UFL: Commissioner Michael Huyghue Shares How This Offseason is Different

Building a solid tradition and stability is important in any line of business, and the United Football League is no different. Just months away from their third season, Commissioner Michael Huyghue echoed his confidence about the upcoming year.

While the National Football League has been in a labor stoppage for more than 70 days, the UFL has attracted new fans and the attention of media outlets across the nation.

“Fans are attracted to the league because of its newness and how the league is gaining more stability,” Huyghue said. “The creativity of the league and its constant use of social media prove to bring in fans and keep them engaged.”

The UFL and its staff of coaches and executives have more than 15 different twitter accounts and can be seen interacting with fans on a daily basis. In the recent months, the UFL has held an hour-long question and answer with Hartford Colonials’ coach Jerry Glanville as well as a live draft over Twitter.

In the draft, the UFL was able to select players like first overall draft pick Jerrod Johnson, who might not have had the league as an option if it wasn’t for the NFL lockout.

“In the beginning [of the lockout] not many people thought the NFL season would be delayed because of it,” Huyghue said. “Although their season is still salvageable, the fans are becoming a bit skeptical.”

“With the NFL lockout, players who normally would be signing with other teams are coming to the UFL which reminds fans that there is a lot of great talent out there. A hundred players have gone up to the NFL clubs in the past two seasons. And we’re continuing to replace coaches and players with other outstanding talent.”

Commissioner Huyghue doesn’t believe the lockout has had either a positive or negative financial impact on the UFL, but players are now putting the UFL in the forefront as an option whereas in previous years they’d already be in NFL organized team workouts by now.

The UFL will start training camps in July. Prior to the July start to camp, the Commissioner and others will be feverishly working to iron out their schedule and television deal.

Some fans may grow impatient because of the anticipation, but the Commissioner asks that the fans realize that the newness of the league can sometimes prevent issuing hard dates for schedule releases, television deal announcements, etc. The UFL thrives to do their best at getting the fans the information when they can.

“It would be nice to have the 75 year history and stability of the NFL, but the reality is that we’re in our third year," Huyghue said. "We fight tooth and nail to make moves in the right direction and promote as many stabilized ideas as we can.”

Once the schedule and television deal are released, fans can look forward to an affordable gameday experience that the Commissioner stated will be both fun and competitive.

Last season, some UFL teams averaged between 10,000 to 15,000 fans in attendance while other teams averaged 20,000. With the increased attention that the league has gotten this offseason, Huyghue predicts those numbers will go up as well.

“We’re going to elevate to 20,000 people in attendance across the board,” he said.

The combination of media attention, possibility of being the only professional football on this fall, and the quality of players and coaching should help the league excel in their third season that starts in August.