Usher Reportedly Set as USFL Commissioner

Los Angeles attorney Harry Usher is reportedly in line to be named commissioner of the United States Football League, replacing Chet Simmons.

In Boston, the Globe said Saturday that Usher would be named to the post early this week. According to the newspaper, Usher, executive vice president and general manager of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committe for the 1984 Games, agreed to a multi-year contract after meeting recently in Florida with a group of USFL team owners.

However, Usher was quoted by RKO Radio Sports Saturday as saying: “The inquiry from the USFL is a matter of exactly that right now, an inquiry. There is interest on my part, certainly, but no consummated agreement.

“I think the league has an awful lot of potential, and I think it has the strong teams, strong stars and strong ownership. I’m intrigued with the league as such.”

Usher has been negotiating with USFL owners since at least early November, but both he and colleagues at the LAOOC have described the talks as fitful. There have been reports that he was asking as much as $750,000 in annual salary and was seeking solid assurance that the league would stay in business.

Last week, committee sources said that they expected a decision on whether Usher would get the job by sometime this week. But a reliable league source indicated that complications remained to be settled.

After the league failed to get the network contracts its owners had expected last year, a group headed by owner Donald Trump of the New Jersey Generals started searching for a successor to Simmons.

The Globe said Usher almost accepted the position six weeks ago but wanted to wait until the league completed its restructuring to be sure it was financially ready to start its third season.

In November, the league dissolved the Pittsburgh franchise and completed three mergers to reduce the 18 teams that played in 1984 to 14 scheduled to start the 1985 season Feb. 24.

Harry Usher