1985 United States Spring League 40th Anniversary Team Cards
Full color printed and cut team cards for all fourteen teams, over 400 players individually rated, presented in team colors and a new "retro" design. Also includes season summary, instant results grid, fringe player ratings, injury exemption list and design notes.
• This page is for the printed version. The PDF version is available here.
Full color printed and cut team cards for all fourteen teams, over 400 players individually rated, presented in team colors and a new "retro" design. Also includes season summary, instant results grid, fringe player ratings, injury exemption list and design notes.
• This page is for the printed version. The PDF version is available here.
Full color printed and cut team cards for all fourteen teams, over 400 players individually rated, presented in team colors and a new "retro" design. Also includes season summary, instant results grid, fringe player ratings, injury exemption list and design notes.
• This page is for the printed version. The PDF version is available here.
We're excited to present the final season of the original United States Football League, the last circuit to seriously challenge the established pro league's monopoly of the sport. We're especially pleased to be releasing this season on its the 40th anniversary.
There are plenty of available online resources dedicated to preserving the history of this league, and the more you read about it the more compelling the story becomes. The league's controversial decision to switch to a proposed fall schedule for the following year (1986) and file anti-trust litigation against the NFL (a legal victory rewarded with $1 in damages!) is among the most notorious tales in the annals of professional sports. Let's just say that in retrospect the USFL assembled an impressive array of legitimate pro football stars (e.g., Jim Kelly, Reggie White, Joe Cribbs, Anthony Carter, Herschel Walker, Bobby Hebert, Steve Young, Gary Anderson, to name a few), enough to mount a credible challenge against the established league. Had they stuck to their plan of playing football in the spring, investing in and developing their own players and fan bases, many pro football historians believe they could have eventually achieved parity with the NFL. Even those most skeptical would have to concede that the 1985 USFL forged a serious talent gap between themselves and the numerous pro football wanna-be leagues which have come after.
With this collection of team cards, you’ll be able to experience the USFL as it really was! We’ve rated the teams relative to the established league, allowing for realistic interleague play AND intra-league play. The top spring league teams like Baltimore, New Jersey and Oakland, will be able to hang in there with the established league’s middle-tier teams while regularly posting wins against teams from the spring league. And there’s plenty of entertainment here—remember, the “Run and Shoot” offense of the ‘90s began in the USFL in the ‘80s! Both the Denver and Houston clubs feature it. You get team cards for each of the league’s fourteen teams presented in a nostalgic 1980s graphic style, along with design notes, fringe player ratings, injury exemptions and an instant results chart that lets you determine winners with a single dice roll.