The creation of Ingo Krieg, owner of the Jacksonville Tea Men, the United Soccer League formally announced its existence on February 1, 1984. The roots go back to Krieg's frustration over the direction taken by the second division American Soccer League, which was declining after rapid expansion to the west coast and midwestern states in the 1970s and some southern states in the 1980s had produced a string of short-lived franchises that were not able to make ends meet financially. Krieg joined with the owner of the Dallas Americans to found a new second division league called the United Soccer League that would try to operate within its means, feature primarily American players, play a mostly regional schedule to reduce travel expenses, and embrace a "grass roots" approach to growing the game in their towns.[1] In late January 1984, the Detroit Express joined Jacksonville and Dallas in announcing their intention to move to the USL for the upcoming season.[2] By late February, the USL had added the Oklahoma City Stampede (a reorganized and re-branded version of the ASL's Oklahoma City Slickers) as well as new organizations the Buffalo Storm, Fort Lauderdale Sun and New York Nationals.[3] In the following weeks, the list of teams grew to include one last ASL defector, the Rochester Flash, another new club, the Houston Dynamos, and the Charlotte Gold (also a new franchise but one that employed many of the office staff and players from the recently folded Carolina Lightnin'). On March 18, 1984, the league announced a final line-up of nine teams in three divisions (Detroit ultimately dropped out due to the league not being sanctioned by the USSF). Dr. William Burfeind, who had resigned as ASL president in January, agreed to be the USL's first commissioner. The ASL, left with no active teams, quietly closed up shop.[1][4]
The 1984 Season
The regular season ran from May 12 through August 15,[5] and it went fairly smoothly for a recently founded league. Because the NASL was shedding franchises rapidly in the early 80's, a number of skilled and experienced professionals were available and were signed to rosters around the league. The standings reflected a relatively balanced and competitive group of clubs with no dominant or glaringly weak members. Though some franchises seemed to be on more stable footing than others, all nine teams completed their full 24-game schedules. Buffalo, Fort Lauderdale and Oklahoma City finished atop their respective divisions to earn postseason berths, and Houston defeated Dallas in a one-game wild card match to earn the fourth spot in the playoff semifinals.[6]
The semifinal round began with considerable confusion. To determine teams' place in the standings, the league had adopted a points system that awarded five points for any win, two for a shootout loss (there were no ties), and up to three bonus points per game for regulation goals scored.[7] In July, the league had announced a playoff format that would have the team with the most standings points face the team with the lowest points on one side of the bracket while the teams with the 2nd and 3rd most points would square off on the other. Teams therefore expected the semifinals matchups to be top seed Oklahoma City (127 points) vs. Buffalo (96 points) and Fort Lauderdale (122 points) vs. Houston (112 points), with Oklahoma City and Fort Lauderdale earning home field advantage for the three-game series. However, on Friday, August 17, just a few days before the first semifinal games, league officials held a conference call in which, after reviewing the minutes of an organizational meeting from April, they determined that their plan then had been for the top seed to face the wild card game winner regardless of points totals. The matchups were adjusted accordingly to be Oklahoma City vs. Houston and Fort Lauderdale vs. Buffalo.[8] The Storm owner, Sal DeRosa, announced that all games between his team and Fort Lauderdale would take place in Florida because he did not feel optimistic about his club's ability to attract fans to a mid-week game at a field with no lights on short notice.[9] The Sun made quick work of Buffalo, while Houston upset Oklahoma City.[10] The best-of-three championship round was tightly contested. The first game had to be settled by a shootout, with Houston coming out on top at home. The Sun would rally two days later to win Game 2 in Fort Lauderdale by a score of 3-0, setting up a rubber match the next day. This game, too, would end in a tie and be decided in a shootout, but this time Fort Lauderdale prevailed to claim the first (and ultimately only) USL championship.[11]
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