USFL

The USFL was less gimmicky than the XFL, but still didn’t really do anything to improve on its older brother, the NFL. It’s season ran during the spring, apparently to give football fans their fix during the NFL’s off months. Their decision to go into NFL markets may have been their demise, as serious NFL fans were unlikely to defect to the USFL, even though the USFL boasted some pretty decent alumni when the league folded in its fourth year in 1986.