Geoff_K Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 http://www.comcast.net/articles/sports-general/20090310/Balzer.UFL/ The fledgling United Football League, set to play in four cities beginning in October, will officially announce its four head coaches at a press conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. In addition to former New York Giants coach Jim Fassel, who will lead the Las Vegas team, the UFL has hired Dennis Green as San Francisco's coach, Jim Haslett for Orlando and Ted Cottrell for New York. All except Cottrell have been head coaches in the NFL. It is also believed the league is efforting to have former NFL quarterback Michael Vick play in its inaugural season. Each team will play six games, with the championship game expected to be played in Las Vegas during Thanksgiving weekend. The UFL has announced a deal for a Thursday night game of the week to be televised on VERSUS, which is also home for National Hockey League games. *follow link for rest of the story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrine Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Finally, a football league other than the NFL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamshatterer Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 6 games then a championship game??? Lil league plays more than that. Seems like no sense of acomplishment. I am happy there is another league though. Competition is good. They better hope college football has crappy matchups on Thursday nights to get any type of intrests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlinginSammy HOF '63 Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 I might watch, but I think it'll be like every other attempt to compete with the NFL. The upside is one of those coaches may very well finally be able to claim a championship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88Comrade2000 Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Sorry but that league is such a joke. 4 teams, 6 games? The league will fold before the first season ends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panel Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 If they could have started this when Clarrett quit college and the NFL refused to take him, and all the other players that did that as well were left in no mans land, they could have estabished them selves as the alternitive to college football as the NFL training grounds. The NFL does a lot of BS because they are a Monopoly, and I am glad they have some sort of compitition to keep them in check, but I am afraid that most pro sports a a natural monopoly, and that it doesn't matter who competes against them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZRagone Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Actually, starting with 4 teams I think is smart for them. Give it a try to see if you get any interest at all, start small with 4 good markets. If it works out, in a year or two you add possibly 2 to 4 more teams. I think their only issue really is when they're doing this. I think it'd be amazingly smart for them to go during the down time between the NFL's season, but NOT go for the middle of the winter like the XFL did. Shoot for an 6 team league. Every team plays every team one. Have training camp start in late March and April. The league starts play on the last sunday of April, with one game on the first week. The next 7 weeks has 2 games every sunday. Have a week off and then your championship game will be on the first week of July (So you get your championship generally around July 4th). This would essentially do a few things for them... They'd fill the of season, starting training camp during the free agency and lead up to draft time and starting their season during that dead time RIGHT after the NFL draft. Its championship game will wrap up a few weeks before training camps officially meet up, meaning they don't even have to compete with the NFL training camp and preseason. Their players may miss out on getting signed some due to not being able to meet OTA's. On the other hand, NFL scouts will actually be able to watch these guys in live games prior to training camp and they'll know they're in at least something close to game shape. I could see if this was successful a number of the players in the "championship" game possibly being brought on for try outs in training camp. This is a time people are starving for football, but is not frigid cold like the idiotic XFL tried to do by going in the cold first few months. People will be chomping for the bit for football and this would get their attention I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff_K Posted March 10, 2009 Author Share Posted March 10, 2009 I like that idea ZR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[[ghost]] Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 I'd watch all the games.... if they played in the Spring. I'd watch an awful NFL game over that. If KC and San Fran were on, you bet I'd watch them over some new league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hitman#21 Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 The other league besides the NFL that i actually watched more than one gm was the XFL. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeftCoast Skinz FAN Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 If they did this during the NFL offseason I would be all over it. I usually watch NASCAR in the offseason or take the kids to the park on Sundays but if this was on I would watch it for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFromYellowstone Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 If he gets the opportunity to play in the NFL (which I think he will), he won't play in the UFL. That's why I don't really see this happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbodiesel#44 Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 They can have him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirClintonPortis Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Has been coach+has been player+medicore talent=CHAMPIONSHIP?!!! lolwut? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88Comrade2000 Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Where's Ron, he's been real high on this league. He's posted alot of stuff about this over at tailgate. I just don't think you can take a league seriously with so few teams and such a small schedule. Also, playing the fall when there is college football almost every night of the week now and the NFL at least 3 nights a week; it's just doomed for failure. If you want to start a new league, you do it in the spring/early summer. I think to be credible you have to start out with at least 8 teams and have at least a 10 game regular season. UFL EAST: New York Orlando Raleigh Toronto UFL West Portland Los Angeles Las Vegas San Antonio You play 6 home and away games in your division and 4 games against the other conference. Top 4 teams make playoffs. Here's what a season could be like: Training Camp: 3/15/09 to 4/5/09- a 3 week training camp. Week 1: Sun: 4/12/09 Week 2: Sun: 4/19/09 Week 3: Sun: 4/26/09 Week 4: Sun: 5/3/09 Week 5: Sun: 5/10/09 Week 6: Sun: 5/17/09 Week 7: Sun: 5/24/09 Week 8: Sun: 5/31/09 Week 9: Sun: 6/7/09 Week 10: Sun: 6/14/09 Playoffs Round 1: Sun: 6/21/09 Championship game: Sun: 6/28/09 You are done right before the 4th of July holiday. As the league grows, you could expand the season and expand teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HEavyJumbo85 Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 If you want to start a new league, you do it in the spring/early summer. The only fault I see in this theory is that history is against you. The most successful competition from another league that the NFL has ever seen was from the American Football League which started with 8 teams and operated in DIRECT competition with the NFL. They succeeded and eventually merged with the NFL. Spring/Summer Leagues have failed. The USFL failed, they were a spring league with 20 something teams. The World football league started in the Summertime and they failed. The only league that ever survived in the Spring was the Arena league and that was a niche sport at best, complete different brand of football. If you're going to compete with the NFL you have to "do like they do." There's a reason they're successful. People are hungry for football in the fall, they're ready for it. Putting your league in the Spring saturates the market and demeans your league in the eyes of the casual fan. For people that don't live and breathe football, Spring football is amateur hour to them and it's too much. Why would they watch a "crappy" Spring league when they aren't in the "mood" for football? By simply "putting football where the NFL isn't" during football season, you're capitalizing on the buzz for football that the NFL is creating for you. During football season people want more football, that's where the demand is. In the Spring for a lot of sports fans, the anticipation and interest is geared toward baseball and playoff basketball and things like that. Football is on the backburner for the casual football fan, and a startup league isn't exactly going to get their motor running. You have to capture them while they're already hooked. They have a good plan from what I can tell, whether it sticks or not I don't know, but it's not a bad idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justsomeguy Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 If he gets the opportunity to play in the NFL (which I think he will), he won't play in the UFL.That's why I don't really see this happening. Exactly. Without a doubt, plus I doubt atlanta even gives up rights for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLongshot Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 I wonder if this is a tuneup to take advantage of a potential lockout of the NFL in the near future... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewCliche21 Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Didn't realize the quote was so big :doh: Very well thought-out! I like this idea. To be honest, if you're a football fan, then you'll watch anything. As long as the rules are the same as college or the NFL, preferably the latter, then I'll try and coach the kids playing near my backyard. More football is never a bad thing if it's timed like ZR has outlined. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laxpunk2006 Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Exactly. Without a doubt, plus I doubt atlanta even gives up rights for that. Do you honestly think Atlanta is going to hold onto that contract? They're going to need him gone ASAP for cap relief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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