Whatever Happened to the "Mark Cuban" Football League?

Almost two years ago now, there were some rumors about Mark Cuban being an owner of a new football league called the United Football League.  After that, there has been no word on the future of those plans to compete with the NFL by playing games during the fall and winter.

The only issue I had with this league was, where they wanted to put franchises.  Everyone seems to assume that the best places for new franchises are the most populated cities, because those cities have more people and, thus more potential fans.  I disagree however, with the logic that the best places to plant new football franchises are the "big" cities.  For one, a city like Spokane, WA., can sell out nearly every game of the Spokane Shock (an Arena League 2 team) but yet, Spokane is hardly comparable in size to a city like Denver, Seattle, or even Phoenix.

Simply put, the size of the city in terms of population is not the best indicator as to whether the game will sell out.  In fact, the old All American Football Conference is what justified the addition of the Buffalo Bills to the new American Football League, because ticket sales for the Buffalo Bisons proved that the Buffalo market was viable.  Just as, the United States Football League proved that the Jacksonville market was viable enough by the ticket sales for the Jacksonville Bulls.  And the XFL proved that well, hot cheerleaders are hot, but football with fast-and-loose rules is not entertaining.

Nevertheless, the real issue at hand is whether people will watch the games at home, rather than just enjoy the excitement of live entertainment.  In other words, the game must be watchable.  Some believe that the passing game is what everyone wants to see.  That of course is what helped propel the early days of the American Football League, in which the deep-pass was used as football's answer to the home run.  I however, believe the best way to make any UFL games to be watchable is to play the old-school type of football that the NFL has abandoned in favor of protecting the passer.

Bring back real football.  Play in smaller cities with the names of old NFL teams.  That would be entertaining.

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