Commissioner Michael Huyghue was clear throughout his address and the following question and answer period that the UFL will be adding two teams for 2010 and that they are in discussions with five potential ownership groups for the two teams. The league’s criteria is that you want to avoid NFL teams as much as possible and that you want to find a quality venue.
The markets under consideration are:
- Hartford, Connecticut
- Los Angeles, California
- Omaha, Nebraska
- Austin, Texas
- San Antonio, Texas
- Portland, Oregon
- Salt Lake City, Utah
In five of those seven markets their are ownership groups who have approached the league with a high level of interest but Huyghue did not indicate which of the seven have groups in place. He seemed to indicate, as reported here and elsewhere, that Hartford is a front runner for one of the two teams.
Huyghue said that Omaha “is a market that we are very interested in moving forward.”
Speaking of Austin and San Antonio he laughed as he mentioned, “that it is hard to have a football league and not have teams in Texas.”
The Commissioner also indicated that Portland and Salt Lake City have expressed strong interest in the league and that both have venues similar to what the UFL is looking for.
Interestingly enough Los Angeles did not receive too much mention in the Commissioner’s remarks and other discussions with UFL officials made it seem as if the odds of Los Angeles joining in year two are slimmer than previously indicated.
I’m feeling Hartford, San Antonio and Salt Lake. Any two of those three would work for me.
Think NY should look at playing all games on Island at Hofstra and Cali should look at playing all its games at Spartan in San Jose.
More marketing, street promo and advertising via cable franchises. That was more of the passive potential supporters will be aware of what is going on at a cost effective price
i agreed with Letstalkwhatever about the redwoods playing their home games at spartan stadium. And the UFL should considered televising their games on a more recognizable network such as SPIKE, Fox Sports, or TBS because most of america don’t have Versus unless you have Comcast or Direct TV!!
I think that UFL should expansion to 8 teams instead of 6.
I get the feeling, that based on how this article reads, that none of these teams are a lock. That makes me very nervous!
Austin,TX would be a bad idea.