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SHOWBOATS
TRIVIA |
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| Memphis
Showboats, Ltd. was capitalized in the amount of
$7.5 million. |
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| Limited
partners in the team were required to contribute
$150,000 per unit for their ownership interest. |
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| Limited
partners could kick in the $150,000 in one lump
sum, or could make four payments: one of
$75,000, two of $30,000 each, and one of
$15,000. |
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| Each
limited partner was also on the hook for an
additional $23,670 for each partnership unit
owned, in case the 'Boats hit the financial
skids and needed more money to operate. |
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The
Showboats were the last of six expansion
franchises awarded by the United States Football
League for its 1984 season.
The award of the franchise was announced on July
17, 1984, six days after the league announced that
the San Antonio Gunslingers franchise had been
awarded.
Showboats founder Logan Young was only 42 years
old when he applied for Memphis' USFL
franchise. An heir to his family's business
interests, he would run out of cash before the
team played a down - he had plenty of money, but
it was tied up in trusts that he couldn't gain
access to.
After his USFL days, Logan Young would be a huge
booster of Alabama college football, and would be
convicted on charges related to paying off high
school players to persuade them to sign with the
Crimson Tide. Young died under suspicious
circumstances on April 11, 2006.
The 1985 Showboats featured a number of players
who either had or would have successful careers in
the National Football League, including John
Banaszak, Tyrone McGriff, Harry Sydney and of
course, Reggie White.
The Showboats success was a factor that a decade
later would keep Memphis' hopes of securing an NFL
expansion franchise alive. Charlotte and
Jacksonville were chosen as the expansion sites
however, and the relocation of the Houston Oilers
to Nashville seems to have dampered any hopes of
Memphis securing its own NFL franchise in the
future. |
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