When the first phone call came 20 years ago, Steve Ehrhart and other executives of the United States Football League were ecstatic.
A jury had ruled for the USFL in its antitrust suit against the NFL, improving the vital signs of the struggling upstart league.
But for the USFL, good fortune always seemed to have a short shelf life.
Another call came about 20 minutes later. The jury had awarded the USFL $1 in damages, which under law was trebled to a whopping $3, or about $1.5 billion less than the league was seeking.
"Dumbfounded," is how Ehrhart, who served as a league executive and later ran the Memphis Showboats franchise, describes his feeling at the time.
A hefty damage award by the jury might have allowed the USFL to survive or forced the NFL to eventually absorb some USFL teams. But the $1 award was a mortal blow, and the USFL folded after three seasons (1983-85), done in by greed, poor decisions and the power of the NFL.
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