The United Football League (UFL) Will Thrive

The United Football League (UFL) is scheduled to begin their inaugural season on October 8, 2009.

The upstart league will have four teams competing in seven cities and games will be played on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings.

The four teams selected to compete in 2009 are the California Redwoods, the Florida Huskers, the Las Vegas Locomotives and the New York Sentinels.

A championship game is slated to occur on Thanksgiving weekend.

Largely because of the current economic state, many prospective owners decided to initially refrain from establishing a franchise.

However, if the UFL experiences some measure of success this autumn, and if the economy does improve, those hesitant owners have expressed interest in expanding the league.

The UFL has no affiliation with the National Football League (NFL).

Nevertheless, many analysts have speculated that the UFL could ultimately become a developmental league for the NFL.

“We are not naïve enough to think our product is going to steal the thunder of the NFL,” said UFL Commissioner Michael Huyghue. “We want our fans to be watching the NFL on Sunday. And watching us on Thursday.”

The UFL intends to be the polar opposites of their defunct predecessors, the United States Football League (USFL) and the XFL.

“We won’t try to do what the USFL did,” Huyghue stated. “We don’t have to go after name players to make the league work. It’s guys who already were there, but never had a chance to step into the limelight that we’re looking for.”

The maximum salary for a UFL player will approach $620,000 and the minimum compensation will be $35,000, plus incentive bonuses.

“The model for us was one where we realize there’s an abundance of talent out there, but player costs come to nearly 70% in the NFL,” said Huyghue, former vice president of football operations for the Jacksonville Jaguars. “So we had to make sure to not outspend ourselves with players. The attraction with this league for those players will not be the money but the opportunity.”

Huyghue continued to emphasize the importance of an alternate route for ballplayers to ascend to the NFL.

“There’s such a lopsided system with the salary cap that keeps players from getting their opportunity in the NFL and we knew the lure of that opportunity would be the hook.”

Former Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green, who is now the Redwoods head coach, provided examples of players who eventually flourished in the NFL after beginning their professional careers on the gridiron as unwanted journeymen.

“I always believed there are these additional players and the NFL can’t get them all: Kurt Warner, Robert Griffith, guys who had to find their way into the NFL and some had to go to other leagues to get there,” said Green. “Fifty years ago, they wouldn’t even have had a place for Lance Alworth in the NFL. They would have said he was too small. They had a set system for players.”

Despite the UFL’s alleged desire to become a supplemental league for the NFL, some skeptical onlookers contend that the UFL hopes to become a viable option for players should a labor dispute disrupt the NFL’s season in 2011.

NFL sports agent Drew Rosenhaus admitted that the creation of a second pro football league does offer players options.

“I hope the UFL is successful because it gives players another form to show that they may deserve another chance to play in the NFL,” said Rosenhaus, who, at 22, became the youngest registered sports agent.

Still, despite notions to the contrary, UFL executives are adamant that they are not in any capacity trying to compete with the NFL.

If the UFL maintains their stated mission, it is very feasible that the league could prosper and become a legitimate and respected football organization.

The UFL’s motto is, “It’s All About U.”

Perhaps the UFL’s hierarchy should modify their motto to, “It’s All About Opportunities.”

If the UFL truly wants to become a minor-league for the NFL, they have an “opportunity” to become a staple during the fall season.

On the other hand, if the UFL foolishly diverts from their plans and eventually tries to dethrone the NFL, the league will fall quicker than leaves in autumn.