Owned by real-estate magnate Myles Tanenbaum, they were the short-lived league's dominant team, playing in all three championship games and winning the latter two.
[3] The Stars began in Philadelphia in the USFL's inaugural 1983 season and played their home games at Veterans Stadium (the "Vet").
[5][6] In the league title game at Denver's Mile High Stadium on July 17, the Stars lost to Jim Stanley's Michigan Panthers, 24–22.
[7] Just as they had against the Blitz, the Stars opened the game sluggishly, but finished with a flourish, after allowing the Panthers to carry a 17–3 lead into the fourth quarter.
In addition to bad weather, there were lingering memories of a massive gate-papering scandal involving the World Football League's Philadelphia Bell in 1974.
The Bell had claimed that a total of over 120,000 fans had attended their first two games, but it subsequently emerged that all but 19,000 of the tickets had been given away for free or for significantly reduced prices.
Sources[16][17][18] The league's owners, led by Donald Trump of the New Jersey Generals, voted to move play to the fall following the 1985 season.
Tanenbaum said that the Stars would have had to start the 1986 season on an extended road trip due to the Phillies sharing Veterans Stadium as well.
[19] With no venue in the Delaware Valley suitable even for temporary use, Tanenbaum moved the team to Baltimore, which was still smarting from the loss of the NFL Colts three years earlier.
Indeed, even as Tanenbaum prepared to move the Stars, the city of Baltimore was attempting to strip the Colts from owner Robert Irsay via eminent domain.
Tanenbaum quickly signed a broadcasting deal with Baltimore's most powerful radio station, WBAL, and built a good relationship with then-mayor William Donald Schaefer.
[2] With no other stadium in the immediate Baltimore area suitable for temporary use, Tanenbaum was forced to play at the University of Maryland's Byrd Stadium in College Park, 29 miles (47 km) southwest of Baltimore and a Washington suburb (coincidentally, the Washington USFL franchise, the Federals, moved to Orlando as the Orlando Renegades the same season).
Further complicating matters, the team kept its operations in Philadelphia and commuted to College Park for games—effectively consigning the Stars to 18 road games for the league's lame-duck spring season.
[21] At least in part due to all the moving, the Stars initially struggled in 1985, but won nine of their last 13 games to secure a wild-card berth.
While Baltimore-area fans were happy to see the return of pro football after a two-year absence, they balked at making the 35-minute drive down Interstate 95 to see the Stars play in College Park.
ABC Sports, embarrassed at the dwindling attendance from around the league, told Usher it did not want to televise playoff games in near-empty stadiums.
Since ABC had disproportionate influence on league affairs due to the structure of its contract with the USFL, Usher had little choice but to agree.
Carl Peterson, who later became the president/general manager/chief executive officer of the Kansas City Chiefs, served as the team's General Manager for all three seasons.