USFL was fine as a spring league and would have probably continued to this day if it was left as a spring league.

There is a pretty good documentary[1] on Netflix about the USFL and how attempting to make it a fall league competing directly with the NFL essentially handed it a death sentence.

I don't want to spoil anything, of course, so you'll have to watch it yourself to see who's bright idea that was.

It's really a shame, IMO. An alternate spring league would have been great.

[1]: http://espn.go.com/30for30/film?page=small-potatoes-who-kill...