UFL’s new direction, seems to be working

To really understand this we have to keep year one of the United Football League out of our heads. Instead of looking it as the inaugural season, I want everyone to look at it like a Beta Test. Remember when the Arena Football League came out and they played a bunch of exhibition games all over the country to get fans use to a new kind of football, I really think that is what the UFL accomplished in 2009.

Now they are being meticulous in the decision to expand intro new markets. The overwhelming strategy here is too first find markets that have little to no NFL presence, and to find markets where other football leagues have not come and gone belly up. What I mean here is they are looking for markets where the USFL wasn’t, where the Arena League stayed away, and in some cases communities that have no idea what the XFL was.

Think about how smart that is. Instead of having a largely pessimistic fan base that have seen leagues come and go, they have a largely enthusiastic fan base that is happy to have a pro team of their own to support. We have to give the UFL big props for moving their New York team to Connecticut and the California team to Sacramento.

So many leagues have come into existence with the idea that they have to be in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. Well to be frank here the NFL hasn’t been in LA since 1994 and they seem to be doing ok. The UFL needs to be in communities that are going to support it, and it really seems like they are finding those kinds of places. We are still waiting to see where the UFL will place its two expansion teams in 2010, but I like all four of the leading contenders: San Antonio Texas; Austin, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Omaha, Nebraska.

Related Links:

• The Business of the UFL
• MTR Football.com

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