Eddie Einhorn, who unsuccessfully tried to negotiate...

Eddie Einhorn, who unsuccessfully tried to negotiate a fall television package for the USFL, warned in 1984 that the league’s strategy of moving out of major markets could cripple his efforts for a TV contract, according to documents introduced at the $1.5-billion USFL antitrust suit in New York.

The material was contained in minutes of the key USFL owners’ meeting in August, 1984, at which time the league voted to switch from a spring schedule to a fall one beginning in 1986.

One of the NFL’s strategies is to show that the desire of the USFL to force a merger with the NFL prompted the new league to move from major markets into so-called “merger cities,” making it a less desirable television product.