Are you Ready for a new Football League?
We all know about Hall Of Fame Quarterback Jim Kelly and what he meant to the Buffalo Bills and Western New York. For the most part, it's difficult to imagine Jim Kelly in another uniform. For most, the only other uniform they have seen him in might be that of the University of Miami Hurricanes. But he wore another uniform professionally as well, and the way he got there is the stuff of legend around these parts. Legend has it that when Jim Kelly was in Orchard Park meeting with the Bills to negotiate his contract after being selected 1by the team in the 1983 NFL Draft, a Bills secretary mistakenly let The General Manager of the USFL's Chicago Blitz get on the phone with Kelly.
Somehow, Kelly wound up leaving the Bills at the alter and signed with the Houston Gamblers of the upstart United States Football League. The USFL only lasted two seasons. In the 1986 season, the Gamblers were to merge with the New Jersey Generals, and Kelly would have been teammates that season with another future Bills QB, Doug Flutie. But the league's move to the fall never happened, and Kelly never played in New Jersey, instead, he joined the Bills for the 1986 season, as the team still held his NFL rights. And the rest, as they say, is history.
History is now repeating itself in the case of the USFL. If you watched any sports-based TV recently, you no doubt saw the commercials for the re-launch of the 80's rivalry league that started the career of several notable NFL stars. In addition to Jim Kelly and Doug Flutie, the USFL also spawned the careers of Hall of Famers Regie White, Steve Young, and NFL stars Herschel Walker, Sam Mills, and more.
The new version of the USFL will make its debut next month, in April of 2022, and will be bringing back some classic franchise names and logos.
The USFL season will run between mid-April and mid-June, with games airing on both Saturdays and Sundays. Will the next Jim Kelly, Reggie White, or Steve Young be taking the field? There's only one way to find out. You will be able to watch the inaugural game of the 2022 USFL season on Saturday, April 16, 2022.
The rest of the 2022 schedule has yet to be released.