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09-17-2007, 12:16 PM
This gives the most up to date information on the league
UFL names Huyghue first commissioner
By TERRY LEFTON
Staff writer
Published September 17, 2007 : Page 01
Veteran NFL executive and agent Michael Huyghue has been named the first commissioner of the embryonic United Football League.
While the league has a front-office staff of only around five executives and has yet to sign a player, coach or stadium lease, plans call for it to begin next summer with eight to 10 teams playing a Friday night schedule from August through December.
Huyghue helped launch both the original NFL World League in 1992 and was one of the first employees for the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he served as senior vice president of football operations and handled contract negotiations along with salary cap matters and other player-related responsibilities. He also had stints with the NFL Players Association and was vice president and general counsel of the Detroit Lions.
Huyghue left the Jaguars in 2001 to launch his Jacksonville-based Axcess Sports & Entertainment, which represents athletes and entertainers including NFL players Pacman Jones and Kyle Brady as well as hip-hop artist and noted sports fan Snoop Dogg.
Huyghue, who will be based in the UFL’s New York City headquarters, said his firm was working on the UFL’s formative business plan over the past several months and that he developed enough of an interest that it led to him being hired as commissioner by W.R. Hambrecht & Co. and league founder Bill Hambrecht.
Hambrecht, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Tim Armstrong, Google’s president of advertising and commerce, previously were announced as league investors.
“The business plan is solid enough that I’m confident, and that’s without wildly optimistic projections on attendance and TV revenues,” said Huyghue, who signed a three-year contract. “It’s a costly enterprise, but we are willing to take time to build. TV is an important component, but we are not expecting that TV will be 60 percent of revenues, like the NFL.”
Huyghue said the business plan calls for the league to become profitable in three to five years while playing in 35,000-seat venues. While the original plan called for fans to participate in the funding of the league by having separate IPOs floated for each franchise, Huyghue said that was “no longer a priority in the building phase.”
As for funding in general: “We have enough funding to launch now, if we limited it to six or eight teams in our first year,” he said.
Huyghue does not see attracting coaching, administrative or player personnel as problematic. He said the league’s top 10 players will make $1 million or more, “so we’ll compete [with other pro leagues] for players right out of the box,” he said.
“I just see considerable upside,” said Huyghue, who has equity in the league as part of his compensation package. “It is the right model with right talent salary cap, and in cities that aren’t necessarily in line for an NFL franchise, you can make a viable, affordable, entertaining product.”
The NFLPA has strict agent regulations and prohibits agents from holding financial interest in any pro football club or in any other business entity if that involvement could be seen as creating an appearance of a conflict of interest in the representation of NFL players. Huyghue said he wouldn’t be involved in the day-to-day operations of his sports agency, but had no plans to sell it. He added that he will remain involved in the group looking to land a Major League Soccer franchise in St. Louis.
AFL Commissioner David Baker lends this advice to Huyghue, saying, “There are only a handful of people in the world who are sports league commissioners, so I’m often asked what the job is like. My response is that it has all the politics of Little League, except that everyone has their own law firm.”
UFL names Huyghue first commissioner
By TERRY LEFTON
Staff writer
Published September 17, 2007 : Page 01
Veteran NFL executive and agent Michael Huyghue has been named the first commissioner of the embryonic United Football League.
While the league has a front-office staff of only around five executives and has yet to sign a player, coach or stadium lease, plans call for it to begin next summer with eight to 10 teams playing a Friday night schedule from August through December.
Huyghue helped launch both the original NFL World League in 1992 and was one of the first employees for the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he served as senior vice president of football operations and handled contract negotiations along with salary cap matters and other player-related responsibilities. He also had stints with the NFL Players Association and was vice president and general counsel of the Detroit Lions.
Huyghue left the Jaguars in 2001 to launch his Jacksonville-based Axcess Sports & Entertainment, which represents athletes and entertainers including NFL players Pacman Jones and Kyle Brady as well as hip-hop artist and noted sports fan Snoop Dogg.
Huyghue, who will be based in the UFL’s New York City headquarters, said his firm was working on the UFL’s formative business plan over the past several months and that he developed enough of an interest that it led to him being hired as commissioner by W.R. Hambrecht & Co. and league founder Bill Hambrecht.
Hambrecht, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Tim Armstrong, Google’s president of advertising and commerce, previously were announced as league investors.
“The business plan is solid enough that I’m confident, and that’s without wildly optimistic projections on attendance and TV revenues,” said Huyghue, who signed a three-year contract. “It’s a costly enterprise, but we are willing to take time to build. TV is an important component, but we are not expecting that TV will be 60 percent of revenues, like the NFL.”
Huyghue said the business plan calls for the league to become profitable in three to five years while playing in 35,000-seat venues. While the original plan called for fans to participate in the funding of the league by having separate IPOs floated for each franchise, Huyghue said that was “no longer a priority in the building phase.”
As for funding in general: “We have enough funding to launch now, if we limited it to six or eight teams in our first year,” he said.
Huyghue does not see attracting coaching, administrative or player personnel as problematic. He said the league’s top 10 players will make $1 million or more, “so we’ll compete [with other pro leagues] for players right out of the box,” he said.
“I just see considerable upside,” said Huyghue, who has equity in the league as part of his compensation package. “It is the right model with right talent salary cap, and in cities that aren’t necessarily in line for an NFL franchise, you can make a viable, affordable, entertaining product.”
The NFLPA has strict agent regulations and prohibits agents from holding financial interest in any pro football club or in any other business entity if that involvement could be seen as creating an appearance of a conflict of interest in the representation of NFL players. Huyghue said he wouldn’t be involved in the day-to-day operations of his sports agency, but had no plans to sell it. He added that he will remain involved in the group looking to land a Major League Soccer franchise in St. Louis.
AFL Commissioner David Baker lends this advice to Huyghue, saying, “There are only a handful of people in the world who are sports league commissioners, so I’m often asked what the job is like. My response is that it has all the politics of Little League, except that everyone has their own law firm.”