Minor League Football?

Keeping the Dream Alive

There’s a great scene from the movie “Major League”. The team is standing around home plate shooting an American Express commercial. The opening line of the commercial is, “Hello. Do you know us? We’re a major league baseball team.” United Football League (UFL), please say hello.

For those of you unfamiliar with the five team professional football league that made their debut in America during the fall of 2009, let me fill you in on who they are and what they are trying to do.

You may have more teams in your flag football league, but having five teams seems like a smart start for the UFL. Without over expanding their initial financial means, the UFL is attempting to grow into a marketable U.S. league by keeping their overhead low and developing a market niche for their product and players. Their five team league consists of the Hartford Colonials (Hartford, Connecticut), Las Vegas Locomotives (Las Vegas, Nevada), Omaha Nighthawks (Omaha, Nebraska), Sacramento Mountain Lions (Sacramento, California), and the Virginia Destroyers (Virginia Beach, Virginia). The UFL had initially planned on having an 8 team league, but due to a lack of financial support the league has committed to moving forward with their current setup.

Speculation abounds for the reason(s) to start another professional football league in the U.S. After the failures of Arena Football and the USFL (thank you Mr. Trump), why would anyone dare invest money into another pro football league other than the NFL? The UFL is not trying to compete with the NFL, at least not now. It appears that they are trying to set themselves up as a minor league talent pool for the NFL. The UFL has a non-compete clause in their player’s contracts. The contract states if a player leaves the UFL for the NFL, that player’s contract must be bought out for $25,000. This seems like a reasonable asking price after all the hard work individual teams may put into coaching said players. Better than the $50 million major league baseball teams pay just to bid on the rights for some Japanese players; that’s just the privilege to try and sign the player, does not include that player’s salary.

The UFL has structured the player’s salary on par with the Canadian Football league salaries (average between $25,000 to 35,000). This is another great move by UFL administrators. They are positioning themselves to keep non-drafted NFL talent in the U.S. without overspending. Because they are not trying to compete with NFL salaries like the USFL did, the UFL may have an operational league longer than expected. Having their viewership on HD Net and Versus will allow college football fans to follow some of their favorite players that may not have been talented enough for the NFL for a couple more years.

The UFL has stocked their coaching ranks with legitimate head coaches minus Joe Moglia, former TD Ameritrade CEO. Jerry Glanville, Jim Fassel, Dennis Green, and Marty Schottenheimer (will he be able to win the big one in this league?) all bring NFL head coaching experience to the sidelines. The talent coming out of the league is not so bad either. Last year’s NFL leading rusher, Arian Foster, played in the UFL!

Just to clarify, I hope the UFL works. The UFL is in a great position this season and could be in an even better position if the NFL lockout continues. Undrafted players will have an opportunity to play professionally (keeping the dream alive) and showcase their skills for the NFL for 2012. Football fans will have a pro football league to follow, fans will be able to see some of their favorite graduated college players on TV and in the stadiums, and bettors will have something to bet on.

I’m not sure why the NFL has never tried to set up a minor league system in the U.S? They tried with NFL Europe, for an audience that knows nothing about American football and could care less. Let’s have minor league football in America for a fan base that cannot get enough!