Attempt to relaunch USFL delayed

Jim Corbett, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

A re-launch of the USFL has been delayed until March, 2014.

A scaled-down, eight-team reprise of the 1983-1987 spring/developmental league had been slated for this spring.

The original, big-money USFL ceased operation in 1987 when it tried to compete in the fall against the NFL after its inception as a spring football alternative four years earlier.

The league became a launching pad for such future NFL stars as Reggie White of the Memphis Showboats, Jim Kelly of the Houston Gamblers, Steve Young of the Los Angeles Express and Herschel Walker and Doug Flutie of the New Jersey Generals.

The new USFL was conceived as a sort of NFL minor-league system, according to league CEO Jim Bailey, who has 21 years of operational experience with the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens.

Bailey said the sites of the league's charter teams have yet to be finalized.

"At one point we were shooting for 2013,'' Bailey told USA TODAY Sports Friday. "Obviously, that didn't work.

"We think that there is a market for it in the spring of 2014. There are a lot of markets that don't have a football team to follow."

The plan is for eight teams will play a 14-game schedule culminating in a July championship game.

"We're going to keep shooting for 2014 until it becomes impossible,'' Bailey said. "The thing we're committed to doing is making sure our football product is good.''

Bailey declined to say what each franchise would cost, but indicated the planned economic model will be far less expensive than the original -- and hopefully sustainable.

"We're not going to spend that kind of money (the old USFL did) and that's the reason we're so adamant on a flat pay scale for all players with some bonusing for playoff success,'' Bailey said player pay scale would be in the $30,000 to $35,000 per season range.

"We're thinking $2,500 per game. One of the main things we want to do is give these guys a chance to be seen on game tape."

"We'll probably provide housing for them.''

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello declined to comment on the USFL initiative.

"We're not looking to compete with the NFL,'' Bailey said. "We're not going to be asking the NFL for anything. We just want to let them know what our plans are and make sure they know what our program is.''

The proposed USFL hasn't contacted a television network yet since it first has to finalize its eight markets in smaller, non-NFL cities.

So think USFL sans former Generals owner Donald Trump.

"When Donald Trump came into the old USFL, he was the one who really pushed hard to move it into the fall and go head to head with the NFL,'' Bailey said. "My reaction to that was, 'No, that's not the course we're going to go this time.'''