The United Football League’s Sunday gamble
We are guaranteed professional football on Sundays this year, starting in August.
And that has nothing to do with the National Football League.
At the end of last season, the United Football League announced their intent to play on Sundays in anticipation of a work stoppage in the NFL, a plan they are sticking with thus far. The league is expected to hold their training camps in July and open the season in August, a month before the NFL’s traditional regular season start. The five-team league will hold eight games for every team, split between home and road games, with the UFL Championship game to be held in the middle of October.
While the bigger league’s labor upheaval continues, the UFL hopes their new schedule will help them capitalize on America’s passion for football. The move to Sundays could work out brilliantly, as it allows fans to maintain a football-watching routine developed by the NFL, but the potential downside is just as great, as an end to the lockout would put the three-year-old league in direct competition with the NFL behemoth.
Brad Gagnon covers the NFL for The Score‘s Goal-Line Stand. He doesn’t believe the UFL can run with the big boys on Sundays.
“That’ll be the death knell for the league,” Gagnon said. “People aren’t looking for an alternative on Sundays. You’re?putting a no-name brand on the same shelf as a name brand?and selling them for the same price. Why would anyone buy the no-name, especially when the product is blatantly inferior?”
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Gagnon believes that the league needs to capitalize on the spring and summer months, when NFL fans have no other way to quench their thirst for football, especially since the UFL is currently without a major network television deal. League’s like the XFL and the USFL have had deals with major networks in the past and still failed to topple the NFL giant, making the UFL’s move to fall Sundays seem like an even bigger gamble.
Gagnon does believe that the UFL has done some things right, and he thinks there is potential for the league to capitalize on the NFL’s labor situation. He lauds the league’s decision to hire well-known former NFL coaches, believing it brings a level of attraction to the league.
“[Their] markets aren’t going to get the job done, but then you give them a hot-shot coach or a familiar face and that’s sort of novel,” he said. “I can see people in Sacramento or?Hartford not caring about this thing — but I can see the presence of?Dennis Green or Jerry Glanville?making them curious.?That’s great, coaches are a good start. But you’ve got to bring in a few famous players. If they could?take Terrell Owens or someone who is nationally known?and put him in one of these obscure markets, it could work wonders for attendance locally and television ratings nationally.”
While the UFL hasn’t landed a player of Owens’ caliber yet, they have brought in NFL-level talent in the past, signing recognizable names such as Tim Rattay and Ahman Green (Green having since left for the CFL). The USFL shelled out for big name players like Reggie White, Jim Kelly, and Steve Young; the UFL’s strategy has been more cost-effective, and it still has generated some buzz.
With the lockout continuing, though, Gagnon thinks the UFL should capitalize on the work stoppage by contacting veteran NFL players, who might be more interested than many would think.
“Why not? Gagnon said. “Professional athletes are tremendously bad with their money. If the lockout lasts long enough, they’ll jump ship as soon as they need the cash. If the UFL?and its teams are smart, they’re already making pitches and getting in these guys’ ears.”
For now the UFL is still young, and still largely ignored. They have completed two seasons, with Jim Fassel’s Las Vegas Locomotives defeating the Florida Tuskers (now known as the Virginia Destroyers) in the first two title games. None of that is common knowledge to the average football fan, though, showing how desperately the league needs exposure.
Going up against the NFL in a head-to-head battle, even on just the aspect of Sunday scheduling, seems to be a boom-or-bust strategy. The UFL will either gain fans, attention, and respectability, or get trounced before its third birthday, with very little room to land in the middle.
If the NFL stays locked out past their scheduled start date, the UFL’s move to Sundays could prove to be the key to their survival. On the other hand, if the NFL sorts out the issues between players and owners it could very well be the death of the fledgling league.
No one believes the lockout will spell the NFL’s doom, but its resolution could very well determine the fate of a completely different league.
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