The USFL was great for the first couple of seasons. I really enjoyed following the Stallions and I always thought they were one of the few USFL teams that did it the right way. They didn't try to sign too many superstars, they just stuck with former NFL guys and as many local guys as they could.
The USFL - back in 1984 - could have STAYED as a viable entity in the spring. ESPN - back then - was desperate to break into the big-time, and the NFL didn't really have much to do with them. They were looking for programming, so the USFL filled some of the old Australian Rules Football time (and back then they had six straight hours of Sports Center to start the day).
But the circumstances that would have allowed the USFL to thrive for awhile no longer exist. The NFL doesn't have major labor issues, there's not some show out there needing football programming for the spring, and if you land a superstar that the NFL missed (a hidden gem if you will) that player will sign with the NFL at the drop of a hat.
I don't see a viable market for this TODAY.
There's another problem...can you name me a specific market other than maybe Birmingham, possibly San Antonio where there aren't NFL teams? And even then - well, the Falcons are what, 150 miles away from Bham? That's not as far today as it was in 1983 because of road improvements.
Go look at the cities where the USFL played. The NFL has put teams in Jacksonville, and there's a team in Nashville that wasn't there in 1983. Baltimore also has a team. One of the whole things with the USFL - what was the driving force behind it in the first place - was New Orleans didn't have a football team when David Dixon conceived the idea in 1961.
I'm not reflexively against the idea of "spring football," I'm just saying this is a vastly different world than the one that greeted the USFL in 1983. Several of the things that set the stage are ancient history now.