The USFL was originally the most legitimate NFL alternative since the AFL merger. It ran 3 seasons in the mid 80s and they had guys like Jim Kelly, Herschel Walker, Doug Flutie, Doug Williams, Gary Zimmerman, Bruce Smith, Brian Sipe, Sean Landeta, Steve Young, etc. Several NFL pro bowlers and even some pro football hall of famers. But they couldn't keep costs under control and in a desperation bid announced a move from spring to fall to compete head to head with the NFL, and that dried up what fan support they had entirely. Great football and several teams had great fanbases but they had to spend too much to do it and it died off.
The new league is just using the original's trademarks and logos and the teams are made up strictly by guys that can't make NFL or CFL practice squads and nobody cares about it. They'll be lucky to make it through their first season without folding.
The CFL is just the Canadian Football League, been around forever. Basic was just mentioning them because he knows people here such as myself and Gekiga follow that league closely. But they play a different rule set than the NFL or USFL, so it's a very different game (3 downs instead of 4, longer and wider field, 20 yard endzones, goalposts at the front of the endzone instead of the back, single point given up for taking a touchback, all receivers can be in motion towards the line of scrimmage at the snap, 12 players on the field instead of 11, etc). And in any case, the CFL pays way better than the USFL. These USFL guys are making under 5 grand a week; there are CFL guys making over half a million dollars.
