Dallas Americans

By virtue of having the best record in the Western Division, they qualified for the playoffs, where the Pennsylvania Stoners eliminated them in a sudden death mini game after the teams both won at home to split the two-leg series.

The Americans were in the league's Southwest Division, along with the Oklahoma City Stampede (a re-organized and re-branded version of the Slickers) and the Houston Dynamos.

[6] Most of the 1983 team returned for the 1984 season, but Jeff Bourne had suffered an injury while playing indoors with Wichita, and he would not suit up for the Americans again.

The USL's Southwest Division would prove to be the league's most competitive, producing both the top seed (the Stampede) and both wild card teams (Dallas and Houston) for the playoff tournament.

That earned the Dynamos the right to host the wild card play-in game, and they defeated Dallas 2-1 to end the Americans' season on August 18th.

The USL's teams found that revenues had not kept up with expenses in their first season despite the fact that the league was designed to be fiscally responsible through measures such as tight salary caps and schedules heavy on regional matchups to reduce travel costs.

Almost immediately the NASL cancelled its 1985 season, and five USL clubs went dormant or folded while Houston withdrew to play independently.

[8][5] Dallas elected to soldier on in the USL for its 1985 season despite the league only having three other teams: the South Florida Sun, the Tulsa Tornado's (who had moved from Oklahoma City and re-branded again) and the expansion El Paso/Juarez Gamecocks.

The Tornado's/Gamecocks match scheduled for later the same night was cancelled due to Tulsa's ongoing issues with team payroll and stadium rent.