High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The United States Football League (USFL) was an American football league that played three seasons between 1983 and 1985. Although it lasted only three years and lost over $163 million, it was by far the National Football League's strongest competitor since the 1960s' American Football League. The league officially folded in 1988 after their antitrust lawsuit appeals ran their course.The USFL was the brainchild of David Dixon, a New Orleans antiques dealer, who had been instrumental in bringing the New Orleans Saints to town. In 1965, he envisioned football as a possible spring and summer sport.