Klosterman Says Express May Disband

Los Angeles Express President Don Klosterman said Thursday that he thinks there is a chance the financially troubled team will be disbanded next Monday night at the United States Football League’s owners meeting in Teaneck, N.J.

“I’m just being realistic,” Klosterman said when reached by phone at home Thursday night. “I just hope they work things out. But there are some things that just make me wonder, like how long the league can continue to carry us.”

The USFL has financially operated the Express for all but a brief period since last July, when the league took control after owner J. William Oldenburg went under federal investigation for alleged business irregularities.

The USFL considered the Express, a team which, under Oldenburg, had secured some of the best young talent in pro football, a pivotal franchise in the future success of the league.

They deemed it so necessary that 13 USFL owners agreed to pay $250,000 each before the beginning of the season to keep this team financially afloat.

But the Express (2-7) has been a flop on the field. The team has been affected by a rash of injuries and, no doubt, the many off-the-field rumors of its imminent demise.

“It’s too bad this team hasn’t performed better,” Klosterman said. “But if it breaks up, the players will make major contributions to other teams.”

In last summer’s NFL supplemental draft, the Express had 20 players selected, 11 on the first round. But this team has hardly lived up to its potential.

“I wish I could be more optimistic,” Klosterman said. “But I have to be realistic. I think the league will go on, but I don’t know what will happen to us. Economics will prevail.”

Monday’s owners meeting will be the most critical in the league’s three-year history.

The league is decisively split over whether to play in the spring or fall. Though the league voted to compete against the NFL in the fall of 1986, league opinion swayed greatly when the USFL could not secure a television contract with any of the major networks. ABC, which has the spring football rights for the USFL, announced it would not cover the league if it plays in the fall next season.

At Monday’s meeting, USFL Commissioner Harry Usher will encourage league owners to play in the fall without a television contract. The league, though, does have a three-year, $70-million-deal with ESPN.

In a vote of sentiment last March 20, the owners voted, 11-3, to stay in the spring. Though that number may be closer now, Tampa Bay Bandit owner John Bassett has already announced he will defect and form his own spring league should the USFL decide to go to the fall in 1986.

“I know this will be a critical meeting,” Klosterman said. “There are a lot of things that are not resolved.”

Though Usher has insisted that there will be a franchise in Los Angeles, Klosterman isn’t so sure the league can keep paying the team’s bills.

“It’s been a year and a half of working every day,” Klosterman said. “I feel like a damn good life guard.”