The Why of the United Football League

Why now?

Why the “Premiere Season”?

Why not more?

Why do they think they can succeed?

Common refrains this week to anyone who has been browsing the media reaction to the launch of the United Football League and their “Premiere Season”. It isn’t anything outside of what the league, or UFL Access, expected and the questions are warranted to a large extent.

Why now? The economy is in the dumps, although many expect improvement by 2010. The answer to that question is simple – the league announced their intentions in the spring of 2007 and moved forward despite the economic woes that grew in time. It was either launch now or pull the plug as another delay was not an option. For those who argued for a delay until 2010 in hopes of launching a full scaled effort, ask the All American Football League how that has worked out for them. Quite simply it was now or never for the UFL and if you ever want to see the United Football League hit the field it has to be this fall.

The “Premiere Season” is different from what we expected and different from the launch of sports leagues recently, yet in this economy it might make the most sense. Four teams, thirteen games (including the championship), and seven or eight cities. Those cities will see the United Football League play this fall and it is the hope of the men and women behind the league that they will then get more excited about the full scaled launch of the league in 2010.

As I have mentioned on our forums the fact that the league was able to raise $50,000,000 between now and last fall with a credit crisis ongoing and the stock market going bust is nothing short of incredible. Yes, I am disappointed that they didn’t add more ownership groups before the economy went south but all indications are that they were able to land groups before all of this happened, and some of those groups simply ceased to appear when their portfolios took a dive faster than a soccer player. So the “why not more?” and “why the premiere season?” questions are mutually tied together – as Bill Clinton once said, it’s the economy, stupid.

Launching small gives them the chance to control costs, introduce the brand of the United Football League, and buys them time and economic improvement for 2010.

Why do they think they can succeed? Confidence in themselves and their product is the answer. As Commissioner Huyghue stated in his interview with UFL Access earlier in the week, the executives behind this effort have extensive resumes in the sports business and they do not need to launch an effort just to launch it. They are moving forward with the UFL because they believe it will be a success. They believe they can start small, market each game as an event, and attract enough fans and interest to show their investors and the public that a market for the United Football League exists – while at the same time build the brand for the full scaled launch in 2010.

Think about it. This fall we will see the UFL play on national cable television, and they are promising that games will be regionally broadcast as well. Fans in seven, maybe eight, cities will be able to attend games in person. When they make it that far, and I guarantee you the UFL will kickoff because their money is in the bank, they will have made it further than any startup league other than the WLF, USFL, and XFL in the past four decades. Why would we doubt they will be able to launch a full scale league in 2010? Huyghue says that he hopes we will hear the six to eight teams that will make up the United Football League in September, at the latest we will hear them around the title game, and at the same time they are working on launching the “Premiere Season” they will be working on the full launch for the next season.

My ultimate response to those who ask “Why start an NFL rival?” Well, I think we ought to turn to one of my all time inspirations, Robert Kennedy, (and, yes, I know he was quoting George Bernard Shaw) for the answer to that question:

There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?