The USFL has concluded season two as the Birmingham Stallions repeated as champions. The league has already decided they will return for their third season. The USFL was the first Spring football league since the original 1980’s USFL to play more than one season in a row and declare a champion. Last year, the USFL had 4 hub cities instead of just the one they used in season 1 in 2022. The USFL used Tom Benson Stadium in Canton, Ohio as their site for the playoffs and championship in year one. This year they expanded their use of Canton making it a hub city for two teams and more playoff action. Before you expand the league into more teams, you have to get these teams home to their actual city and state, not their adopted city and state.

The USFL has done well with building a fan base for the Birmingham Stallions, Michigan Panthers, and Memphis Showboats because these teams play their home games in their respective cities. Teams like New Orleans, Houston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and New Jersey need to go home. Let’s say the league accommodates that for those teams on a permanent road trip. Then let’s say the team would want to expand to ten teams by adding two teams from the past to the mix. Which two teams would fans like to see resurrected?

The USFL has 11 options they could used from the past 1980’s league. Times have changed since the 1980’s as some of these cities have other teams playing there from other leagues. In those situations, the USFL may not be a good fit. I will go from the worst idea to the best idea with all 11 options.

#11. LA Express

The present USFL has not made their way out West yet. The LA Express would be a bad idea, as the city already has two NFL teams: the Rams and Chargers. The Chargers fan base may be smaller than what they had in San Diego. The Express on their first go around they had the stud quarterback in Steve Young. When the Express played at the LA Coliseum, nobody showed. The greatest game nobody saw was quoted by the press when Jim Kelley and his Houston Gamblers played Young’s Express in LA. The pro: LA is a big market. The Cons: LA has two baseball teams in the same market.

#10. San Antonio Gunslingers

Some would say the old San Antonio Gunslinger logo is cartoon like. I like it. In the first go around in the USFL, the Gunslingers team on payday would all race in their cars to the local bank to cash their checks. The players knew if they got there before their own teammates, they might get paid that week. Some checks bounced. Great place to play in the Alamo Dome in San Antonio. The USFL would be invading XFL territory as they already have a team in San Antonio called the Brahmas. The XFL seems to have a team in almost all the big cities in Texas. The USFL and XFL share one city already for the Gamblers and Roughnecks.

Is the Gunslinger name tainted in the city as San Antonio arena team uses the same nickname? The pro: San Antonio would be a nice addition to the South division with teams already in place like New Orleans, Houston, Memphis and Birmingham.

#9.ORLANDO RENEGADES

The Orlando Renegades only played in one season in the USFL. The Renegades originally were the Washington Federals and the team left DC for Florida. The Renegades did outdraw the Federals in attendance. Both the Renegades and Federals were bad teams. I love the Renegades logo with the feathers and the hatchet. These days anything to do with Indians and Native Americans in your team logo is not a good thing. Ask the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Redskins organizations. The Atlanta Braves, Chicago Blackhawks, and the Kansas City Chiefs are still hanging around. Then you have to deal with the XFL team in Orlando, the Guardians, who are a bad team. Do you think Orlando fans would like to watch two bad Spring football teams? Plus, Orlando has a very successful Arena league team in the Predators. To be outdrawn by that league in attendance would be embarrassing.

#8.JACKSONVILLE BULLS

The Bulls did very well in the first go around of the USFL in the 1980’s. The Bulls led the USFL in fans attending their home games. The Bulls offense used Lindy Infante’s high electric offense that featured running back Mike Rozier and quarterback Brian Sipe to create a must watch team. Another very cool logo and team you could easily add to the South division. My only problem with the Bulls is the city already has the Jaguars of the NFL. Last year the Jaguars fans returned out of the wood work as the team finally made it to the playoffs. How many times did you hear the Jaguars were a team that was going to move to another city? Some thought they’d take up a home base in London, England. The Jaguars were horrible for most of their existence. I think the Bulls would be bad timing at this time since the city agreed to renovate the home stadium the Jaguars play home games in.

#7. OAKLAND INVADERS

The Invaders is a great nickname. If the Invaders resurrected, they could move right back in the Oakland Coliseum and pretend like they never left. Bringing back football on the infield of the baseball diamond. The Invaders made it all the way to the championship game in 1985 led by former Michigan Panther and New Orleans Saints Quarterback Bobby Hebert, but they ended up losing to the Philadelphia Stars. I like the idea of the Invaders back in the league, but teams are leaving Oakland rather than wanting to play there. Raiders to Vegas. Now the Athletics want to head to Vegas. Could the USFL follow the conga line and have the Invaders become the Vegas Invaders? I think the west coast would be a better idea if the league is thriving and in a permanent state of mind that this Spring league would not fold up shop. Too many teams water down the product on the field. I think the league would have to move slowly toward the West.

