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Going For It On 4th And Long
By Max | August 20, 2007
I just read this article about the upstart UFL. Mark Cuban and some of his rich buddies have begun researching the possibility of competing with the NFL. Mark Cuban is a very smart guy and I know he has a lot of money. Previous efforts to compete with the NFL have failed because they weren’t implemented well or ran out of financing.
Check out what Mark has to say about this idea on his blog.
I think his 3rd point is really the only relevant one. Competing with the NFL could be tough, but if some really wealthy guys wanted to, competing with the NFL for talent would be relatively easy. Because of the salary cap in the NFL, an upstart league could easily outbid an NFL team for a top prospect because they would be limited by the salary cap. Unfortunately, the NFL isn’t dumb. They could quickly have an owners meeting to get around this problem if they needed to. Another idea would be to allow players to join the UFL immediately after high school. I bet more than a few would take them up on this deal since the NFL requires a player to wait several years after graduating.
I think the UFL should initially set their sights a little lower. No sports team is successful without fans. Competing with the NFL is great, but if the UFL isn’t focused on fans, they will fail. The obvious idea is to found teams in large cities without an NFL presence like LA or Portland. They definitely will do that. Going head to head against the NFL could be a mistake. They should start small and compete with Arena Football. The AFL has been around for almost 20 years. They now have TV exposure and are experiencing record attendance. They have been able to carve out their own niche in the sports world, and are largely successful with it. Mark Cuban should study the AFL closely and figure out how to mimic their success before tackling the NFL.
It can take years to build a fan base. If the UFL’s founders really want to form a successful league, they’ll focus on this as their primary goal. Once you have local fans, everything else will fall in to place. Then you can go after some of the bigger name college players and start competing with the NFL.
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August 20th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
The question is: Why face off with the NFL? You’re just going to create another gridiron of spoiled brats.
August 21st, 2007 at 3:08 pm
I need to cash in on this. I think Austin needs a team…
August 22nd, 2007 at 3:47 pm
I just want to see He Hate Me continue his career after the Carolina Panthers…