A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Release Date:
October 20, 2009
Original Title:
Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?
Genres:
Documentary
Production Companies:
Triple Threat Productions
Production Countries:
United States of America
Ratings / Certifications:
N/A
Runtime: 53
In 1983 the upstart United States Football League (USFL) had the audacity to challenge the almighty NFL. The new league did the unthinkable by playing in the spring and plucked three straight Heisman Trophy winners away from the NFL. The 12-team USFL played before crowds that averaged 25,000, and started off with respectable TV ratings. But with success came expansion and new owners, including a certain high profile and impatient real estate baron whose vision was at odds with the league’s founders. Soon, the USFL was reduced to waging a desperate anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL, which yielded an ironic verdict that effectively forced the league out of business. Now, almost a quarter of a century later, Academy Award-nominated and Peabody Award-winning director Mike Tollin, himself once a chronicler of the league, will showcase the remarkable influence of those three years on football history and attempt to answer the question, “Who Killed the USFL?”
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Associate Producer:
Deirdre Fenton
Peter Genesi
Dave Schechtman
Camera Operator:
Scott Sniffen
Director:
Michael Tollin
Director of Photography:
Jon Tucker
Editor:
Greg Parsons
Executive Producer:
Keith Clinkscales
Joan Lynch
Connor Schell
Bill Simmons
John Skipper
Michael Tollin
John Dahl
Original Music Composer:
Phil Hernandez
Chris Maxwell
Pete Kneser
Producer:
Matt McDonald
Mitch Wright
Sound Effects:
Ryan Kleier
Writer:
Michael Tollin
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