#6. ARIZONA WRANGLERS

Arizona is not far off from adding the Wranglers in the South Division. When the Cardinals moved to Arizona it took that team many years to build up a fan base there. Playing outside would probably be a bad idea as the Cardinals played for years in the hot sun of Arizona State Sun Devil stadium. The Wranglers did play their home game in Sun Devil stadium. Arizona does have an all-purpose dome State Farm stadium and I think the Wranglers could play there the second go around to build up a fan base. The Wranglers were able to merge with the Chicago Blitz when they folded and Arizona made it to the championship game in 1984 only to fall victim to the Philadelphia Stars. My one problem with Arizona is that the Coyotes want to move out of town and skate somewhere else. Baseball, basketball, and now the Cardinals have done well. Arizona is a roll of the dice if the USFL want to return to the cactus state.

#5. DENVER GOLD

The Denver Gold were not very golden in the first go around of the league. Bad ownership. The stories of bare to the bones came into play when you talked about the Gold ownership. The meals supplied by the team… you could probably be fed better in prison. The rent-a-wreck was the words used to describe the car situation for the Gold players when they needed a car. Is Denver a one horse type of town with the Broncos in the NFL? Setting up shop in Colorado is technically west coast. Denver could be a team temporarily in the North Division or even in the South but still kind of in no-man’s land. Something about having games with the mountains in the back ground is cool. Could you build up a following in the second go around or is this idea a pipe dream breathing in the Rocky mountain high?

#4.OKLAHOMA OUTLAWS

The Outlaws may be the coolest logo ever in the USFL. The original Outlaws only existed one year in Oklahoma. The Outlaws would become the Wranglers. The Outlaws had a owner who would treat his team like cattle. They had Doug Williams at quarterback in that year as he emerged later on in the NFL with the Redskins. Williams became the first black quarterback to win a Superbowl title. Oklahoma has a professional basketball in the Thunder who have done well since vacating Seattle. It sucks that the Supersonics are not still around in the NBA. Oklahoma is all about Sooners football as they love the college game. If you can get the interest from the fans wanting a team in the Spring and bring back the Outlaws, you would be the only game in town when you play football. The second go around teams don’t have these problems with cheap and bad ownerships because the league is owned by Fox network. Would Oklahoma be too far west? Like the Denver idea, they could be in either division temporarily until you establish teams on the West coast.

#3.WASHINGTON FEDERALS

The first go around for the Washington Federals was horrible because they played bad football. You could compare them to the Washington Generals that played the Harlem Globetrotters on the Simpsons. Krusty the Clown bet on them because he thought they were due. The name & the color scheme I like for the Federals. Baseball came back to the nation’s capital as the Expos turn into the Nationals and they did well. DC has the Commanders and they have the Defenders in the XFL which would be hard. Could the beer snake extend to back to back spring fling football teams as DC fans have been one of the exciting fan bases in football after the NFL. The Federals would fit in with the North Division with Michigan, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New Jersey. Watching bad Redskin football all these years means maybe the younger generation will gravitate to the Defenders and Federals.

#2.CHICAGO BLITZ

I like the idea of having a team in my own home city. The Blitz had Bills legendary coach Marv Leavy coaching them at one point. The Blitz’s first season the team did well as they made the playoffs and lost to the Stars in overtime in Philadelphia. The Blitz played their home games at Soldier Field but only averaged 18,000 fans per game. The Chicago Bears are planning to move to the burbs as the Blitz can retake their former home turf in Soldier Field. Downtown Chicago these days is not the safest place to be. The Blitz could use another stadium vacated by the Chicago Fire, the soccer team, on the south side of town. Bringing back the Blitz, you can fit them right in the North division with Michigan, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Pittsburgh. The Blitz ended up folding and most of the team became a part of the Wranglers in Arizona. The biggest question is whether a big city like Chicago can gravitate to a small Spring football league.

#1.TAMPA BAY BANDITS

The Tampa Bay Bandits will ride again in the USFL. The Bandits were back in 2022 in the reboot of the USFL. The league wanted to open up the Memphis hub city and resurrected the Showboats, saying the Bandits will be back in the future. The Bandits did well in the 1980’s when actor Burt Reynolds had some stake in the team as he was a co-owner. The Tampa Bay market does have the Buccaneers in the NFL. No XFL team to deal with. Every league wants a Florida franchise. The USFL best option is Tampa Bay over the other two choices they have had in the past with Orlando and Jacksonville. Tampa Bay would be a perfect team to add to the South Division. The Tampa Bay fan base has improved with the Buccaneers over the years and the Lightning in the NHL. In baseball, I’m not sure why the Rays gets a raw deal when they’ve been a top team for the last ten seasons in the MLB.

The USFL should not rush expansion as all their teams they have now still have to establish their own fan base in their own cities. In year two, the entire USFL was a well-balanced league as every team was competitive. As a fan, we want to see some of these old helmets back in the league in the future. It may be the same helmet, just in a different city as well. Perhaps the USFL and the XFL will emerge. Some of these old helmets may never resurface in the future.