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The United States Football League voted today to abandon its spring schedule and play in the fall, beginning with the 1986 season.
''It puts to rest the idea that televised football has reached the saturation point,'' said the league's commissioner, Chet Simmons. ''We're ready, willing and able to compete for fans in the stadiums and among the television viewers.''
For New York City fans, the fall schedule could return a football team to Shea Stadium, which the Jets abandoned at the end of last season for Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
The Generals of the U.S.F.L. also play in Giants Stadium. Donald Trump, the Generals' owner and a major proponent of having the U.S.F.L. switch to the the fall schedule, conceded today there could be difficulty in playing in the same stadium as the Jets and Giants.
''The fans have been good to us in Giants Stadium, and we want to stay there,'' said Trump. ''New York wants us, too. Now, we do have two teams playing in one stadium, but it's not insurmountable.''
Continue reading the main storyLoris Smith, the stadium's general manager, said tonight, however, that virtually every Sunday during the fall would be tied up by the Giants and Jets, and that it would be difficult for the Generals to play Sunday nights because of the parking problems caused by the adjacent Meadowlands Race Track.
The shift to a fall season was not greeted warmly by ABC, which recently renewed its option to televise U.S.F.L. games in 1984 and has options to televise games in the spring of 1985 and 1986.
Jim Spence, the senior vice president of ABC Sports, said today from New York: ''Clearly, our agreement calls for spring football in '85 and '86. They are obligated to deliver games to us in the spring of those years. There are a number of options open to us.''
The fall schedule would also have these effects:
- It would force the Stars to leave Philadelphia after the 1985 season, according to their owner, Myles Tanenbaum. The Stars' home field, Veterans Stadium, is used in the fall by the Philadelphia Eagles of the N.F.L. ''We would be delighted to move to Baltimore in the fall of 1986,'' said Tanenbaum when asked where he would go.
- Eddie Einhorn, owner of the Chicago Blitz, which averaged crowds of less than 10,000, suggested that he would not field a team in Chicago next spring, but would bring it back for the fall season in 1986. He does not want the Bliz competing with the White Sox, which he also owns.
- The sale of the Washington franchise to Miami is probably now off, one U.S.F.L. owner speculated, because it was was contingent on a spring schedule. As a result, Howard Schnellenberger, who left the University of Miami to coach the U.S.F.L. team in Miami and who has been the subject of speculation as a potential Giants' head coach, would now be free to negotiate . The shift would also appear to bring nearer action on consolidating the league. One owner said it was likely the 18-team league would shrink to 14. One expected merger would be the Oklahoma Outlaws and the Oakland Invaders into one Oakland team. Another team is likely to replace or merge with the Los Angeles Express, whose owner is reportedly having financial problems. Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Denver and Houston franchises are expected to face problems with the move to the fall schedule because of competition with N.F.L. teams, and Birmingham would have to compete with the University of Alabama, which plays some home games in Birmingham.
Trump, who expressed joy that his long campaign for a fall schedule succeeded against resistance from other owners, challenged the Jets and Giants to games.
The Jets' president, Jim Kensil, said tonight that he was not interested in playing the Generals.
ESPN has signed to show the U.S.F.L. games through 1986, in either spring or fall. The league will split $35 million next spring from ESPN and ABC. During the N.F.L.'s season, though, those teams will share more than $400 million. But the N.F.L.'s $2.1 billion-dollar, five-year contract with the three major newtworks is up after the 1986 season.
The executive director of the N.F.L., Don Weiss, said he would not comment on whether the move could start a war or otherwise affect the N.F.L.
Continue reading the main story