Writers of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

printable version

Extra Points

Articles from around the Web



09 Mar 2009

UFL Gets TV Deal with VERSUS

Versus will apparently be showing one UFL game a week during their inaugural season.

Uh, wow. Versus couldn't show another WEC replay?

(Hat tip: PFT)

Posted by: Bill Barnwell on 09 Mar 2009

14 comments, Last at 25 Mar 2009, 1:01am by tuluse

Comments

1
by discostu :: Mon, 03/09/2009 - 1:58pm

They should change the name of the league to Jet Lag:
Las Vegas, New York, Orlando, and San Francisco. Some games will be played in Hartford and Los Angeles.

This league is setup to make everybody's schedule suck.

2
by Joe T. (not verified) :: Mon, 03/09/2009 - 2:37pm

Yeah, these leagues really need to set up franchises in tighter geographic regions to reduce operating/travel costs. The big 4 sports leagues that are around today didn't just plop teams down in major markets on opposite coasts. They all started in the Northeast (a train ride from their opponents) and only expanded geographically after revenues increased.

3
by S :: Mon, 03/09/2009 - 3:39pm

Well, the NFL technically started in the Great Lakes region (Akron Pros, Dayton Tiangles, Canton Bulldogs, I think there were teams in Hammond and Muncie Indiana as well). But yeah, they kept it close until finances permitted travel of greater distances. I agree that the larger costs from the "drop teams on the coasts" model has been a big reason that other start-up leagues have struggled financially.

5
by discostu :: Mon, 03/09/2009 - 4:01pm

As well as saving on travel cost you help create rivalries. There's really no natural rivalry between San Fran and New York, so it's hard to get that extra rooting interest that brings in early fans and gets them to spend money. If you put teams close together there's a good chance the cities already have some sort of rivalry, maybe even a sports rivalry on the pro, semi-pro or college level. Hate sells sports merchandise, it's good to use the hate that's already there.

6
by tuluse :: Mon, 03/09/2009 - 5:29pm

Didn't some teams in the south get starter early in the NFL? Also Chicago and Providence or Boston aren't that close to each other.

Another problem is that if you are trying not to compete with NFL teams, it's hard to find cities large enough near each other.

7
by discostu :: Mon, 03/09/2009 - 6:07pm

Chicago had two NFL teams for a while (Bears and Cards). You really only need each team to have one "natural" rival, especially if you're only doing a six week season like these guys.

I don't think they're trying not to compete with the NFL. 3 of their 4 teams are in NFL cities. Depending on how big you need your audience to be (which basically is a function of how much you intend to pay players) you could put teams in a lot of different cities. With the Arena League taking a year (or more) off that opens up even more places. Most states have at least two semi-major cities that don't like each other.

8
by TomKelso :: Mon, 03/09/2009 - 6:18pm

The earliest Southern team in the NFL was the Dallas Texans, who lasted one season (1952) in Dallas, played a vagabond (all-road or neutral sites) schedule in 1953, the relocated in Baltimore in 1954 (I may be a season off on these dates).

George Preston Marshall regarded his team as the only "Southern" franchise -- one of the reasons the 'Skins were the last team to sign black players -- Bobby Mitchell in 1964. Legend has it that he blocked NFL attempts to put another team in Dallas until Tex Schramm acquired the rights to 'Hail to the Redskins' in maneuvering after Marshall's divorce settlement -- and refused to let Marshall use the song unless Dallas got the Cowboys.

Atlanta joined in 1966 and New Orleans in 1967 -- supposedly to get the support of Louisiana senator Hale Boggs for anti-trust approval of the merger. In the AFL, Houston was there in 1960 (Dallas, too, before the Hunts had to relocate to Kansas City), and Miami in 1966.

Until jet travel, Chicago and St. Louis WERE as far west as trains could take you in a season without byes -- baseball even brought a team back east -- the St. Louis Browns to Baltimore -- because travel costs were helping keep the Browns perpetually cash-strapped.

9
by tuluse :: Mon, 03/09/2009 - 7:09pm

That's some cool history. Thanks for the information.

10
by andrew :: Mon, 03/09/2009 - 10:15pm

The Los Angeles Buccaneers in 1926.

To cut down on travel costs, they didn't play any home games.

4
by Tom Gower :: Mon, 03/09/2009 - 3:57pm

The big 4 sports leagues that are around today didn't just plop teams down in major markets on opposite coasts.
True, given that before the age of jet travel, putting teams on opposite coasts meant days of travel time. The most successful league founded in the age of jet travel, the AFL, did precisely that, though, putting teams in New York and Boston and LA and Oakland.

11
by Anonimous (not verified) :: Tue, 03/10/2009 - 8:37am

If someone ever starts an iron-man football league, with all 11 playing each way, I'll watch. But I have no idea what the point of making crappier versions of the NFL is.

12
by jebmak :: Tue, 03/10/2009 - 9:43am

I'll watch if they create a league to compete with college football. If students have a choice between playing football for free but possibly getting a degree and making 50-100k per year, I would be interested.

13
by Mr Shush :: Tue, 03/10/2009 - 11:45am

I think the UFL will be interesting if it turns out to be a home for the guys who were elite college players but poor NFL prospects - the spread option quarterbacks, the 250lb defensive tackles, the running backs who try to take every play to the house. A league with professional players running wacky college systems is a league I would like to watch.

14
by tuluse :: Wed, 03/25/2009 - 1:01am

Isn't that what the AAFL is trying to do?

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

More information about formatting options

CAPTCHA
To skip this, please log in.