We here at UFL Access did not expect such a debate to be stirred up by our email interview, but once Frank Vuono revealed that the United Football League would at least consider a corporate name for a team in the league and that the UFL was considering only using regional names such as UFL East and UFL West in year one rather than nicknames, the members of this site began a raging debate. Other outlets such as the Pro Football Examiner ran by Andrew Kossak chimed in and a broad consensus emerged. The consensus of the fans of the UFL is that we do not want corporate names that do not make sense and that fans WANT nicknames in year one.

Hopefully the league will recognize these opinions as valid and valuable and use nicknames beginning in year one.

You can view our forums for some of the reactions. Threads are present here, here, and here.

I spoke with a former employee of the All American Football League which had intended to go the “no nickname” route before the league effectively died. Here is what he had to say:

The AAFL’s decision to not name their teams was not completely supported on a team level. We felt it caused some problems with marketing and merchandising. One of the first questions that came to my mind was “what if they want to put in a “Team Florida State”? ” I think that the problem went down further than the names. I personally was not a fan of the attempted relationship with colleges. I think it’s important that teams do their best to build up their own affinity and not piggy back off of other entities.

He went on to say:

It was definitely hard to explain the concept. Probably the second question I was asked was “so what’s the team name going to be?”

“Just Team (insert state here)”

“…I don’t get it”

I don’t think that the majority of the people cared about the affinity factor to the universities. I think people are more prone to accept a mascot that applies to the area and work the marketing and merchandising angles there.

I slammed the AAFL for the lack of nicknames and if the UFL were to go that route – even for the “Premiere Season” – I would have to criticize them as well. I want to pick a team to cheer for, buy merchandise, and support them. I will not do so if the teams are generic and I find it difficult to envision others doing so either. The league will face enough marketing challenges with the “Premiere Season” – they should not compound their difficulties by not using nicknames.

Participate in the live chat with United Football League Commissioner Michael Huyghue on the official site on Monday night and share your opinions with him. I believe the league will listen.