Comments on: Would-be NFL Lockout Alternatives: Michigan Panthers

By: Gun-totin-wacko

Gun-totin-wacko — Tue, 24 May 2011 03:13:00 +0000

To be honest though, I doubt they’d still be around: There’s a great book called “First down and a billion” by Gene Klein, former owner of the Chargers. He talks about when he first bought the team, in the 1960s. He said that, based on his research before writing the check, he looked at it as buying an NFL team, because he said there was no way the AFL and the NFL could continue to compete for players.

Look at the talent the USFL got the first year or two, and the same thing seems to hold true- anytime a brand new league can sign Walker, Young, Carter, Kelly and so on; the NFL would have had to start writing gigantic checks for players… and so would the USFL. At some point, they’d have had to make peace, and probably merge.

But it sure is nice to dream… almost as nice as it was to sit in front of a tv watching a Detroit football team win it all!

By: Zac Snyder

Zac Snyder — Tue, 24 May 2011 00:08:20 +0000

I had a lot of fun putting this post together because I lack the personal memories of the Panthers. I’m young enough that the only reason I was aware of the USFL was because the back of a lot of football cards I collected included those stats. Part of me still finds it hard to believe another “major” professional football league existed in my lifetime (albeit the very early part of it).

By: Gun-totin-wacko

Gun-totin-wacko — Mon, 23 May 2011 23:33:40 +0000

Love the Panthers! I’ve tried to find official jerseys, but no dice.

I can’t help but think that moving to a fall schedule was the fatal mistake. They might still be around today if they had listened to the Taubmans and continued in the spring.