Literature of Sports Reflection

The $1 League by Jim Byrne

"The economic follies of a few entrepeneurial football owners" should be the subtitle of The $1 League, an overview of the economic downfall of the United States Football League written by the league's director of public relations, Jim Byrne.

Don't open this book if you're looking for some great football action. Instead, Byrne captures all the nervous suspense which takes place in the boardrooms. Byrne paints the eerie picture of how multimillionaires Donald Trump, owner of the New Jersey Generals, and William J. Oldenburg, owner of the Los Angeles Express, committed the young league to field teams in direct competition with the National Football League in 1986.

Despite the efforts of Tampa Bay Bandits' owner John Bassett, the league went ahead with the planned move away from spring football despite the added burden of the bankrupt Los Angeles franchise abandoned by Oldenburg. The USFL didn't take long to sink after the league's failed lawsuit attempt against the NFL.