One Dollar League: Rise and Fall of the United States Football League [Hardcover]

Jim Byrne (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The United States Football League began in 1982 with high hopes in lucrative TV contracts, enthusiastic, well-heeled owners, a full 1983 schedule, and predicted fan support. Byrne, the league's communications director, tells the sad results as the league limped through three spring seasons of falling attendance, waning ABC and ESPN networks ratings, warfare among owners Donald Trump, John Bassett, and others, and failing finances. The Pyrrhic $1 judgment (with triple damages) in 1986 in its antitrust suit against the NFL wrote finis to the dreams. Despite an overly detailed story with too frequent use of locker room language, this is pro football history that readers of David Harris's NFL saga The League ( LJ 10/15/86) will want. Morey Berger, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 1st edition (March 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0133317609
• ISBN-13: 978-0133317602
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,761,948 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!, April 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: One Dollar League: Rise and Fall of the United States Football League (Hardcover)

I know a lot of people out there have been trying to get a copy of The $1 League for a while and I have two words of advice: don't stop. The book is amazingly detailed and gives first-hand insight into what made the USFL what it was: decent football, a good idea, and a cluster-.. of egos that blew the entire concept apart. If you're interested as to why the USFL failed, this book will set everything straight. If you want detailed game accounts, you won't find it here. Check out Paul Reeths' website instead.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best, September 23, 2000

By 

Paul (RI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Dollar League: Rise and Fall of the United States Football League (Hardcover)

Wow! If you want to read a book about the trials and tribulations of a person involved in something that is perceived to be world class yet is actually mickey mouse and held together with smoke, mirrors and a little crazy glue, then this is your book. I've read it 3 times and will read it agian. It is very informative about the rise and fall of the USFL as well as being in the unique position to laugh at the league and some of the 'low lights'. This is an honest portrayal of life in the USFL and worth the read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Solid Read About What Could Have Been, March 8, 2004

By 

Richard J. Weaver "The Answer Man" (New Orleans, LA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: One Dollar League: Rise and Fall of the United States Football League (Hardcover)

Jim Byrne had a front-row seat to the wild, three-year ride of the United States Football League. He gets a little long winded at times, but all in all, this is a very good book and a must-have for all fans of the old USFL. Byrne sort of sets them up and knocks them down - telling the league's botching of a TV deal, the Donald Trump led campaign to go head to head with the NFL and the eventual "victory" in court. I thought he was especially colorful in the very beginning of the book when he describes Harry Usher trying to keep the 1985 championship trophy from falling apart on him while at the same time the league itself was falling apart all around him. Like I said, Byrne gets a little off the subject from time to time, but it's a great read for any fan of spring football.