Fran
02-15-2010, 12:57 PM
The fledgling United Football League has raised $20 million from two new owners of pending expansion franchises, said the league’s commissioner, Michael Huyghue. He declined to disclose the identities of the owners or cities in which the teams will be located.
The money should help cover the losses of $30 million the league sustained last year, and a projected $15 million this year. The UFL stands by its estimate of a break-even campaign in 2011.
The league is also moving its games to Friday and Saturday nights, Huyghue said, after playing on Thursday nights in its abbreviated inaugural schedule last fall. That should keep the league from competing with the NFL’s Thursday night games, which begin in early November.
Speaking in the lobby of the media center at the Super Bowl earlier this month, Huyghue said two of the league’s four teams, New York and San Francisco, are relocating as part of a new strategy to play in non-NFL markets. The New York franchise will move to Hartford, Conn. Huyghue declined to identify where the California Redwoods are moving. The Las Vegas and Orlando franchises are remaining in their markets.
The league will have six teams this season, with each playing a 10-game schedule starting on Sept. 8-9, Huyghue said. Last year the season began Oct. 8, with each of the four teams playing a three-game season.
“You are going to see on the marketing and business side big changes in terms of the approach and how we go about it,” he said. Instead of offering sponsors what he termed “NFL-lite,” Huyghue said the league will offer deals with more activations.
By way of example, he pointed to a new sponsorship the UFL struck with the University of Phoenix, the online college that has naming rights to the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals stadium. With the new UFL sponsor, each club will get four free scholarships for players, he said, and the college will sponsor tailgating before games.
After last season, the UFL received praise for the quality of its play, but attendance was a weak spot with an average of less than 10,000. The league blamed that on poor planning and centralized ticketing. Teams will now have more control over their businesses.
“I don’t think we had a really good plan,” Huyghue said. “We just let whomever show up show up. But I don’t have any hesitation about the popularity and ability to attract fans.”
But unlike before last year when he predicted the league would attract 20,000 fans a game, Huyghue is making no predictions other than saying the goal is a sellout for the opening game.
Last season’s games were broadcast nationally on Versus and HDNet. The league is still in discussions with broadcasters for this season.
The initial four UFL teams were bought for $30 million by a syndicate led by Paul Pelosi, the husband of the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
The money should help cover the losses of $30 million the league sustained last year, and a projected $15 million this year. The UFL stands by its estimate of a break-even campaign in 2011.
The league is also moving its games to Friday and Saturday nights, Huyghue said, after playing on Thursday nights in its abbreviated inaugural schedule last fall. That should keep the league from competing with the NFL’s Thursday night games, which begin in early November.
Speaking in the lobby of the media center at the Super Bowl earlier this month, Huyghue said two of the league’s four teams, New York and San Francisco, are relocating as part of a new strategy to play in non-NFL markets. The New York franchise will move to Hartford, Conn. Huyghue declined to identify where the California Redwoods are moving. The Las Vegas and Orlando franchises are remaining in their markets.
The league will have six teams this season, with each playing a 10-game schedule starting on Sept. 8-9, Huyghue said. Last year the season began Oct. 8, with each of the four teams playing a three-game season.
“You are going to see on the marketing and business side big changes in terms of the approach and how we go about it,” he said. Instead of offering sponsors what he termed “NFL-lite,” Huyghue said the league will offer deals with more activations.
By way of example, he pointed to a new sponsorship the UFL struck with the University of Phoenix, the online college that has naming rights to the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals stadium. With the new UFL sponsor, each club will get four free scholarships for players, he said, and the college will sponsor tailgating before games.
After last season, the UFL received praise for the quality of its play, but attendance was a weak spot with an average of less than 10,000. The league blamed that on poor planning and centralized ticketing. Teams will now have more control over their businesses.
“I don’t think we had a really good plan,” Huyghue said. “We just let whomever show up show up. But I don’t have any hesitation about the popularity and ability to attract fans.”
But unlike before last year when he predicted the league would attract 20,000 fans a game, Huyghue is making no predictions other than saying the goal is a sellout for the opening game.
Last season’s games were broadcast nationally on Versus and HDNet. The league is still in discussions with broadcasters for this season.
The initial four UFL teams were bought for $30 million by a syndicate led by Paul Pelosi, the husband of the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.