Are things coming to a head?

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preeths
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Post by preeths » Sun Oct 21, 2012 1:23 am

[quote=""robster2001""]Translated: "UFL compounds bad decision (2012 season) with two bad decisions (spring 2013 season, fall 2013 season)".

They have no credibility, and this really needs to stop now. As the kids say, "kthxbye".[/quote]

I can't read it any other way. What are they thinking? These are not dumb guys, but these decisions make absolutely no financial sense. They still haven't paid people from last season!

tested
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Post by tested » Sun Oct 21, 2012 2:45 am

There's no surprise here. I just don't understand why they can't figure out that this wasn't working and isn't working. Why bother with a spring schedule OR come back in the fall? Just end it. They can't do this.

Someone needs to write a book about how minor pro leagues should be run.
Paying players and having enough money in the bank BEFORE the season begins to make sure you can play all the games should be rule #1 of any such book.

tops804
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This league should get credit for one thing.

Post by tops804 » Sun Oct 21, 2012 3:27 am

It probably found more ways to alienate the average football fan then other outdoor football league I can remember.

WFL - Made it through expansion fees and deep pockets in mostly non-NFL markets. (Failed in less then 2 years).

USFL - Made it through TV revenue and deep pockets in a non-NFL time of the year. (Failed after 3 years, and probably could've hung on a little longer until the Trump came along and attempted to move it to fall).

WLAF - Saw the lack of interest in the states pretty quick, and concentrated on NFL-Europe.

CFL - Saw the lack of interest in the states pretty quick and pulled back into Canada only.

XFL - Put on a show, which became the problem when the less football more entertainment gimmick became the attempted plan. (Done after 1 year, and therefore keeping the embarrassment at its minimum).

AAFL - Drafted, saw lack of interest and quickly (and quietly) dissolved.

What did the UFL bank on in its lowly four years?

A TV contract that was supposed to introduce it to us all, but was done by a league that saw no other need to promote itself?

Hope that the NFL might extend an olive branch and try to help finance it as a minor league?

Build interest through sensible expansion that actually became compression after the second season?

Drop to one of the original four in the same city by season three?

Hope for notice by an NFL lockout that may have happened, but didn't?

Being absent for most of the latest off season only to show up with a promise to pay the unpaid bills and play the schedule; including a "new improved" schedule that bumped up an unplanned season weeks before it started?

Now, they want us to believe they will come back and finish 2012 in the Spring? Is that a promise or threat?

Next, they will move forward with the fall in 2013? Who do they think is going to be there to care?

Outside of unpaid players and staff, I don't think too many people out there are going to be waiting to see how this season turns out...
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aclb
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Post by aclb » Sun Oct 21, 2012 5:00 am

You left out:

PSFL - Drafted players and had training camps; but ceased operations just before kickoff in 1992.

RFL - Struggled through to complete one season in 1999.

SFL - Similiar to the UFL; ceased operations midway through season in 2000.


[quote=""tops804""]It probably found more ways to alienate the average football fan then other outdoor football league I can remember.

WFL - Made it through expansion fees and deep pockets in mostly non-NFL markets. (Failed in less then 2 years).

USFL - Made it through TV revenue and deep pockets in a non-NFL time of the year. (Failed after 3 years, and probably could've hung on a little longer until the Trump came along and attempted to move it to fall).

WLAF - Saw the lack of interest in the states pretty quick, and concentrated on NFL-Europe.

CFL - Saw the lack of interest in the states pretty quick and pulled back into Canada only.

XFL - Put on a show, which became the problem when the less football more entertainment gimmick became the attempted plan. (Done after 1 year, and therefore keeping the embarrassment at its minimum).

AAFL - Drafted, saw lack of interest and quickly (and quietly) dissolved.

What did the UFL bank on in its lowly four years?

A TV contract that was supposed to introduce it to us all, but was done by a league that saw no other need to promote itself?

Hope that the NFL might extend an olive branch and try to help finance it as a minor league?

Build interest through sensible expansion that actually became compression after the second season?

Drop to one of the original four in the same city by season three?

Hope for notice by an NFL lockout that may have happened, but didn't?

Being absent for most of the latest off season only to show up with a promise to pay the unpaid bills and play the schedule; including a "new improved" schedule that bumped up an unplanned season weeks before it started?

Now, they want us to believe they will come back and finish 2012 in the Spring? Is that a promise or threat?

Next, they will move forward with the fall in 2013? Who do they think is going to be there to care?

Outside of unpaid players and staff, I don't think too many people out there are going to be waiting to see how this season turns out...[/quote]

tops804
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Post by tops804 » Sun Oct 21, 2012 5:18 am

PSFL stands out as it did fold just days before the opener. I never heard much of the other two leagues.

