Editorial: This Ain’t Your Typical Rival League

UFL

Stop me if you’ve heard this before.

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A set of letters that represents a football league funded by a bunch of old guys with egos even larger than their pocketbooks. This league like a half dozen before it aims to take on the reigning goliath of professional sports: the NFL. Of course, so did all of the leagues which got off the ground and the dozens more who “announced” but never played a game.

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So what makes the UFL different? Why in the hell am I excited about a league that hasn’t kicked off yet – even though I know the history of all of the NFL rivals that have failed before?

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For one thing, the history of failed leagues isn’t as miserable as it appears in hindsight. The XFL was everything the UFL won’t be – a single entity, the WWE as an owner, and a made-for-tv product that wasn’t very good. Yet even it, in one season, managed to average 23,000-plus fans a game. The USFL, for three years in the 80s and playing in the spring, averaged from 22 – 25,000 fans a game. Now, those are not NFL numbers but it is a good starting point for any rival league. The difference between the UFL and other leagues, however, is that their owners have committed to own teams for five years no matter the losses – and they have the pocket book to do it. No other rival league was in it for longer than three besides the American Football League which, of course, forced a merger with the NFL.

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Another factor that has hurt previous leagues has been fly by night owners. The World Football League in the 70s lasted for a season and a half. In that season and a half they had teams cease to operate mid-season and they had teams which moved cities just a few games into the year. That isn’t stability. The UFL has worked hard to provide ownership groups that will not cease to exist while football is being played. Mark Cuban has been announced as one owner – William Hembrecht and Tim Armstrong are investors behind the league – and all of those guys have deep pockets and the willpower to stay around. The rumored ownership groups I have heard mentioned will bring further riches and stability to the league. 

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The quality of play will determine if fans that are interested initially will stay interested. On that front the UFL still has to prove itself. They have the owners and they have the business plan to sustain losses – now they need stadiums and players. It appears that they will have the stadium deals in place to announce soon and the announced $20,000,000 salary cap will go a long ways towards attracting top notch talent that will keep fans interested in the UFL from game one. 

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$20,000,000 dollars will allow them to sign NFL backups, practice squad players, aging stars who are too expensive due to the CBA, and NFL draft picks from the 2^nd round and below. If they reel those players in (and we have no reason yet to think they will fail to do so), the UFL should provide high quality football for the fans. Beginning mini-camp in May will allow their teams to get ready in a way that the XFL didn’t provide with their very short training period, which led to the initial XFL games being sloppy. Also, the fact that the UFL will be paying their players quite a bit more than the XFL did should lead to a much greater talent pool.

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It also appears that the UFL will have a good television deal in place in year one without relying on television money initially, and they have a sound business plan with experienced football guys and business executives in the league office.

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So, I really believe they can overcome the odds, but a lot of that is up to time. They simply have to overcome the skepticism that a lot of football fans feel when they hear talk of yet another league. The way to combat that at first is to have well known, respected, wealthy owners. Once you have those you have to land a television deal so you can have coverage, and then you have to sign talented players. We know they have the owners, they should announce the TV deal soon, and then we will see about the players.

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If they attract the talent that both I and the league itself believe they will attract then they should have a good product from year one – and that skepticism will then die further.

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Longevity is the most important factor to beating back the skeptics though, and it appears that the UFL is in it for the long haul. After three or four years – if they avoid franchise relocations and folding – then they should be able to beat back the criticism that it is just another league. If they are around that long then I believe most people will be able to understand that the UFL is building something special.

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With that said I am going to enjoy every moment of this new venture. It sure beats looking forward to another year of the same ol’, same ol’ in the No Fun League.

Nation Hahn @ February 5, 2008