FOOTBALL; New league may be on horizon

As long as the pro football season is, some fans seem to want more. On that premise, a new league may be launched next year with a season running from March to July.

A hair-brained scheme? Maybe, but Dave Dixon, a New Orleans businessman doesn't think so. The Boston Globe reports that Dixon, a keen operator instrumental in constructing the Superdome, securing an NFL franchise for New Orleans, and launching the World Championship Tennis (WCT) tour, has done his homework. A survey he commissioned makes him believe the venture, to be called the United States Football League, would make it on television.

In order to keep operating costs and ticket prices down, Dixon envisions player salaries of about $30,000. The idea would be to ignore the top college stars and concentrate on signing lesser players, say nothing higher th an third-round NFL picks.