Minor League Football system of the late 1980's and into the early 1990's could probably be included as it televised games, finished seasons, and did get very little notice. Best of all, it never promised to over-budget itself or try to play the role of major leaguer during the baseball season. It was simply there, if you lived in a host city and cared to follow that brand of football.

We could also mention the lame attempt of late, to rehatch the USFL. But I'd rather not get into more fantasy leagues as the UFL's nonsense has pretty much wiped out my hope for a second league any time soon.
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ca
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the cfl ...

Post by ca » Wed Oct 24, 2012 2:06 am

failed in the southern us like the mexican baseball league would in the north . the cfl should expand into the us and rumor has it that detroit could use a good football team

tops804
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Well after all...

Post by tops804 » Fri Mar 08, 2013 3:59 am

...The UFL did promise to pick up the action this spring.

However, I don't believe this was what they had in mind.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/darrenheitner/2013/03/07/seventy-eight-football-players-file-lawsuit-against-united-football-league/
Seventy-Eight Football Players File Lawsuit Against United Football League

Seventy-eight professional football players have filed suit against the United Football League (UFL), its member teams and William “Bill” Hambrecht, an investment banker and charter member of the UFL. Those players seek full wages and compensation for the services they provided to the UFL, which they claim the defendants have failed to and continue to fail to pay. Additionally, specific reference is made to Personal Guarantees signed by Hambrecht (whom the players claim to be the indirect beneficial owner of a majority of the equity interest in the UFL), for his alleged failure in honoring the Personal Guarantees by declining to make payments due and owing under the football players’ employment agreements.

The plaintiff football players seek total economic and consequential damages in excess of $750,000. The plaintiffs have also requested punitive damages and at least a $750,000 award as a punishment for the defendants’ prior actions.

Among the former UFL players that are named plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed in the District Court of Clark County, Nevada are former Florida Gators offensive lineman Phil Trautwein, former NFL wide receiver Samie Parker and former NFL defensive end Adrian Awasom. All of the players involved in the lawsuit had entered into UFL agreements prior to the start of the 2012 UFL season. In return for the services they were obligated to provide to their teams, the players were to be paid specific compensation per the terms of their individual agreements.

In October 2012, FORBES noted that a breach of contract complaint had been drafted, but not yet filed, alleging that owners were defaulting on their commitments to pay players wages as agreed upon in advance of the season. In that same article, other pending lawsuits against the UFL were highlighted, which similarly alleged a default of the UFL’s obligations concerning compensation obligations. A follow-up article, published one week later, revealed that Hambrecht, a defendant in the players’ lawsuit most recently filed in Clark County, Nevada, offered to personally guarantee the payment of all monies owed to the UFL team in Omaha, Nebraska if they chose to execute a written Personal Guarantee, which many players signed. The article concluded,

“Thus, should Hambrecht, or any other UFL team owner who offers a personal guarantee to his players, default on his obligation to make payments by October 31, those UFL players who have been wronged should find comfort in hiring an attorney to seek recourse.

Lawyers Andrew L. Rempfer, Esq., Walter R. Ulman, Esq. and Burt Rosenblatt, Esq. have been retained by the seventy-eight players and now seek recourse in the amount of over $1.5 million, plus attorneys’ fees and costs. ”[Hambrecht] signed those personal guarantees, which to me is shocking,” said Rempfer to FORBES. ”I don’t know who told him to sign these personal guarantees, and from what I understand, he still has money somewhere.”

Rempfer also filed a complaint against the UFL, Hambrecht, the Las Vegas Locomotives UFL team and Jim Fassell, in his capacity as head coach, general manager and president of the Locomotives. That complaint was filed in January on behalf of Amp Lee, Dennis Therrell, Donald Eck and Larry Mac Duff, who were all employed as football coaches by the Locomotives and claim that the defendants breached their agreements by also failing to pay them their wages owed.

At the end of last October, I wrote that the UFL needed to rid itself of legal trouble to have a shot at surviving. The latest influx of litigation will only threaten the further existence of the fledgling league.

After this article was first published, I received an email from former long-time NFL and UFL coach Denny Green who was proud that seventy-eight players had the courage to go up against the “arrogant powerful machine of Bill Hambrecht, Paul Pelosi and Bill Mayer and their philosophy of ‘the bigger the law firm the better.’” Green continued, “There are 72+ additional players who did not join the lawsuit yet. Of the 4 coaches that filed a separate lawsuit, there are 36+ coaches who have not joined in the lawsuit yet. After filing my lawsuit 17 months ago, I feel we are standing tall on second base. That is huge progress and we will continue to fight until we get justice.”

Darren Heitner is a Partner at Wolfe Law Miami, P.A. in Miami, Florida, Founder of Sports Agent Blog, and Adjunct Professor of Sport Agency Management at Indiana University. Follow him at @DarrenHeitner and learn more about him at http://www.darrenheitner.com.
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