New USFL President & CEO Jaime Cuadra "has acquired the USFL brand," and hopes to have an eight-team league "start up by next spring in non-NFL cities," according to Nick Canepa of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. Cuadra will set up league HQs in San Diego, and has enlisted former Chargers COO Jim Steeg as a consultant. Steeg said, "I like the idea a lot. I haven't talked to anyone who thinks the idea sucks. If you truly believe a triple-A spring football league has merit, this is the way to go. It's not meant to compete with the NFL. It will give players the opportunity to develop." Cuadra claims that he "has no intentions" to bump hats with the NFL. Cuadra: "The USFL will be about developing players with only a soft association with the NFL. We want to go back to the old roots and allow fans to develop a game-day experience. We want to make sure players can make the transition away from football, not only developing as a player, but as a person." He added, "We must make sure we run the business well. Will we hit pitfalls? Absolutely. But all players and coaches contracts will be funneled through the league. The owners won't be able to go outside the pay structure." Canepa noted these "will be minor league teams with minor league pay." Cuadra plans to have organizations with "checks and balances" and he "has good ideas." Now he has to "find owners and places to play." Cuadra is "looking at the likes of" Akron, Austin, Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Memphis, Omaha, Portland, Raleigh-Durham, Sacramento, Salt Lake City and San Jose. Cuadra said, "We're staying away from NFL cities and avoiding major league baseball cities. We're looking at cities with high college concentrations with little or no NFL exposure. It can be done not nearly as expensively as some other leagues that started up." He added, "We'd like a commissioner with Hall of Fame credentials; we want somebody with a name, but we don't want all responsibility to fall on one person. I'm going to be the guy who sits in the background and runs the business aspect. I like to stay low-key" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 4/1).
