USFL lawsuit not scheduled to go to court until…

USA TODAY Sports

The USFL will debut as the USFL, despite efforts of the original USFL to keep that from happening.

As previously explained, the original USFL has filed a lawsuit aimed at keeping the the reconstituted football league from using the USFL name, or the names and logos of eight franchises from the prior iteration of the USFL.

In early March the original UFL filed a motion for preliminary injunction, a request to force the USFL to stop using the names and logos while the lawsuit proceeds. Originally, a hearing was set for March 16.

On March 21, Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal pointed out that the hearing will occur on April 18. Since the USFL launches on April 16, there’s nothing to keep the Fox-owned property from using the league and team names and logos for the first set of games to be played.

Whether a court order compels Fox to change things up later remains to be seen. Fox would be wise to have a Plan B, just in case it’s forced to stop using the names and logos, at some point. That said, the fact that the original USFL wasn’t able to get its motion to a ruling before the launch of the USFL should be regarded at some level as an indication that the presiding judge doesn’t believe the situation cries out for immediate relief.

If the interpretation isn’t correct, there’s a chance that the USFL may have to come up with eight new team names on the fly, along with a new name for the entire operation.