United Football League

[Steve Spurrier III]

More great stuff here:

The UFL's commissioner will be former Jaguars executive Michael Huyghue:

"This is a big decision because it's leaving a lot of safety nets of things I have," said Huyghue, who served as the Jaguars' senior vice president of football operations from 1994-2001. "I've spoken to a lot of [NFL general managers] who say we can sustain a league with quality players.

"It's a tremendous challenge. I was inspired by talking to a lot of NFL colleagues who think this can work. I feel the plan we have is a good one."

And some great meat and bones:

The UFL's start-up formula includes the following proposals:

- Eight teams located in big cities without NFL franchises, with Las Vegas, Mexico City and Los Angeles considered front-line favorites. Other possible locations include Orlando; San Antonio; Columbus, Ohio; Louisville, Ky.; Sacramento, Calif.; Memphis, Tenn.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

- Team salary caps of about $20 million (the NFL cap is currently $109 million), with the top 10 players on each franchise making an average of $1 million per year and the salaries among those remaining on the 50-man roster spread out accordingly.

- A draft would be held in February or March among college players who declare themselves eligible for the UFL, but doing so does not exclude them from being available for the NFL Draft in late April.

- A 14-game season that begins in August, with playoffs concluding before the holidays.

- Television revenue will be a necessary component for the league's survival, but administrators are trying to build a foundation that is not dependent on TV money in the first three years.

The bulk of the UFL's target pool of players will be second-day NFL draft picks, as well as free agents attracted by the better odds of making a UFL roster instead of trying to battle tougher competition in an NFL training camp. Each year, about 900 players are waived before the start of an NFL season, many of whom Huyghue believes will be anxious to keep playing rather than pursuing jobs in the real world.

[Deadskins]

This might work. The XFL was a joke, but the USFL was for real. The only reason it tanked was because even though they won their anti-trust suit against the NFL, the jury only awarded them $1. They were able to lure top college talent, Herschel Walker comes to mind. The NFL product was made better because they had real competition, too. That we have two point conversions in the NFL today, is a direct result of the USFL.

[Steve Spurrier III]

I think a key question for the UFL, that hasn't really been adequately addressed yet, is whether or not they allow college freshmen and sophomores to be eligible.

In addition to the two-point conversion, the USFL were also the first ones to poach college juniors (Herschel Walker).

For example, there was no question in anyone's mind that Adrian Peterson was ready for pro football after his freshman season - and if you are an Adrian Peterson, why not pocket seven figures while you wait to become NFL eligible?

If I'm the UFL, I go after the blue-chip freshmen and sophomores.

[xhadow]

Well I don't think it will work unless it partners with the NFL.

A NFL branded product would have instant crediblity, and if they market it like the minors in baseball then each team will have a "farm" team where they can home brew talent and bring them up when the time is right (i.e. loosing 3 O-line men in the first 6 weeks).

Right now there is the NFL Europe which has a decent following in Europe but its not real popular here for the same reasons that the NFL wasn't that popular in the beginning, No one wants to watch a game that you can see the final score from before kickoff.

I say kill NFL europe and start NFL (insert your unique name here). That would give us fans more to watch and spend money on with teams we actually already care about and give these 900 or some odd players a true second chance in making it in the NFL.

[Steve Spurrier III]

NFL Europa has been killed. I think an NFL farm system could work, but there's no real reason to for the NFL to bother investing money, since they already have plenty of avenues in collegiate football, the AFL, CFL, and now the UFL and AAFL.

But I completley disagree that the UFL needs to be associated with the NFL to succeed - just look at how well the USFL drew. America's appetite for football has only grown since the mid-eighties.

[xhadow]

NFL Europa has been killed. I think an NFL farm system could work, but there's no real reason to for the NFL to bother investing money, since they already have plenty of avenues in collegiate football, the AFL, CFL, and now the UFL and AAFL.

But I completley disagree that the UFL needs to be associated with the NFL to succeed - just look at how well the USFL drew. America's appetite for football has only grown since the mid-eighties.

Thats the thing, the NFL wouldn't have to invest much but a name, as shown in this thread many people are willing to pay to start something viable but it needs the NFL branding to make sekptics feel its "the real deal". Because trust me if the NFL Europe didn't have NFL attached to it then it wouldn't have lasted as long as it has.

[redskingush]

Cuban should just throw some money at the CFL if football is what he wants, they could use the money boost.

