Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?
Oct 20, 2009 | IMDB 7
53 min Watch NowDocumentary
In 1983 the upstart United States Football League (USFL) had the audacity to challenge the almighty NFL. The new league did the unthinkable by playing in the spring and plucked three straight Heisman Trophy winners away from the NFL. The 12-team USFL played before crowds that averaged 25,000, and started off with respectable TV ratings. But with success came expansion and new owners, including a certain high profile and impatient real estate baron whose vision was at odds with the league’s founders. Soon, the USFL was reduced to waging a desperate anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL, which yielded an ironic verdict that effectively forced the league out of business. Now, almost a quarter of a century later, Academy Award-nominated and Peabody Award-winning director Mike Tollin, himself once a chronicler of the league, will showcase the remarkable influence of those three years on football history and attempt to answer the question, “Who Killed the USFL?”
MOVIE COMMENTS
SIMILAR MOVIES
The Boxing Kangaroo
Les yeux dans les Bleus
Sharko
Generation Yamakasi
The Chosen Few: The Life of an AFL Coach
Kick Like Tayla
Hell On Wheels
The Harlem Globetrotters: The Team That Changed the World
Vick
The Natural: The Best There Ever Was
Strength Wars
The Greatest Mixtape Ever
Mr. Football
The Finnish Flash - A Teemu Selänne Story
Rebels of Oakland: The A's, The Raiders, The '70s
Football Under Cover
Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait
Late Life: The Chien-Ming Wang Story
Wembley - Football Is Coming Hoam
Power of the Dream
SIMILAR MOVIES
The Boxing Kangaroo
IMDB 4.3 | Jan , 1896
The Boxing Kangaroo is an 1896 British short black-and-white silent documentary film, produced and directed by Birt Acres for exhibition on Robert W. Paul’s peep show Kinetoscopes, featuring a young boy boxing with a kangaroo. The film was considered lost until footage from an 1896 Fairground Programme, originally shown in a portable booth at Hull Fair by Midlands photographer George Williams, donated to the National Fairground Archive was identified as being from this film.Les yeux dans les Bleus
IMDB 7.4 | Jul , 1998
This documentary follows the French soccer team on their way to victory in the 1998 World Cup in France. Stéphane Meunier spent the whole time filming the players, the coach and some other important characters of this victory, giving us a very intimate and nice view of them, as if we were with them.Sharko
IMDB 0 | Nov , 2024
Widely regarded as one of the greatest Rugby League players ever, kiwi hard-man Mark Graham was feared off and, on the field, though little knew the real man or the destruction behind his success. SHARKO, portrays an intimate look at the life of a father, a son and the cost of greatness.Generation Yamakasi
IMDB 6.7 | Oct , 2006
For the Yamakasi the "Art of Displacement" is a way of life. Racing through the new cities that ring Paris, climbing walls, swinging from balconies and leaping across rooftops, they transform the oppressive concrete architecture into places of fantasy, possibility and play. The heart of our documentary is the story of how the Yamakasi are transforming the youth of the suburbs, and themselves, through discipline, will and desire. Now, as the Art of Displacement is being embraced as an extreme sport and urban pastime, will the social message be transmitted as well? What is it for the new generation?The Chosen Few: The Life of an AFL Coach
IMDB 7 | Sep , 2014
Unveiling the lives and careers of AFL Head coaches, The Chosen Few includes interviews from some of the game's greatest coaches, both past and present.Kick Like Tayla
IMDB 5 | May , 2022
Kick Like Tayla shares a raw and unfiltered look into the life of AFLW player and boxing champion, Tayla Harris, as she confronts public and personal challenges, and channels her platform for good.Hell On Wheels
IMDB 0 | Sep , 2007
In 2001 a rowdy group of Austin women were determined to ressurect an old sport, but with a new spin. This is the beginning of a revolution: HELL ON WHEELS is the ass-kicking documentary film telling the story of a group of Texas women who band together to resurrect roller derby for the 21st century. Emerging from the Austin music and arts scene, these women create a rock and roll fueled version of all-girl roller derby that has spawned the derby craze that's sweeping the nation.The Harlem Globetrotters: The Team That Changed the World
IMDB 8 | Feb , 2005
"The Team that Changed the World," investigates the Globetrotters' impact socially and culturally, as well as their lasting effect on the NBA. Featuring interviews with basketball players, celebrities, politicians, and more, the documentary also shows how the Globetrotters continue to serve as "Ambassadors of Goodwill" and touch audiences around the world today.Vick
IMDB 6.8 | Jan , 2020
A comprehensive reminisce at each chapter of former NFL quarterback Michael Vick’s saga–the incredible rise, shocking fall and polarizing return.The Natural: The Best There Ever Was
