The United States Football League was a short-lived professional American football league that played between 1983 and 1985. The league attempted to compete with the predominant professional league, the NFL, by offering games in the spring, instead of the autumn, when NFL games are played. In this way, it was not directly vying to take away NFL fans. The league also offered some rules innovations which were later adopted by the NFL, such as instant replay and the two-point conversion (which had also been used by the American Football League and in College football.
The league was ultimately unsuccessful, although several of its star players later became stars in the NFL, such as Jim Kelly. In addition, an offense known as the "run and shoot", which came to prominance in the USFL, was adopted by some coaches in the NFL, but with limited success.
League Championship Games:
- 1983: Michigan Panthers 24, Philadelphia Stars 22
- 1984: Philadelphia Stars 23, Arizona Wranglers 3
- 1985: Baltimore Stars 28, Oakland Invaders 24