Pittsburgh Maulers USFL Franchise Revived

PITTSBURGH, PA — The USFL is returning in April and so are the Pittsburgh Maulers - although they won't play in Pittsburgh, at least not in the first season of the second go-round for the professional football league.

The league, which is owned and operated by Fox Sports, announced Monday that the USFL will have eight teams, all legacies of original USFL franchises. The Maulers will play in the North Division along with the Philadelphia Starts, New Jersey Generals and Michigan Panthers. The South Division will consist of the Birmingham Stallions, Houston Gamblers, New Orleans Breakers and Tampa Bay Bandits

"We're excited to take this next major step in the development of a new USFL," Brian Woods, USFL President of Football Operations, said in a release.

"These eight teams form the core of our initial league membership and will represent an exciting brand of professional football coming this spring. We look forward to the start of our inaugural season."

The Maulers launched a new Twitter account on Monday with this tweet:

The Maulers played one season in the original United States Football League in 1984. They were owned by shopping mall magnate Edward J. DeBartolo, whose also owned the Pittsburgh Penguins and San Francisco 49ers.nearly

Even with a woeful 3-15 record during the inaugural season, the Maulers averaged 23,000 fans per game at Three Rivers Stadium. But when the USFL voted to switch from a spring to a fall schedule, DeBartolo folded the team rather than try to compete with the NFL nationally and the Steelers locally.

Curiously, the Pittsburgh Maulers won't play in Pittsburgh for the season. The USFL will play in one host city whose location has not been announced but which is believed to be Birmingham.

The teams will play a 10-game schedule, followed by semifinals between the top two teams in each division to crown the division winners. The championship then will be played between those two winners.

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