Memphis Showboats

Last updated

Memphis Showboats (1984)
Established 1983
Folded 1986
Played in Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium
in Memphis, Tennessee
League/conference affiliations
United States Football League (1984–1985)
  • Eastern Conference (1984–1985)
    • Southern Division (1984)
Current uniform
Team colorsScarlet, Silver, White
   
Personnel
Owner(s) William Dunavant & Logan Young
Head coach1984–1985 Pepper Rodgers (19-19)
Team history
  • Memphis Showboats (1984–1985)
Championships
League championships (0)
Conference championships (0)
Division championships (0)
Playoff appearances (1)
1985
Home stadium(s)

The Memphis Showboats were an American football franchise in the United States Football League. They entered the league in its expansion in 1984 and made the 1985 playoffs, losing in the semifinal round to the Oakland Invaders. Perhaps the most prominent players on the Showboats' roster during their two seasons of existence were future Pro Football Hall of Fame member Reggie White and future professional wrestler "The Total Package" Lex Luger.

Contents

History

Memphis food manufacturer Logan Young was awarded an expansion franchise for Memphis on July 17, 1983. However, soon after hiring Memphis native and former college coach Pepper Rodgers as head coach and signing a lease to play in the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, he discovered that most of his assets were tied up in a trust fund that he couldn't access. Ultimately, he was forced to take on limited partners, then sell controlling interest to cotton magnate William Dunavant, remaining as team president.

Despite White's play, the Showboats finished fourth in the Southern Division and missed the playoffs. Like the rest of the division, they were left far behind by the Birmingham Stallions and Tampa Bay Bandits. However, like most of the USFL's other Southern teams, they were a runaway hit at the box office. Indeed, they were one of the few teams whose crowds actually grew as the season progressed.

The Showboats broke through in 1985, finishing fourth in the East and earning a playoff berth. They should have traveled to Denver's Mile High Stadium to face the Denver Gold. However, the Gold were forced to travel to Memphis under pressure from ABC Sports. The Gold's local support had all but vanished due to the USFL's planned move to the fall, and ABC did not want the embarrassment of showing a half-empty stadium. It forced Commissioner Harry Usher to give Memphis home-field advantage in the first round, since the Showboats had been among the league's attendance leaders once again. ABC had an outsize influence on the USFL due to the structure of the league's television contract. The Showboats thrashed the Gold 48-7 before losing to the Oakland Invaders 28–19 in the semifinals.

The Showboats represented a serious attempt to form a viable professional football organization, and seemed to have a realistic chance to have been a viable business if the overall management of the USFL had been more realistic and financially sound. Indeed, like the World Football League's Memphis Southmen before them, the Showboats appeared to be on more solid footing than the league as a whole. The Showboats' attendance figures made Dunavant a supporter of the USFL's move to the fall. Although Memphis was only a medium-sized market (while Memphis proper had 650,000 people, the surrounding suburbs and rural areas are not much larger than the city itself), Dunavant believed his team's popularity would have made it very attractive to the NFL in the event of a merger. After the USFL's antitrust lawsuit failed, the Showboats threw their support behind Charlie Finley's proposal to convince the Canadian Football League to expand into the U.S. market; the CFL rejected the plan, bringing the Showboats' operations to an end. [1]

Legacy

Despite the eventual failure of the original USFL, the success of the Showboats franchise was noticed by the NFL, indicating a viable market in Tennessee. In 1997, the Houston Oilers franchise would move to Nashville, though they played their first season in Memphis, before moving to Nashville and being renamed the Tennessee Titans in 1999. [2] [3] [4]

Dunavant emerged as an investor in the proposed Memphis Hound Dogs franchise that entered the NFL's 1993 expansion sweepstakes (the Hound Dogs lost to the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars). Rodgers and general manager Steve Erhart would later emerge with the Memphis Mad Dogs, a Canadian Football League franchise that played one season in 1995; Erhart would also manage the Memphis Maniax of the original XFL in 2001.

The Memphis Showboats name was revived for the 2023 season of the USFL's second iteration. [5]

In the SpongeBob SquarePants Season 2 episode "Band Geeks", the band led by Squidward Tentacles plays at the "Bubble Bowl", during which clips of a Showboats game (vs. the Tampa Bay Bandits at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis on May 25, 1984) are shown.

A player from the Memphis Showboats appeared as a contestant on Press Your Luck in 1985.

