Professional Spring Football League
Encyclopedia
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
league slated to begin in 1992. The league had a preview show on SportsChannel America
SportsChannel America
SportsChannel America was a cable television network operated by Cablevision. It was the country's first regional sports network, and thus an important ancestor to many of the United States' regional sports outlets, especially Fox Sports Net and Comcast SportsNet. SportsChannel New York was the...
in late 1991/early 1992, laying out the ten teams that would play. The league was founded by Vincent Sette, a computer sales executive. Rex Lardner, a television executive, was the commissioner.
As far as sports leagues folding before they began, this league probably got the closest to actually playing without ever playing, as each team had players already in camp and practicing, and rosters cut down to 60 players, before the plug was pulled. A number of current or future notable Arena Football
Arena football
Arena football is a variety of gridiron football played by the Arena Football League . It is a proprietary game, the rights to which are owned by Gridiron Enterprises, and is played indoors on a smaller field than American or Canadian outdoor football, resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game....
and NFL players were in the teams' training camps, including mid-90s Dolphins RB Bernie Parmalee
Bernie Parmalee
Bernard "Bernie" Parmalee is the current Tight End Coach for the Kansas City Chiefs.Parmalee played high school football at Lincoln High School in Jersey City, New Jersey.-Professional playing career:...
, AFL QB Ben Bennett
Ben Bennett
Ben Bennett is an American football coach most recently the head coach of the af2's Austin Wranglers. He has been involved in professional football as a player and coach since 1984...
, AFL DS Durwood Roquemore
Durwood Roquemore
Durwood Roquemore Durwood Roquemore Durwood Roquemore (born January 19, 1960 in Dallas, Texas is a former American football cornerback in the National Football League, United States Football League, and Arena Football League. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the sixth round of the 1982...
, and AFL WR/DB Barry Wagner
Barry Wagner
Barry Wagner is a retired American football player in the Arena Football League for the Orlando Predators with whom he won his first ArenaBowl Championship and the San Jose SaberCats, with whom he won two championships. He also played in the World Indoor Football League as a wide...
. Notre Dame QB Tony Rice, Tim Smith RB – Washington Redskins (200+ yards) in the Superbowl and many others that played professional football.
The 1992 PSFL Championship Game, "The Red, White And Blue Bowl", was to have been played at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium, in Washington, D.C., United States, and the current home of MLS's D.C. United....
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, on Sunday, July 5.
The folding of the league was announced on February 19, 1992, 10 days before the season opener.
The league had over 7 million dollars in escrow from ticket sales as funds were not to be spent until the games were paid and revenues were earned. This protected fans and sponsors from losses or failure. The PSFL tried to regroup for 1993 season, but again the start-up funding did not get secured.
The league was the first Sports LLC which has been the blueprint of leagues since. Most well known is the WNBA. It was one single corporation which made it unique as the league owned the teams corporately with limit partners as "team owners". This eliminated weak financial teams as well as collusion as all players were contracted from the PSFL and then assigned to teams. The teams shut down all on the same day as all invoiced expenses were paid by the league headquarters on a budget system. The start-up funding to get to the first games did not show up for various reasons.
It was responsible for many NFL changes in player relationships, stadium signage configurations, and marketing sponsorship innovations.
Two-point conversions were allowed and overtime was sudden death with each team having a possession (1992).
The league did play a few exhibition games in Florida for the benefit of the Police Departments.
Teams and Cities
- Arkansas Miners - Head Coach Darrel Rogers, STADIUM: War Memorial (53,250)
- Carolina Cougars - Head Coach Pete Katella, STADIUM: Williams-Brice (72,000)
- Miami Tribe - Head Coach Pete McCulley STADIUM: Orange Bowl (75,500)
- Nevada Aces - Head Coach Steve Goldman, STADIUM: Silver Bowl (32,500)
- New England Blitz - Head Coach Steve Grogan, STADIUM: Holy Cross Stadium (25,000)
- New Mexico Rattlesnakes - Head Coach Al Bruno STADIUM: Lobo Field (30,646)
- Oregon Lightning Bolts - Head Coach, Craig Morton STADIUM: Civic Stadium (31,000)
- Tampa Bay Outlaws - Head Coach, Boyd Dowler STADIUM: Tampa Stadium (72,126)
- Utah Pioneers - Head Coach, John D'Ottavio STADIUM: Rice Stadium (35,000)
- Washington Spirit - Head Coach, Guy Morris STADIUM: RFK Stadium (55,683)