Denver Gold Pinback Button
date: label: date made
content: ca 1983 - 1985
name: label: Associated Name
content: Denver Broncos
notes: label: Description
content: This round pinback button is gold and black with the team name "Denver Gold" and a Denver Gold helmet. The Denver Gold were a United States Football League (USFL) team from 1983-1985. The USFL was created as a second major professional league for American football in the United States, playing a spring schedule to avoid direct competition with the more established National Football League (NFL). The USFL would eventually switch to a fall schedule killing attendance, further damaging profits and eventually causing the league to fold. The Denver Gold were originally owned by Denver real estate mogul Ron Blanding. Blanding looked to create buzz around the Gold by employing former Denver Broncos such as Red Miller and Craig Morton to work for the team. Blanding kept a tight budget on the team, turning a profit in his first season as owner. Blanding would sell the team after that season to auto dealer Doug Spedding for $10 million. By many accounts Blanding was the only investor/owner to make a profit off the shortly lived USFL. The Gold would draw one of the USFL's highest average attendances (40,000 in 1983) but after the move to a fall schedule in 1985, attendance would plummet to about 14,000 per game. Shortly after the end of the 1985, Spedding would cut a deal to merge the Gold with the Jacksonville Bulls and the USFL would fold shortly after.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: level of sport
content: United States Football League (USFL)
label: web subject
content: Sports
label: name of sport
content: Football
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Vicki L. Thorn
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1986.0773.148
label: accession number
content: 1986.0773
label: catalog number
content: 1986.0773.148
objectType: label: Object Name
content: button, football
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: gold (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: black (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 1/4 in; x 5.715 cm