[Steve Spurrier III]

...it needs the NFL branding to make sekptics feel its "the real deal". Because trust me if the NFL Europe didn't have NFL attached to it then it wouldn't have lasted as long as it has.

Who on earth ever considered NFL Europa "the real deal"? The advantage to being backed by the NFL isn't the name - you're basically admitting you're a minor league - it's the money.

The CFL and Arena League both receive aid from the NFL - there's a reason they don't make a big deal about it.

[Irn-Bru]

This might work. The XFL was a joke, but the USFL was for real. The only reason it tanked was because even though they won their anti-trust suit against the NFL, the jury only awarded them $1.

I guess that's fair considering they were trying to bully the NFL into submission and relying on that lawsuit for their future instead of focusing solely on running a quality football league.

I think a key question for the UFL, that hasn't really been adequately addressed yet, is whether or not they allow college freshmen and sophomores to be eligible.

In addition to the two-point conversion, the USFL were also the first ones to poach college juniors (Herschel Walker).

For example, there was no question in anyone's mind that Adrian Peterson was ready for pro football after his freshman season - and if you are an Adrian Peterson, why not pocket seven figures while you wait to become NFL eligible?

If I'm the UFL, I go after the blue-chip freshmen and sophomores.

I agree and think that it would be a smart move. I don't even think it would be a bad idea to go after guys coming straight out of high school, if a franchise wants to take a risk like that. Heck, the UFL could sign a kid to 6-figure per annum contract and effectively "redshirt" him as a practice player for a year. If they see amazing talent that just needs a year or two for physical growth to catch up, it would definitely be worth the risk of a draft choice.

Besides, many 18 and 19-year olds are capable of playing professionally, and under current procedure they have to waste a couple of years in college before they can earn the money that they are worth (all the while risking injury).

The NFL might begin to use the UFL as a de facto farm system at that point. But think about how differently the Maurice Clarett situation might have worked out (although given his character, that's no certainty). I can easily imagine that he would have signed with a UFL team either straight out of high school or after his freshman year, played a couple of years there, and then signed with an NFL club.

[Deadskins]

This might work. The XFL was a joke, but the USFL was for real. The only reason it tanked was because even though they won their anti-trust suit against the NFL, the jury only awarded them $1.

I guess that's fair considering they were trying to bully the NFL into submission and relying on that lawsuit for their future instead of focusing solely on running a quality football league.

I'm not so sure the USFL was the bully in that equation.

[Irn-Bru]

I tend to think of using the courts to violate other people's business as bullying. The USFL's case against the NFL was weak. . .in a country that's all too happy to award "anti-trust" rulings they could barely get their claim backed by a court.

While the legal story is complex, and there isn't a clear right and wrong (it's not like the NFL isn't using US laws – and local pocket books – to its advantage), I still maintain that the USFL should have stuck to football, and not to pointing guns at people they don't like. . .

[Deadskins]

I tend to think of using the courts to violate other people's business as bullying. The USFL's case against the NFL was weak. . .in a country that's all too happy to award "anti-trust" rulings they could barely get their claim backed by a court.

While the legal story is complex, and there isn't a clear right and wrong (it's not like the NFL isn't using US laws – and local pocket books – to its advantage), I still maintain that the USFL should have stuck to football, and not to pointing guns at people they don't like. . .

I agree with you to a point, but the fact that Congress gives the major sports leagues anti-trust exemptions, doesn't exactly create a level playing field for newcomers offering up competition to the big boys.

[Irn-Bru]

I agree with you to a point, but the fact that Congress gives the major sports leagues anti-trust exemptions, doesn't exactly create a level playing field for newcomers offering up competition to the big boys.

I guess before we get too far into a legal debate you should know that I don't think that U.S. Law = Justice. Anti-trust laws are an example of legislation that claims to solve or contain a certain problem, while its effects are generally the opposite of its intention. (Prohibition in the 20's, the war on drugs, banning guns to stop criminal activity involving guns, the minimum wage. . .well there are a lot of such laws, in my view).

So, we may be able to avoid a debate on this if we both know where it's heading.

I also agree with you that big leagues are getting an unfair advantage, though. Stadiums might be the most egregious example, in my opinion.

[Steve Spurrier III]

I was under the impression that only Major League Baseball actually enjoys anti-trust exemption - am I mistaken?

One of my good friends maintains that one of the biggest crimes of the past fifty years was allowing the NFL and AFL to merge.

