Tampa Bay Bandits

Preparing to play

Bandit Ball

The Bandits began play in 1983 in Tampa Stadium, and were immediately more successful than the area's NFL franchise, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with whom they shared a home field (though the Bucs played in the fall and early winter while the Bandits played in the spring and early summer). The Bandits narrowly missed the playoffs in their first season and made the postseason the next two years. Spurrier's aggressive offense was usually one of the best in the league; Bandits players are among the USFL career leaders in touchdown passes (John Reaves, 4th), touchdown receptions (Eric Truvillion, 2nd), and rushing touchdowns (Gary Anderson, 3rd). However, an average defense and Bassett's insistence on adhering to the USFL's original financial plan while other franchises spent millions on free agent signings kept the team from serious championship contention.

The Bandits were also successful off the field. They drew the highest average attendance over the three-year history of the USFL, coming in second in attendance in 1983 and leading the league in that category in 1984 and 1985 with over 40,000 fans per game.^[9] Also, their memorabilia outsold that of the Buccaneers in the Tampa Bay area. A fan-friendly atmosphere (including a theme song, "Bandit Ball", penned and sung by Reynolds' friend Jerry Reed^[10]) was one factor. Another was the Bucs' futility during the period; they went 10–38 from 1983 to 1985—the start of a 12-year stretch of 10-loss seasons. Indeed, the Bandits were one of the few USFL teams that could have potentially driven their NFL counterparts out of town. Another key factor in the Bandits' success was the fact that there was no Major League Baseball team in Tampa at the time (the Tampa Bay Devil Rays would not debut for another decade), meaning that unlike other USFL teams, they did not have to compete with a baseball team for spectators. Due to broad local support, the Bandits were one of a very few USFL teams with a stable home and steady finances - they were the only franchise to have the same coach, owner, and home city throughout the league's three-year existence.^[11] Due to these factors, the Bandits are considered one of the few USFL teams that had the potential to be a viable venture had the league been better run.^[12] The Philadelphia Stars played Tampa Bay at Wembley Stadium in an exhibition game on July 21, 1984.

1984 season

In week three of the 1984 season, the Bandits faced their inter-state rivals, the Jacksonville Bulls for the first time. Jacksonville was 1-1, after soundly defeating the Washington Federals and nearly beating the New Jersey Generals. Jacksonville, led by former Jets and Broncos quarterback Matt Robinson, raced out to a 12–0 lead. The Bandits stormed back to take a 25–18 lead. The Bulls came back to tie the game, but the Bandits won when Zenon Andrusyshyn kicked a field goal to give Tampa Bay a 28–25 lead.^[13]

When the season was over, quarterback John Reaves was the leading passer on the squad. Running backs Greg Boone and Gary Anderson ran for 1,009 and 1,008 yards respectively. Eric Truvillion lead the receivers with 1,044 yards on 70 catches and nine touchdowns.^[14]

1985 season

The end of the Bandits and of the USFL

Bandits' majority owner John Bassett was a strong proponent of the "Dixon Plan", which was an informal agreement among the USFL's founding owners to build a sustainable league through budgetary restraint and a commitment to spring football. However, to gain a competitive advantage and make a splash with fans, some teams almost immediately began to sign high-profile players to large contracts, sometimes entering into bidding wars with NFL teams with much deeper pockets. Because of this and other financial missteps, some USFL franchises lost substantial amounts of money. While Bassett and a few other owners refused to overspend on player contracts and kept their franchises relatively solvent, the league as a whole was increasingly unstable.^[21]

In April 1985, the USFL (led by New Jersey Generals owner Donald Trump) voted 12–2 to switch to a fall schedule for 1986, hoping to compete directly with the NFL and possibly force the more established league to accept a merger.^[22][23][21] Bassett, who had registered one of the two "nay" votes, immediately declared his intention to pull the Bandits out of the USFL and organize a new spring football league.^[24][25]

However, by mid-1985, the Bandits' ownership group was in disarray. Bassett was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in early 1985 but continued to run the team's day to day operations.^[26] Under Bassett's direction, the front office signed several mediocre free agents to large contracts, most notably Bret Clark, a backup defensive back who was signed to a $1 million contract, one of the largest in team history.^[26] The Bandits also signed college All-American quarterback Randall Cunningham to a $2 million contract, but he never played for the team. Cunningham was chosen by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round of the 1985 NFL draft, and after the collapse of the USFL, he signed with the Eagles and began his Hall of Fame career in Philadelphia.^[27] Bassett's uncharacteristically reckless financial decisions along with a "bizarre" proposal that his new spring league would involve multiple sports and increasingly erratic personal behavior led Spurrier and other team officials to quietly suspect that Bassett's ailment was affecting his ability to think rationally.^[26][28] During the same period, Bandits co-owner Steve Arky was implicated in the developing savings and loan crisis and his assets were seized by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Still claiming innocence, he died by suicide in July 1985.^[29]

With his business partner dead and his own health deteriorating, Bassett decided to sell the Bandits or merge the franchise with another Florida-based USFL team. However, Orlando Renegades owner Donald Dizney (previously a minority stakeholder in the Bandits) rejected a merger out of loyalty to Orlando, and Jacksonville Bulls owner Fred Bullard would only agree to a merger if Bassett retained a large investment in the merged franchise, so the proposals failed.^[30] In August 1985, minority owner Lee Scarfone, a local architect, agreed to purchase Bassett's and Arky's stakes and committed the Bandits to remaining in the USFL when the league moved to a fall schedule in 1986.^[31] Bassett retired from public life and died in May 1986.^[32][33]

On July 29, 1986, the result of the USFL's catastrophic antitrust lawsuit against the NFL put the future of the league in serious jeopardy. Several days later, a federal judge ruled that the Bandits still owed Bret Clark $159,980 in back pay from his $1 million contract. Since the team did not have the funds available to pay the judgement and Scarfone and Cunningham had depleted most of their personal assets in buying the franchise, the court placed a lien on the team^[31]. On August 4, 1986, law enforcement officers confiscated the Bandit's remaining assets - including weight-lifting equipment, helmets and uniforms, office furniture, and merchandise in the team store - to pay off the debt, effectively ending the franchise.^[26][34][28] Coincidentally, the USFL officially suspended operations on the same day, effectively ending the league as a whole.^[21]