United Football League (2008)

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United Football League

Sport	American football
Founded	2007
Commissioner	Michael Huyghue
No. of teams	TBD (6-8)
Country(ies)	United States, Mexico, Great Britain
TV partner(s)	TBD
Official website	http://www.ufl2008.com/

For the league that operated in the 1960s, see United Football League (1960s).

The United Football League is a professional American football league being organized by William Hambrecht, a Wall Street investor and former minority partner in the USFL's Oakland Invaders, and Tim Armstrong, a senior executive at Google. Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, was the first to publicly profess interest in owning a franchise.

The league, which is still in its infancy, plans to play games on Friday nights, which would put it in direct competition with high school football. The NFL, on the other hand, is prohibited under the federal anti-trust exemption law (15 U.S.C. § 1291) from broadcasting any professional game within seventy-five miles of any inter-collegiate or inter-scholastic (high school) game on any Friday (after 6:00 PM) or Saturday, beginning with the 2nd Friday in September, and ending the 2nd Saturday in December (15 U.S.C. § 1293). In essence, the UFL would be the only pro game in town.

Cuban has said that he believes the league will fill its rosters with quality players selected late in the NFL Draft, undrafted free agents, or players that are released by NFL teams.^[1]

Eight teams will compete in the inaugural season, which was originally scheduled for August 2008. ^[2] The league initially intended to place these teams in markets (including a few outside the United States) where the NFL had no presence.

Despite a June 2007 report in The New York Times indicating that teams were already being set up in Las Vegas, Mexico City and Los Angeles^[3], no franchises have yet been officially established and Mexico City is now seen as unlikely to land a team in the league's inaugural season. ^[4]

Expected to announce its first six franchises by the end of March 2008, the UFL instead saw that month pass into the rearview mirror with no team locations having been finalized. According to fan website "UFLAccess", the league's opening games have now been pushed back a year to August of 2009 to allow for more time to attract owner-investors, negotiate a TV broadcast deal and build league branding.^[5]

1 League office
- 1.1 Commissioner's office
- 1.2 Executives & staff
2 Franchise owners
- 2.1 Potential franchise owners
- 2.2 Past potential franchise owners
3 Potential markets
4 Potential foreign markets
5 References
6 External links

[edit] League office

[edit] Commissioner's office

Michael Huyghue - Current ^[6]

[edit] Executives & staff

Frank Vuono - Chief Operating Officer
Larry Upson - Vice President of Officiating/Operations
Ralph Vuono - Sr. Director, Marketing
Ed Reynolds - Security and Administration

[edit] Franchise owners

Mark Cuban - Likely to own the team in Los Angeles^[7]

[edit] Potential franchise owners

William Hambrecht - One of the UFL's founders, mentioned by Commissioner Huyghue (according to Rueters) as the possible owner of a San Francisco team.
Charles Wang - Rumored for Long Island, NY according to Newsday.
Three ownership groups are vying for Las Vegas^[8]

[edit] Past potential franchise owners

T. Boone Pickens, Jr. - originally committed, but currently out because of personal/time issues.^[9]

[edit] Potential markets

Back on October 12, 2007, the league announced it would allow fans in 13 communities to pay for reserved season tickets at ticketreserve.com (now firstDIBZ.com) in what would be a competition to help league officials and potential owners select the UFL's first eight markets. This vote came with the promise that "If their city isn't selected, the money is refunded." ^[10]^[11]

Although Mexico City, London, and, later, Monterrey were (and, for future expansion, still are) being considered as possible international markets by the league, the markets offered by ticketreserve.com included:

The results of this competition have not, to date, been released to the public.

As of the 18th of December, 2007, Las Vegas, Orlando and Los Angeles were reportedly very close to receiving franchises, and a larger announcement was expected the following spring. ^[12]

Though that formal announcement has yet to come, a Rueters article published May 16 of 2008 offered further clarification on the subject. According to UFL Commissioner Michael Huyghue, it is likely that the league will launch in August of 2009 with eight teams. These will most probably include the following six markets, as well as two markets which have yet to be named.

It is interesting to note that this list includes two markets that were not offered in the firstDIBZ.com online fan voting. Huyghue explained by saying that the wealth of fan requests from the San Francisco and Salt Lake City areas had focused the eyes of league officials in their directions. Worth noting, too, is that while northern California's Bay Area is already the home of two NFL teams, San Francisco was, by far, the most successful market in the failed XFL. As the article also states that the league will try to use Major League Soccer stadiums wherever possible, their increased interest in Salt Lake City comes into greater resolve, as well.

Further word on league progress is expected by late July of 2008. ^[13]