[Deadskins]

I guess before we get too far into a legal debate you should know that I don't think that U.S. Law = Justice. Anti-trust laws are an example of legislation that claims to solve or contain a certain problem, while its effects are generally the opposite of its intention. (Prohibition in the 20's, the war on drugs, banning guns to stop criminal activity involving guns, the minimum wage. . .well there are a lot of such laws, in my view).

How did I know your were going to say that?

[Irn-Bru]

A broken record I may be, but at least that means I'm consistent!

[Steve Spurrier III]

There's not a whole lot here, but the UFL finally has a website at ufl2008.com.

Also, here is a lengthy article from oursportscentral.com. Most of the information is old, but here is some of the interesting new stuff:

[UFL Commissioner] Leach revealed that the initial burst of purchases for the league's ticket reservations has been going well. Going forward they intend to do a lot of viral marketing for the reservation's process throughout the blogosphere, Facebook, and other Internet venues. TicketRESERVE and the league may also partner together to do future activities to jointly promote the league and the TicketRESERVE process, including name the team contests for each UFL franchise.

In terms of differentiation with the NFL from a rules perspective, the UFL seems bound and determined to avoid any potential gimmicks. Huyghue commented that, "Ninety-nine percent of what you see in a traditional pro football game will be the same in the UFL. We want to maintain the tradition of the game. By and large the rules will roughly be the same."

It should come as no surprise that Las Vegas and Los Angeles are among the leaders in buys, as they are the largest markets currently planned for the UFL; however, Raleigh is also coming on rather strong, along with several other of the smaller markets targeted by the league.

The league also intends to follow the schedule of an NFL-type offseason program which will prospectively help the UFL avoid the pitfalls of the XFL, which only gave each team about a month to come together - a schedule critics saw as one of the reasons for what most observers derided as poor play in the early days of that effort. Each UFL team will then begin their offseason programs in March, with minicamps in April and training camps in July. The inaugural games are planned for August.

The league also has an aggressive plan in place for expansion, as they hope to add teams after each of their first three seasons. The blueprint calls for 16 teams in quick order and some of those may be international. Pushed on the idea of international expansion, Mr. Huyghue mentioned that, "Every league recognizes the cache in being international, but the costs will be a factor. Europe will only be seen in the context of natural growth. It has to be under the right circumstances."

There's plenty of other good stuff in there, so if you're interested at all I'd definitely give it a read.

[Steve Spurrier III]

More details from Newsday:

[The UFL] is looking seriously at the possibility of a New York team that would play its home games at Hofstra University in Hempstead. New York Islanders owner Charles Wang is seriously considering a bid to become the team's owner...

[Commissioner] Huyghue said the league was in discussions with several cable television outlets for broadcasting rights. He would not confirm whether ESPN is a part of those talks. "Television is a critically important part of it," he said, "and I don't think people will have to search their dials very hard to find it."

I think these are two very important issues. Even though New York already has two NFL teams, the sheer size of the city will allow for a UFL franchise to thrive. Football has always drawn very well in Gotham. Also, it's going to be important to have a franchise on the East Coast, if for no other reason to give the media a reason to pay attention.

Also, the television network is going to be critical. ESPN would be a coup, if for no other reason than it will guarantee a fair shake from the world-wide leader. But ESPN, along with the other NFL broadcast partners, are going to be very wary about pissing off the NFL.

[Steve Spurrier III]

After a full month will no news, The Orlando Sentinel reports that Orlando will indeed be one of the host cities for the United Football League:

Get ready Orlando. Another professional city football league is in the works and could be here as early as May 2008.

The United Football League, a brainchild of google executive Tim Armstrong and billionaire Bill Hambrecht, is scheduled to debut in 12 non NFL cities, including Orlando, next August. League commissioner Michael Huyghue spoke with city officials Thursday in hopes to secure the Florida Citrus Bowl as a home.

Currently, the UFL has secured four team owners and will release the names later this month. No one has made the $60 million commitment to purchase an Orlando team, but Huyghue said there are several interested parties outside Florida. Huyghue said the UFL is highly interested to make Orlando the centerpiece for the league with mini-camp being hosted here next May, training camp in July and an all-star game here as well.

The article says twelve teams, but the word all along has been that the UFL will choose eight of thirteen cities, although there's no reason that couldn't change based on demand.

As of now, you'd have to consider Orlando, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Long Island as the definites, and Raleigh and Birmingham as probables.

[Assasin atm]

XFL anyone?

Man i was gona say that. Um World Leaque anyone?