My thanks to Greg Sandlin for the following article.

By Gordon Forbes

The United States Football League lost its hope for a new trial Thursday when a federal appeals court upheld the $3 damage award it got in an antitrust suit against the National Football League.

The USFL, which lost $163 million from 1983-85, included four requests - all denied - in its appeal: an overturned verdict, a new damages trial, a new trial in the case, or a new finding on damages.

The ruling by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York is unlikely to affect the NFL's expansion plans. Commissioner Pete Rozelle had tied expansion to a new TV pact, the USFL suit and a new labor agreement. ``But then the commissioner updated it,'' said NFL spokesman Joe Browne. ``He said, barring unforeseen developments, he hoped there would be two expansion teams two years after a new CBA (collective bargaining agreement) was signed.''

Judge Ralph K. Winter wrote in the 91-page opinion on the USFL's appeal: ``There was ample evidence that the USFL failed because it did not make the painstaking investment and patient efforts that bring credibility, stability and public recognition to a sports league.''