Weiser signed up University of Miami head coach Howard Schnellenberger as part-owner, president, general manager, and head coach for the 1985 season. Schnellenberger was to assume his new posts as soon as the 1984 USFL season ended. Weiser envisioned closing the deal to purchase the Federals soon after the end of the 1984 USFL season, with Schnellenberger in the interim hiring assistant coaches and joining them in evaluating player talent on the Federals and elsewhere in the USFL and preparing a plan of action for the team after Weiser concluded the purchase. USFL owners openly discussed their expectation that a USFL championship game would take place at the Orange Bowl in the near future.