USFL Collegiate Draft

The United States Football League had two types of drafts as their main sources for player recruitment: the Collegiate Draft and the Territorial Draft. The Collegiate Draft resembled its NFL counterpart (the NFL Draft), in which teams were given a position in the drafting order, based on their win and loss record for the previous year.

This process was adopted from the National Football League, so that the USFL teams could have an equal opportunity to sign eligible players from college.

The draft started in the inaugural season of 1983 with 24 rounds and was held over a two days period at the beginning of January (4 and 5) [1]. The rounds would eventually be reduced to 12 rounds in 1985, which in turn reduced the number of days to one.

In 1984 to accommodate six new expansion franchises, these teams were given an additional selection at the end of some of the rounds.

For the 1984 and the 1985 seasons, the Collegiate Draft was given the official name: "United States Football League Player Selection Meeting".

The USFL moved its draft to May in 1986 [2] with the plan move to a fall schedule in 1986.

Teams could select players from a list of college seniors or juniors. The order of selection was determined based on the team's win and loss record from the previous year. After a selection, the franchise had the unilateral right to negotiate a contract with that player or the ability to trade that player to another team. If for any reason, the franchise was unsuccessful in negotiating a contract (for example the player signed with the NFL), the club kept the player's rights, which would make him unavailable to play for any team in the USFL.

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