Q&A; WITH HARRY USHER : Prospects Look Good for USFL, He Says, but Not for L.A. Express

The United States Football League is in the early stages of the longest off-season in the history of professional football.

After three seasons of spring-summer football, the league plans to go head to head with the National Football League, beginning with the 1986 season.

In recent months, the only USFL news has been reports of lawsuits and the league’s better known players, such as the L.A. Express’ Steve Young and Oakland’s Bobby Hebert and Anthony Carter drifting to the NFL.

In a recent phone interview, USFL Commissioner Harry Usher, who was executive vice president and general manager of the L.A. Olympic Organizing Committee, was asked about his league’s status, as it regroups and plans for its next season, 11 months away.

Question: Generally speaking, what are the USFL’s prospects right now?

Answer: We’re in the process of skipping a season in order to move into a fall, 1986 schedule. We’re in the process of ascertaining the number of teams we will have for that season, so we can proceed with a schedule.

Q--How many teams will you have?

A--It’ll be 8, 10 or 12.

Q--Can you say now there’s a 100% chance you’ll play football in 1986?

A--Oh, yes.

Q--What about the Los Angeles Express?

A--Right now, I don’t have prospects that look very good for a team in Los Angeles, or anywhere else in Southern California. The cities that look solid for ’86 right now, I’d say, are New Jersey, Baltimore, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa Bay, Birmingham, Memphis, Phoenix, Oakland and Portland.

Q--Are you disturbed by news reports of players like Young and Hebert leaving for the NFL being the only USFL news in the papers? Do you worry about a general perception that maybe the USFL has had it?

A--Sure, it’s a problem. It seems like the only news we can get is about lawsuits and players leaving the league. The public’s perception of us is important to us. There is a perception that (large numbers of) players are leaving our league and that is a problem for us.

But maybe people aren’t aware of the entire story of players we’ve lost. Actually, it’s a two-way flow of players. A total of 58 NFL players have come over to our league since the league’s founding. And there are 79 of our players who’ve gone over to the NFL. However, the large majority of our star players are still with us.

Q--If you don’t acquire an ownership group for the L.A. Express, what happens to those players?

A--We’d have a dispersal draft. Some may be released outright. Right now, we’re trying to get a handle on who is owed what by the Express.

Q--You’ve been sued by Don Klosterman, the former Express general manager. Can you comment?

A--First of all, I’m saddened by its filing. I hope we can put together an ownership group there. . . . If we can, I think it will solve some of the problems in the lawsuit.

Q--What about your lawsuit against the NFL?

A--We’re scheduled in court next March for a full-blown trial. We’re optimistic about the outcome. The fact that we’ve had to compete with a league (the NFL) when it has all three television networks locked up has proven to be a substantial hurdle to having access to the TV money necessary to sustain a profitable sports operation. And I think that what has been disclosed thus far about the activities of the NFL with regard to the Sports Broadcasting Act (of 1961) since 1970 further bolsters our cause.

Q--You’ve been commissioner for nine months now. Are things better or worse than when you started?

A--I think that the sense of direction and unity are now much better than when I started. Right now, our ownership seems single-minded. We’ve spilled a lot of financial blood this year and it’s tough. It’s very, very tough. It creates anxieties, stress and tensions and we’ve had to deal with all that. But in pulling together, this thing is stronger than it ever was.

Q--Even with the financial problems some of your owners have experienced?

A--There has been some financial fallout from people in our league who I thought had more staying power. Part of it wasn’t their fault, though. What happened to Marvin Warner (general partner of the USFL’s Birmingham franchise) was a shock to everyone. . . . He was the owner of a savings and loan which had a run on savings. And the physical problems of John Bassett (owner of the Tampa Bay franchise, who has brain cancer) as well as the suicide of his partner has affected all of us. The liquidity problems of Clint Manges (San Antonio franchise owner) is a problem for us, and a surprising one.

Q--Did you take a long look at the World Football League experience before you took this job?

A--I wasn’t real familiar with the WFL situation, although I’d read about it. I knew Gary Davidson (founder and first-year WFL commissioner) and Chris Hemmeter (second- and final-year commissioner). I have to say that the owners in that league weren’t nearly on the same financial level as the USFL owners.

Q--What successes have you had?

A--I think the instant TV replay of (selected) officials’ calls has been successful for us. And we’re very happy that the entire cost of its usage was only $70,000--and also that the NFL is now talking about using it. And we’ve done some other innovative TV things, like miking players for sideline interviews. And we put in some rules that reduced the average length of our games to under three hours.