USFL, Still Around, Asks Court to Divide NFL

The United States Football League, vowing “we’re not going to go away,” asked a federal court to split the National Football League into two separate conferences and knock the established league off one of the three major television networks.

The motion, an outgrowth of the USFL’s $1.69-billion antitrust suit against the NFL, was made to U.S. District Judge Peter Leisure, who presided at the 10-week trial this summer. The USFL was awarded only $3, and the NFL was found liable on just one of nine counts in the suit.

It was the one antitrust finding--that the NFL was a monopoly--on which the USFL based Thursday’s motion. It asked that the AFC and NFC be made into two entities, each to negotiate its own TV contract with a network, run its own finances and conduct a separate draft. A third network would be left free for the USFL.