Schedule and results

1984

WeekDayDateOpponentResultRecordTVVenueAttendance
Preseason
1Bye
2Bye
3SaturdayFebruary 11vs. San Antonio Gunslingers L 3–130–1 Shreveport, Louisiana
4SaturdayFebruary 18vs. New Orleans Breakers L 0–200–2 Lafayette, Louisiana
Regular season
1SundayFebruary 26 Philadelphia Stars L 9–170–1 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 28,098
2SundayMarch 4 Chicago Blitz W 23–131–1Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium10,152
3SundayMarch 11at New Orleans Breakers L 14–371–2 Louisiana Superdome 45,269
4SaturdayMarch 17at Birmingham Stallions L 6–541–3 ESPN Legion Field 41,500
5SundayMarch 25 Denver Gold L 24–281–4Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium21,213
6SaturdayMarch 31 Jacksonville Bulls W 27–242–4ESPNLiberty Bowl Memorial Stadium17,180
7SundayApril 8at New Jersey Generals L 10–352–5 Giants Stadium 43,671
8SaturdayApril 14at Los Angeles Express L 17–23 (OT)2–6ESPN Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 10,049
9FridayApril 20at Jacksonville Bulls L 10–122–7 Gator Bowl Stadium 36,256
10FridayApril 27 Pittsburgh Maulers W 17–73–7Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium30,640
11SundayMay 6at Washington Federals W 13–10 (OT)4–7 RFK Stadium 4,432
12FridayMay 11 San Antonio Gunslingers W 38–145–7Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium32,406
13SaturdayMay 19at Oakland Invaders L 14–295–8 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 22,030
14FridayMay 25, 1984 Tampa Bay Bandits W 31–216–8 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 27,422
15FridayJune 1 New Orleans Breakers W 20–177–8 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 31,198
16SaturdayJune 9at Tampa Bay Bandits L 24–427–9 Tampa Stadium 48,785
17SaturdayJune 16 Birmingham Stallions L 20–357–10ESPN Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 50,079
18MondayJune 25at Houston Gamblers L 3–377–11ESPN Houston Astrodome 22,963

Sources [6] [7] [8]

1985

WeekDayDateOpponentResultRecordTVVenueAttendance
Preaseason
1SaturdayFebruary 2vs. New Jersey Generals L 3–160–1 Charlotte, North Carolina 11,667
2SaturdayFebruary 9vs. Baltimore Stars L 9–140–2 Winter Haven, Florida
3SaturdayFebruary 16at Jacksonville Bulls W 13–101–2 Gator Bowl Stadium
Regular season
1MondayFebruary 25at San Antonio Gunslingers W 20–31–0 Alamo Stadium 10,983
2MondayMarch 5at Jacksonville Bulls W 24–142–0 ESPN Gator Bowl Stadium 40,112
3SaturdayMarch 9 Baltimore Stars W 21–193–0 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 37,466
4SaturdayMarch 16at Birmingham Stallions L 19–343–1 Legion Field 34,500
5SundayMarch 24 Oakland Invaders L 19–313–2Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium28,773
6FridayMarch 29 Tampa Bay Bandits L 20–283–3ESPNLiberty Bowl Memorial Stadium23,952
7ThursdayApril 4at Orlando Renegades L 17–283–4ESPN Florida Citrus Bowl 21,223
8SundayApril 14at Baltimore Stars W 13–104–4 ABC Byrd Stadium 15,728
9FridayApril 19 New Jersey Generals L 18–214–5ESPNLiberty Bowl Memorial Stadium44,339
10SaturdayApril 27at Denver Gold W 33–175–5ESPN Mile High Stadium 8,207
11FridayMay 3 Birmingham Stallions W 38–246–5Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium29,025
12SundayMay 12 Houston Gamblers W 17–157–5ABCLiberty Bowl Memorial Stadium27,325
13SaturdayMay 18at Tampa Bay Bandits W 38–148–5ESPN Tampa Stadium 44,818
14FridayMay 25at Portland Breakers L 14–178–6ESPN Civic Stadium 16,682
15SaturdayJune 1at New Jersey Generals L 7–178–7ESPN Giants Stadium 45,682
16FridayJune 7 Orlando Renegades W 41–179–7ESPN Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 23,216
17SaturdayJune 15 Jacksonville Bulls W 31–010–7 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 31,634
18SaturdayJune 22 Arizona Outlaws W 38–2811–7ESPN Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 32,743
Playoffs
QuarterfinalsSundayJune 30 Denver Gold W 48–7— Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 34,528
SemifinalsSaturdayJuly 6 Oakland Invaders L 19–28— ABC Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium37,796

Sources [9] [10] [11]

Single season leaders

Season-by-season

Season records
SeasonWLTFinishPlayoff results
198471104th Southern Division--
198511703rd Eastern ConferenceWon Quarterfinal (Denver)
Lost Semifinal (Oakland)
Totals19190(including playoffs)

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References

  1. ↑ Will Birmingham play in the North American Football League? via BirminghamProSports.com
  2. ↑ Calkins, Geoff. "Twenty years ago, Memphis told the NFL and the Oilers (now the Titans) to stick it". The Commercial Appeal. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Remember Memphis? Titans Would Rather Not - Memphis Daily News". www.memphisdailynews.com. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  4. ↑ Heilman, Michael (November 16, 2022). "Memphis Showboats returns to the USFL in 2023". BGMSportsTrax. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  5. ↑ Barnes, Evan (November 15, 2022). "Memphis Showboats return to USFL, will play at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in 2023". The Commercial Appeal .
  6. ↑ statscrew.com 1984 Memphis Showboats Game-by-Game Results Retrieved December 19, 2018
  7. ↑ usflsite.com 1984 USFL Season Retrieved December 19, 2018
  8. ↑ profootballarchives.com 1984 Memphis Showboats (USFL) Retrieved December 19, 2018
  9. ↑ "1985 Memphis Showboats football Game-by-Game Results on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  10. ↑ "1985 USFL Season - USFL (United States Football League)". www.usflsite.com. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  11. ↑ profootballarchives.com 1985 Memphis Showboats (USFL) Retrieved December 19, 2018
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