NEW YORK -- The fledgling United States Football League Wednesday filed a $440 million anti-trust suit against the National Football League and asked a federal court to break up the NFL into two competing leagues.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Judge Peter Leisure will hear the case, but no date has been set.
The USFL, founded in 1983, charges NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle and the 28 member clubs with 'predatory and unlawful actions' by making successful entry by a competing professional league in the business of pro football impossible.
The suit claims that the NFL and the three major television networks, CBS, ABC and NBC, have formed a conspiracy to 'frustrate' the USFL in its efforts to get a national TV contract for future seasons.
The USFL started out as a spring league in 1983, but voted after its second season to move to a fall schedule beginning in 1986. In the spring, the league had television contracts with ABC and the ESPN cable network.
ABC said it would not televise any USFL games in the fall.
The USFL has asked for $440 million in damages. Under the terms of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, however, if the USFL wins the suit the amount of money awarded could be tripled, bringing the figure to $1.3 billion.
The suit also asks the court to divide the 28 NFL teams into two separate competing 14-team leagues with each league limited to maintaining a network television contract with only one of three major TV networks.
If the court refuses that request, the suit asks that the NFL be able to maintain an agreement with only two of the three major TV networks.
The USFL also is asking the court to stop the NFL from trying to impede the new league from getting network television coverage and to enjoin the NFL from negotiating or making contractual offers to USFL players before the end of their contracts.
A spokesman for the NFL said the league had been expecting the suit to be filed for quite awhile.
'We will have no comment until we have a chance to review the legal papers,' said the NFL spokesman. 'It was inevitable they were going to file suit. It was clear that was part of their game since day one. It's nothing new. The AFL filed a suit against us in the 1960s. The WFL filed one in the 1970. Now the USFL is filing one in the 1980s.'