IMDB 0 | Sep , 2025
An average baseball film in the making comes out of seemingly nowhere to become one of the best sports films made of all time. A true testament to the real beauty of Hollywood filmmaking, the way it used to be.Strength Wars
IMDB 0 | Apr , 2021
Strength Wars: The Movie follows the lives of eight athletes preparing for the ultimate strength competition. The prize? To be labeled the strongest man in the world. Putting two different types of athletes against each other, Strength Wars is the ultimate proving ground to test any given athlete's true strength. Eight athletes. Eight athletic disciplines. One winner. The film highlights eight men from across the globe including Larry Wheels, Terron Beckham, Blaine Sumner, NDO Champ, Big Neechi, Jerry Pritchett, Anabolic Horse, and Leonidas Arkona. Welcome to Strength Wars. May the best man win.The Greatest Mixtape Ever
IMDB 8.5 | May , 2022
In the late 1990s, DJ Set Free, had the idea to set some streetball highlights to a soundtrack of emerging rap music. The results culminated in the And1 Mixtape, a series of VHS tapes that forever transformed the game of basketball.Mr. Football
IMDB 10 | Aug , 2025
After an urban Catholic High School football team comes together to win a state championship, tragedy strikes. A star player is killed and two of his teammates are charged with his murder. Based on the true story of the Cleveland, Ohio Benedictine football team's 2004 season.The Finnish Flash - A Teemu Selänne Story
IMDB 6.8 | Sep , 2013
Selänne is a documentary about Teemu Selänne—the best Finnish ice hockey player of all time. It's directed by JP Siili, whose previous films include such hits as Härmä and Ganes. We've followed the heroic tales of Selänne for over two decades. His exploits are famous, but now we get to know Selänne the man. In this documentary Teemu lets the viewer get close and under his skin. The film follows Selänne's journey from childhood to the latest NHL season. We see the life story of an exceptional athlete inside and out, not only through Teemu's words, but through the views of his loved ones and colleagues. Selänne is charismatic, social, irritating, charming, happy and always late. Welcome to the life of Teemu Selänne!Rebels of Oakland: The A's, The Raiders, The '70s
IMDB 6 | Dec , 2003
"As soon as you hear the title to this new one, you know exactly what it's about and why it's likely to be good, especially if you were a sports fan growing up in the 1970s. Even to good boys all the way across the country in New Hampshire, the authority-flouting baseball A's and football Raiders were magical. Not only did they win championships, they did it amid clubhouse brawls, feuds with an owner and a general embrace of the 1960s aesthetic. Filmmakers Rick Bernstein and Ross Greenburg tell the stories of these turbulent, talented teams and show how they perfectly fit their city. Oakland was blue collar and home to hardcore hard-core 1960s rebellion, exemplified by the Black Panthers. Oakland, especially, was not San Francisco, the effete, world-class city across the bay."Football Under Cover
IMDB 6.3 | Feb , 2008
David Asmmann's Football Under Cover documents the hard work involved in setting up an exhibition soccer match, known as a "friendly," between a German girls squad and Iranian women's team. In addition to showing how the two groups come from very different cultures, the documentary showcases what playing the game means to the members of both teams, and displays how passionate the fans of these two squads are.Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait
IMDB 5.8 | May , 2006
Halfway between a sports documentary and an conceptual art installation, "Zidane" consists in a full-length soccer game (Real Madrid vs. Villareal, April 23, 2005) entirely filmed from the perspective of soccer superstar Zinedine Zidane.Late Life: The Chien-Ming Wang Story
IMDB 5.9 | Oct , 2018
The first and only Taiwanese player for the New York Yankees, Chien-Ming Wang held many titles: American League Wins Leader, World Series Champion, Olympian, Time 100 Most Influential, and The Pride of Taiwan. He had it all - until a 2008 injury forever altered the course of his career. Late Life: The Chien-Ming Wang Story - named after the late sinking action on his signature pitch - follows the rise and fall of the international icon as he fights his way back into the Major Leagues through endless rehab programs and lengthy stints away from home, carrying the weight of the world on his battered shoulder. A poignant and intimate account of Wang’s steadfast quest, Late Life tells the story of a man who is unwilling to give up and unable to let go.Wembley - Football Is Coming Hoam
IMDB 3 | Aug , 2013
Power of the Dream
IMDB 6.5 | Jun , 2024
The empowering and unlikely true story of how a group of professional women's basketball players took on a WNBA team owner and rallied behind now-Senator Raphael Warnock, forever changing the landscape of their sport and the course of U.S. politics.