RUMOR ALERT: According to UFLAccess poster lvrecsports a Las Vegas affiliate of ESPN radio reported that the United Football League will announce in the near future that a shortened season will occur in 2009. The season will kickoff in October of 2009. It appears that the new schedule would be a six game regular season, based off of the time line provided in report, followed by a championship game in Las Vegas. The four markets in the league, according to this report, would be Orlando, New York, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. No further details were provided.

This would be a blow to the hopes of the United Football League as they have long said that they would kickoff with either eight or six teams in the fall of 2009 and play a full schedule following. The idea of a “short season” was first floated by UFL Executive Frank Vuono in a piece done by the Sports Business Journal on the day of the December 1st announcement. Following that article every other press appearance by league officials mentioned the six team league that seemed to be promised by the December 1 announcement. It appears that should they go this route the league decided against owning franchises and could not add two ownership groups in the weeks leading up until now. This plan would likely be seen as a way to keep the concept of the UFL alive while buying time for a full fledged league to add ownership groups and await an economic recovery. If the league still has a television deal then prospective fans would at least be able to watch games from the United Football League brand in 2009 leading up to 2010 and a full season.

We here at UFLAccess are trying to confirm this rumored news and would stress that this report is far from concrete as the league has issued no official statements. Feel free to discuss this issue and others in our forums.