The United Football League will expand by two teams. That much, we know. The question remains – which two markets will be joining the UFL? That is why we are keeping track of public statements, gossip, rumors, and trying to read the tea leaves. The “Expansion Horse Race” is our clearinghouse for that information. Refer back to the original Horse Race for the inaugural rankings.

We are removing Hartford from the list for one simple reason. We are extremely confident that the New York Sentinels will move to Hartford at this point, if that does change then we will put them back on. According to our source in Hartford the folks over at Northland have clammed up.

We also are leaving San Jose and Sacramento off of the list because they are increasingly likely to be the recipient of the Redwoods games in year two.

The Expansion Horse Race II

1. San Antonio. Everything I’ve heard points to an increasingly likely bid for San Antonio. Our sources have indicated that San Antonio is showing the most interest in the UFL of any expansion possibility on the shortlist. Combined with Commissioner Huyghue’s assertion that you can’t have a football league without a team in Texas and that Texas would have a team in 2010 we are fairly confident that San Antonio will have a franchise. We are dropping Austin from the list because we view those two cities as either/or possibilities. See Fyatuk’s argument for San Antonio here.
2. Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City has a gorgeous stadium possibility in Rio Tinto, a lack of major sports beyond the Jazz, and no professional football in the state. The state and metro area have a relatively high affluence as well. The other benefit to Salt Lake? The NFL is unlikely to look to the market due to Mormon-opposition to events on Sunday.
3. Omaha. While the Commissioner continues to talk about Omaha, other sources have begun to downplay the possibility in the short term. A lack of a proper size stadium will continue to hamper the chances of the market receiving a team but if the Commissioner’s pushing of Omaha coincides with an investor group then perhaps they will move back ahead of Salt Lake City.
4. Portland. A number of sources have spoken in very positive terms about Portland in the past two weeks. The one big drawback – PGE Park is being renovated for the Timbers who may not want to share their stadium anyways. Unless one of the Paulson family is going to own the team…
5. Memphis/Mississippi. I am grouping these two together because I was told that Memphis is on the shortlist and they were featured in the survey sent out to fans following the conclusion of the stadium. Just this week it was reported that former Mississippi State Head Coach Jackie Sherrill is linked to a possible expansion group from Mississippi. I doubt that the league is looking to Jackson or Biloxi but it would make sense for Sherrill to be part of a Memphis-based group.
6. Los Angeles. Several stadiums, a lot of money, and no NFL would be positives for Los Angeles. The high cost of marketing and highly probable return of the NFL to Los Angeles make it increasingly unlikely in the near term.

The league will be holding board meetings Monday and Tuesday in Jacksonville, Florida. We should know more coming out of those meetings although we do not expect any major announcements until January.