In its lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in 1984, the USFL accused the NFL of conspiring to create a monopoly by signing contracts with all three major television networks.
The USFL, unable to obtain a television contract for the forthcoming fall season, said the NFL had hindered its ability to compete in the pro-football ''marketplace."
While deliberating yesterday, the jury asked to review transcripts of testimony, including that given by NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle on the changes in team-roster sizes between 1982 and 1985.
"I really can't say what significance this request has," said USFL attorney Harvey Myerson.
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Los Angeles Raiders quarterback Marc Wilson, whom the Eagles tried unsuccessfully to acquire during the off-season, says he is trying to come back from surgery to his shoulder and knee, not to mention a statistically disastrous passing performance in 1985.
Wilson said the trade talk had given him a big ego boost, one he sorely needed.
"Philadelphia came on real strong," Wilson said at the Raiders' camp in Oxnard, Calif. "Amid all this criticism I was getting, here's a team that wants me, that really wants me. It was a positive thing for me."
It also came shortly after Wilson had three inches of bone removed from his collarbone, alleviating the discomfort of a dislocated shoulder that he had endured for most of last season. At the same time that surgery was performed, Wilson also had an arthroscopic procedure done to repair damage to his left knee.
Neither operation was publicized, but when Wilson came to minicamp in May, he still was feeling the effects.
"Look at this," Wilson said, pulling down his shirt collar to reveal a pair of large scars on his shoulder forming the shape of a number seven. "I should change my uniform number to seven. I'm branded with it."
He spent the entire off-season in rehabilitation and, although he entered camp as the designated starter, he knows it is a touchy situation. Veteran Jim Plunkett is breathing down his neck.
"We have to have a starting point," Raiders coach Tom Flores said, "and we felt Marc deserves to be No. 1. But it's a competitive situation. It's competitive between just the two of them right now, but it could be competitive between three, depending on how fast Rusty (Hilger) progresses."
