USFL Changes Draft Rules Mid-Season to Prevent Tanking on Sunday

The two worst teams in the league are playing to finish their regular season schedules.

Professional sports leagues have been constantly tinkering with their rules to avoid tanking. MLB recently added a draft lottery, while the NBA and NHL both altered their lottery rules within the last decade to make it harder to obtain the No. 1 overall pick.

The USFL, like the NFL, entered their season with the rule that the team with the worst record will get the top pick. However, the league is changing that rule on the fly. With the 1–8 Michigan Panthers set to face the 1–8 Pittsburgh Maulers, which will decide who ends up at the bottom of the standings, USFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Daryl Johnston said the winner of that game will end up with the top pick, not the loser.

“We’re going to change the rules right here, so this weekend whoever wins the game actually gets not only the first pick in the 2023 draft but the first pick in every round of the 2023 draft,” Johnston said, via ProFootballTalk. “Making sure there’s no shenanigans going on.”

The fact that Michigan and Pittsburgh are playing to finish the regular season is nothing more than a scheduling coincidence that was decided before the season began. Each team plays their division rivals twice and every team in the opposing division once, rounding out a 10-game schedule. The Panthers and Maulers are both in the North Division, and already played a game in Michigan that the Panthers won 24-0.

This USFL rule is unlikely to stay in future seasons if the scheduling plan remains the same. However, this is a possible test case for how a game between the bottom two teams plays out to avoid tanking.

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