4 X 6 = United Football League's premier season

Orlando head coach Jim Haslett at Tuesday's Meet and Greet
with the media (Photo: Ted Fleming)

Four teams, six games and a new acronym to learn. Get ready for the UFL, the new football league set to launch this fall.

Now before you fall on the floor laughing, this is no ordinary invasion of the pigskin landscape because the United Football League has what appears to be a well-thought-out plan and it may just work. All they need are some fans to come check them out.

Unlike others who have come and gone, including the expected demise of the Arena Football League after more than 20 years of operation, the UFL is not looking to make the great big splash like their predecessors throwing around money like they just hit PowerBall. In fact, the UFL is the anti-World Football League, the anti-United States Football League.

One may wonder why anyone in their right mind would even consider starting anything, including a professional sports enterprise, in this economy.  But Commissioner Michael Huyghue thinks that plays into what his league is trying to accomplish and actually stay within a financial plan.

“Our revenue projections are skewed towards were the economy is today but in some cases this economic climate has really helped us,” Huyghue said. “We’re able to get hotel rooms for $30-40-50 a night in quality hotels, better deals on charters, vendors have been coming forth and giving us deals, barter deals, in-kind deals and while it is not cash outlays it is reduced the amount of cash we would have to spend.”

The league has a deal in place with sports network Versus, which currently reaches over 75 million homes, to televise all Thursday and Friday tilts, all in high definition. And if you think the UFL is stepping on high schools, think again. There is a little thinking outside the box as to not come off as treading on sacred ground.

“Friday nights are a good opportunity for us to work with the schools in a market,” said Huyghue. “There may be opportunities to play their game before ours and those I have spoken to, for example Las Vegas, we’ve talked about assisting the bussing costs because we are finding out that games are being canceled because of budget cuts. They’ve welcomed the fact we’ve come into their markets. Some of our teams, going forward, will train at some of those high schools.”

The UFL will conduct sports camps with their coaches for the high school coaches and want to have their bands at games. The NFL is precluded from playing on Fridays and Huyghue says that opening allows his league to play then.

The network believes it is also a viable day to garner ratings.

The United Football League will save on training facilities as the west coast teams will call Casa Grande, Arizona home while on the other coast former Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida will be used. As the league progresses and expands, teams will eventually have their own training sites but for now, less in more. Everything is considered to eliminate redundancies before they happen.

The regular season will begin in September and will conclude with the championship game set for the day after Thanksgiving in Las Vegas. Rosters will be filled with players off NFL rosters who were cut along with those not drafted and may have been overlooked because they did not come from a highly scouted school or one not in Division I.

Make no mistake, the UFL recognizes a lot of their players are trying to raise their profile with NFL teams in hopes of being picked up for the playoff run or be invited to camp next year. That is why there is early speculation the league will eventually come to a “working agreement” with the National Football League as a developmental league of sorts.

Huyghue expects to place as many franchise in areas underserved by the NFL and in the “Premier Season” they will use seven different venues to play games. On the east coast New York City and Hartford, Connecticut will host the New York team but Orlando will not have to share their team. Out west, San Francisco and Sacramento will split six games and down south Los Angeles and Las Vegas will get three games apiece.

The head coaches have already been names with former Giants boss Jim Fassel taking the reins for LA/Vegas, Dennis Green in San Fran/Sacramento, Ted Cottrell in the Big Apple/Hartford and former Saints coach Jim Haslett taking over Orlando.

“I’m kind of looking forward to it,” said Haslett, his team slated to play in the Citrus Bowl. “When they approached me about coming down here and joining the United Football League, the first thing I said is, ‘I’ll do it if I can get Orlando.’ I like Florida, I like Orlando and I’ve been coming down here to Disney for 12-years. I thought it was a great opportunity, a chance to coach some young guys and start a new league.”

Haslett knows there are many talented players who are among the final cuts in NFL camp and believes there are a lot who can play but just don’t have the outlet to showcase their talents. With the Arena League all but gone – most agree it was never a place to develop talent for the outdoor game – and with NFL Europe being disbanded, only the Canadian Football League is left as an alternative.

“The Kurt Warners, the Jake Delhommes, Michael Lewis who I had in New Orleans, they’re just looking for the opportunity. If we can find 10-11 of those guys a year, obviously it will help their future and will be exciting for the league.”

United Football League Commissioner Michael Huyghue
(Photo: Ted Fleming)

Commissioner Huyghue said there will not be a draft; players will come from an organization’s regional NFL division counterpart such as Orlando pulling talent from the NFC and AFC South. That brings up an interesting conundrum for the UFL because one very high profile player will be looking for work in a couple of months – Michael Vick.

Huyghue says Vick has to clear a number of hurdles before any consideration is afforded to the now convicted felon although the commissioner believes the UFL will be a place for second chances. But Vick’s availability will depend on his reinstatement by the NFL and what Atlanta, who owns his rights, plan to do with him. Because Orlando is parallel to the Falcons in the NFC South they would have the first chance to get him.

“There’s a process, firstly he has to finish his time (in jail or house arrest) but I do believe in giving a guy a second chance,” Haslett said. “I know Michael personally, playing against him and spending time with him and I think he is a pretty good kid. Obviously his values were a bit different than mine or yours. To make a long story short, out of the four cities I think this would be the city that would be the best to accept him and give him that second chance.”

Should Orlando be able to land Vick it would be a mixed blessing as fans would want to come out to see him yet he has not strapped on a helmet since the 2006 campaign so there are questions as to home much he lost over that span and if he can regain his former star status. It would not be out of the question for NFL boss Roger Goddell to make the lefty-slinger play in the UFL as a condition for his re-entry into his league.

When you think about it, the United Football League is trying to do something all the failed entries into the football world failed to do, be NFL friendly and still be able to maintain autonomy. And being consumer friendly doesn’t hurt either.

With the price of attending an NFL game out of the reach of many Americans, the UFL’s average ticket price will be about $20 which will appeal to budget-conscience families.

So let the games begin.