Portland Breakers The Portland Breakers were a professional American Football team that played in the United States Football League in the mid 1980s . History . Boston Breakers . The team started out in 1983 as the Boston Breakers , owned by Boston businessman George Matthews and former New England Patriots wide receiver Randy Vataha . They had originally hoped to play at Harvard Stadium , but Harvard University rejected them almost out of hand . Their next choice was Sullivan Stadium , the home of the Patriots , but high rent and the stadium ' s location ( 30 miles southwest of Boston ) made this unrealistic . They finally settled on Nickerson Field on the campus of Boston University , a rather antiquated facility that seated only 21 , 000 . Coach Dick Coury put together a fairly competitive team led by 36 - year - old former World Football League QB Johnnie Walton and Canadian Football League Veteran HB Richard Crump . The Breakers finished 11 - 7 , narrowly missing the playoffs . Walton , who had retired from pro football years earlier and had spent the previous three years coaching college football , was the league ' s 7th ranked passer . Coury was named coach of the year . Ultimately the stadium issue forced the Breakers out of town . Despite fielding a fairly solid team , the Breakers rarely sold out . Nickerson Field was so small that the Breakers lost money even when they sold out ; visiting teams got a portion of the gate proceeds . This was an untenable situation for a team aspiring to be part of a major sports league . Boston and Washington were the only USFL teams to draw less than 14 , 000 per game in 1983 . The other 10 teams drew over 18 , 000 per game . When no suitable solution to the venue problem could be found in the Boston area , Matthews sold his interest to New Orleans real estate developer Joe Canizaro . New Orleans Breakers . Canizaro moved the team to New Orleans for the 1984 season as the New Orleans Breakers . The team played in the spacious Louisiana Superdome , also home to the NFL ' s New Orleans Saints . They started out the season 5 - 0 , and all signs pointed to them running away with the Southern Division . However , they only won three more games to finish 8 - 10 . This included a 35 - 0 thrashing by the Philadelphia Stars and losses in their last six games . In spite of adding NFL star TE Dan Ross and rookie HBs Buford Jordan and Marcus Dupree , the team struggled . Walton was inconsistent and ultimately retired after the season . On the positive side , New Orleans supported the team well , averaging 30 , 557 per game , Jordan ran for 1 , 276 yards ( 4th in the league ) , and Ross and WR Frank Lockett had strong years . Portland Breakers . After the season , the league owners decided to go for broke and move to the fall starting in 1986 . This put teams like New Orleans , Michigan , and Philadelphia in an awkward situation . Canizaro knew that the Breakers could not hope to compete with the Saints , and opted to move before the 1985 season rather than play a lame duck season in New Orleans . Seeing a large open market with an adequate stadium ( 32 , 500 seat Civic Stadium ) in Portland , Oregon , Canizaro moved the team there . The team drew an average of 19 , 919 per game in Portland . On the field the team struggled as the strain of playing in three cities in three years finally caught up with them . The team opted to go with former Jacksonville starter Matt Robinson as Walton ' s replacement , rather than seeking a more proven USFL QB without a home , like Craig Penrose , Alan Risher , or Mike Hohensee , or trading for someone like Oakland ' s Fred Besana , or even signing an NFL vet . Robinson ultimately proved to not be an adequate replacement for Walton , finishing with a 62 . 6 QB rating . HB Jordan did have another strong year with over 800 yards as did Lockett . The Breakers were one of nine teams slated to play in the USFL ' s first fall season , and were slated to be one of only two teams west of the Mississippi River . However , while the USFL ' s antitrust suit against the NFL was underway , Canizaro folded the franchise , citing over $ 17 million in losses over three years . ( Canizaro was the only league owner who moved his team twice and both moves were tremendous distances . ) The entire league suspended operations not long afterward after it was awarded only $ 3 in damages . Unlike many other USFL teams , the Breakers never changed their name , logo or colors when they relocated . Top " name " players . Among the top " name " players that the Breakers had were LB Marcus Marek , HB Marcus Dupree of OU , QB Johnnie Walton , K Tim Mazzetti , QB Matt Robinson , HB Buford Jordan , P Jeff Gossett , and TE Dan Ross . Coaches and executives . Coury was the team ' s coach for all three seasons . Defensive coordinator was the late Pokey Allen who would later take Portland State University to two national championship games . The Offensive coordinator during the 1983 season was College Football Hall of Fame r and former NFL Most Valuable Player Roman Gabriel . In 1985 , the offensive coordinator was former Edmonton Eskimos head coach Pete Kettela . Allen would hire former Breaker executive Steven " Dream " Weaver as his marketing director and whose publicity stunts raised his Portland State teams to a national acclaim . The team president for the Portland Breakers was the legendary John Ralston , who was also a founder of the USFL . Other executives included Jack Galmiche , John Brunelle and Brian Feldman . Feldman was the only executive who worked in all three cities . Season - by - season . ! Totals | | 25 | | 29 | | 0