the middle of an on-field decline after their dominance in the 1970s. The Penguins were still new and hadn’t gained much of a following, and the Pirates were collapsing on and off the field, topped off by the 1985 Pittsburgh Drug Trials, and the team nearly relocated to Denver.
Fans turned to the Maulers, who attracted around 23,000 per game, a respectable number for a new team.
“Our fans were really into it, but we wasn’t that gap paying the bills either,” said Sam Clancy, former Maulers defensive end. “We weren’t filling Three Rivers Stadium up at the time. We had a decent crowd, but not 55,000 like a lot of stadiums do.”
Three Rivers Stadium, which ultimately secured the team for DeBartolo, also was the reason it collapsed. Donald Trump was the owner of the New Jersey Generals at the time and wanted to move the schedule to the fall so the USFL could go head-to-head with the NFL. He famously said, “If God wanted football in the spring, he wouldn’t have created baseball.”
The USFL voted to switch to a fall schedule starting in 1986, and DeBartolo knew that sharing Three Rivers Stadium would cause a logistical nightmare with the Steelers, Maulers and Pirates all fighting for dates. DeBartolo considered moving the team to Cleveland, which was closer to his home in Youngstown, Ohio, but quickly ruled that out since Cleveland fans would never accept a Pittsburgh refugee.
Just a week after they decided to move the schedule to the fall, DeBartolo folded the team. He intended to merge the Maulers with another team and struck a deal with the Philadelphia Stars. Months later, his wife urged him to sell his stake in the Stars and get out of the league entirely.
“I really believe that if we would have had a second year, we would have made a difference in the league,” Clancy said.
Then, Trump led a lawsuit against the NFL claiming it had established a monopoly with respect to broadcasting rights. He hoped this lawsuit would force a merger between the two leagues, but it ultimately led to a devastating defeat for the USFL. It was the icing on the cake, as the league joined the Maulers and folded in 1986 after just three seasons of play.
Several USFL teams were one-season wonders due to relocating, merging or changing names, but the Maulers were the only ones with no connections to any other city or team before or after the 1984 season.
But with the recent news of the USFL’s return, the Maulers might no longer be oneseason wonders.
While it has been years since they last played and many of the former players have gone on to new careers in coaching, college athletics or outside of football, they remember their year on the team fondly.
“It was a special time,” said Glenn Carano, former Maulers and Dallas Cowboys quarterback
The USFL is entering a pool of leagues that have tried their hand at holding spring seasons.
The Arena Football League and the Alliance of American Football both tried to hold spring seasons in 2018 and 2019 but filed bankruptcy a few months later. The XFL, which debuted in 2020, reached a premature end due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the new ownership of actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and business partner Dany Garcia, the league announced it would restart in 2022 but put those plans on hold to explore a potential partnership with the Canadian Football League.
The biggest challenge has been sustainability, which the USFL struggled with during the mid-1980s and will have to tackle again in 2022.
“I think that there’s a market for spring football out there,” Carano said. “People love football. I think they love it year-round. If we would’ve let it go on a few more years, I think it would have made it. I think it’s great to get more players that aren’t able to make the NFL that first time out, they can go the USFL and then either play the USFL their entire career or maybe play in the NFL sometime at a later date.”
Former Maulers cornerback Jerry Holmes echoed Carano’s sentiment. Since he finished playing, he has coached younger players at the college and professional level and said that the existence of a league like the USFL provides crucial opportunities for their development.
Clancy, for one, reflected on his time as a player and the role the USFL played in his growth.
“I didn’t have the talent to be on an NFL field yet,” he said. “The Maulers gave me an opportunity to develop. They made it comfortable for me because I was 250 pounds and an ex-basketball player trying to learn professional football. It’s how I really learned because now I’m playing every snap instead of playing just a few nickel downs. … To have a place where you really can sharpen your skills a little more, I think that’s going to be big.”
While the former Maulers see the demand for the USFL, they agreed that changes need to be made. Last time, the effort to mimic the NFL and merge the leagues led to its demise. The USFL knows there’s no competing with the NFL and that the salary incentives, which brought players over from the league last time, won’t compare.
But Clancy believes the NFL can and should play a role in the USFL’s success.
“I think for it to be successful, the NFL’s got to get behind it,” he said.
Clancy coached in the NFL Europe football league from 1995-99 and said the NFL supported the league, which allowed for nearly two decades of success. He said if the NFL can back the USFL, then it has an even greater chance of sustaining.
Lastly, the players said that patience and support from the ownership is key to longevity.
“You’ve got to have the right ownership behind it,” Clancy said. “People who can afford to lose a little money the first year and still say, ‘OK, well we’ll do it again next year. We’re right on the verge of success.’ They have to give it a chance. … It’s going to take time, and it’s going to take patience for the league to stay.”
As for Pittsburgh, all three players had no doubt that the city would welcome the Maulers back with open arms.
“They love football in that city,” Holmes said.
“Pittsburgh breathes, lives and dies football,” Carano echoed. “That’s what Pittsburgh’s all about.”
“I just hope they can get some talent here because Pittsburgh loves winners,” Clancy added. “If they get the right players here, and they’re winning, no matter what league it is, the people will show up.”
The USFL said it will announce which franchises will return at a later date, as it works toward making the most of its second chance.
“I think for it to be successful, the NFL’s got to get behind it.” — Sam Clancy