1985 United Soccer League season

History

The United Soccer League played its first season in 1984 as the de facto United States second division. The previous second division, the American Soccer League, had been unstable and barely surviving for several years by the end of its 1983 season, and two of its owners broke away in January 1984 to form the United Soccer League as a fiscally sound replacement. The USL played the 1984 season with nine teams in three divisions, but all of those teams lost money and most failed to post a performance bond to commit to another season the following winter. In February 1985, USL leadership participated in merger talks with the North American Soccer League (which also found itself with only a few clubs willing to commit to another season) to try to salvage some form of professional outdoor soccer, but on March 5, USL Commissioner William Burfeind announced the merger would not take place. The NASL cancelled its 1985 season shortly afterwards, and five of the USL franchises (the New York Nationals, Charlotte Gold, Jacksonville Tea Men, Buffalo Storm and Rochester Flash) went dormant or folded while the Houston Dynamos withdrew to become independent. This left only the Dallas Americans, South Florida Sun (formerly Fort Lauderdale Sun), Tulsa Tornado's (who had previously been the Oklahoma City Stampede but had moved in December) and the expansion El Paso/Juarez Gamecocks committed to a 1985 season.

The 1985 Season

The season was scheduled to run from May 19 through August 24. By mid-May, league officials had extensively revamped the schedule. In hopes of attracting a few more members before the second half of the season, they decided to open with a round-robin set of games in which the teams would play each other twice (once at home and once away) to compete for the "USL Cup." After a short break, the league planned to continue with a twelve-game regular season. Almost immediately, there were signs that multiple teams and the league itself were in serious financial distress. Commissioner Burfeind resigned and league vice president Kalman Csapo replaced him just as USL Cup play was starting. The Tulsa Tornado's owners were facing lawsuits related to payment for stadium rent, and after one round of paychecks bounced, they started missing pay periods for players and coaches altogether. The unpaid squad refused to play in a scheduled home exhibition on June 6th or travel to Dallas for a USL Cup match on June 8th, and the head coach and several players left the team. At the same time Dallas had to grant its players a stock participation program and pay back-salaries to keep their team afloat, and the South Florida Sun began missing pay periods for its players as well.

In June, an Oklahoma-based group of investors led by former University of Oklahoma and professional football player Jimbo Elrod and country singer Sammie Jo Cole made an offer to purchase majority control of the Tulsa franchise and take additional steps to rescue the failing league, and this allowed the Tornado's to piece together a roster and fund the travel to Fort Lauderdale for the last game of the Cup round on June 15. The Sun would prevail 1-0 in this game to clinch the best record and lay claim to the cup, but acting commissioner Csapo was not at the game nor was there a physical trophy on hand to present to the winners. Within days El Paso/Juarez owner, Pedro Meneses, announced that he was dropping out of the league. He paid all debts through the end of June and released his players. Only the thin possibility of a new ownership group taking over the Gamecocks tenuously kept the team in the league.

Final USL match

In what should have been the start of the regular season, the Sun rallied to defeat Dallas, 3–1, on Saturday, June 22. It turned out to be the USL's swan song. The Gamecocks/Tornado's match scheduled for the same night was cancelled due to ongoing payroll and stadium rent issues in Tulsa. South Florida were scheduled to host El Paso/Juarez on June 26. Instead on the evening of June 25, the league voted to suspend the remainder of the season. Once this decision was made, Elrod and Cole withdrew their offer to invest in the league, and the last outdoor soccer league in the U.S. found itself out of options and out of business.

8:05 EDT Bandov Neeskens (Saldana) Christensen DeRouse

A last gasp in Florida

The suspension of the season triggered an immediate shut down for the teams from Dallas, Tulsa and El Paso/Juarez, but the Sun tried briefly to carry on as an independent squad by participating in exhibition matches that would keep them active and help them offset their payroll debt. They arranged a matches with a Miami-based team of Haitian players and the Minnesota Strikers for the first week of July, but after failing to raise the funds to pay for Minnesota's travel, only the game against the Topez-Haitian All Stars was actually played. The Sun rallied to win what was to be the final game involving a USL squad, 4–3, on July 4, 1985, before a Lockhart Stadium crowd of 3,529. The match's proceeds were divvied up among the players, and team ownership announced the official suspension of operations a few days later.

USL Cup Table

Scoring leaders

Goalkeeping leaders

References

References

1. (1985-06-27). "Spokesman for former USL team says league not good for soccer". South Florida Sun Sentinel.
2. ''USL, NASL Considering a Merger'' The Miami Herald (FL) – Saturday, February 2, 1985
3. ''Merger Talks Fall Through in Soccer'' Miami Herald, The (FL) – Tuesday, March 5, 1985
4. (1985-06-27). "Spokesman for former USL team says league not good for soccer". South Florida Sun Sentinel.
5. ''Sun Schedule is Announced'' The Miami Herald (FL) – Tuesday, March 19, 1985
6. ''Vital Signs are Ominous, but USL Continues Fight'' Miami Herald, The (FL) – Sunday, May 19, 1985
7. "A United Soccer League game between the Tulsa Tornadoes... - UPI Archives".
8. Crossley, Drew. (2020-08-02). "Tulsa Tornado's".
9. LaBelle, Fran. (June 26, 1985). "USL Cancels '85 Schedule; Sun In Limbo". Sun Sentinel.
10. (2017-02-25). "Checking Out - tribunedigital-sunsentinel". tribunedigital-sunsentinel.
11. (1985-06-14). "Struggling Tulsa gets financial boost". The Miami Herald.
12. (2015-07-15). "Sun Wins Invitational Cup -- Wherever That May Be - tribunedigital-sunsentinel". tribunedigital-sunsentinel.
13. (2019-03-06). "What can only be described as "Soccapocalypse"".
14. LaBelle, Frank. (June 23, 1985). "Sun Rallies To Get Past Dallas 3–1". Sun Sentinel.
15. Rosaforte, Tim. (June 27, 1985). "Beleaguered Sun Owners Try To Figure Team's Future". Sun Sentinel.
16. (June 24, 1985). "For the record". Sun Sentinel.
17. (1985-06-28). "Elrod Withdraws Office For Tornado's". The Daily Oklahoman.
18. Barnes Craig &, Rosaforte Tim. (June 29, 1985). "Sun Plans Two Exhibitions, Agrees To Play Without Pay". Sun Sentinel.
19. Rosaforte, Tim. (July 2, 1985). "GM Out as Sun Flounders". Sun Sentinel.
20. Rosaforte, Tim. (July 6, 1985). "Sun Pays Players – Future Still Cloudy". Sun Sentinel.
21. Rosaforte, Tim. (July 10, 1985). "It's Official – Sun Suspends Operations". Sun Sentinel.
22. (1985-06-27). "27 Jun 1985, Page 29 – South Florida Sun Sentinel at". Newspapers.com.