Sometimes I feel bad, as I seem to constantly be down on a league I actually like a heck of a lot, and when the news of the day forces me to keep reporting on this story. So we know from past posts that I think the United Football League tried to wedge itself into place, as a football alternative, to a NFL labor stoppage. They were only partly right, and granted looking back always carries with 20/20 vision, but it really seems that the UFL authorities really misread what would happen in a NFL lock out.

Maybe that isn’t exactly fair, but the uncertainty of it all, the end of a lockout and the power of the NFL marketing machine have left many sponsors and TV stations unwilling to back the UFL and risk angering the NFL. The UFL really thought that the sponsors and TV stations would come flocking to them to give them football and help them market their products.

The UFL seemed a little blind to this response. Sure, everyone always thinks that the best thing will happen, and they should be preparing for the worst and that is really, where the UFL went wrong in this case. The put all of their eggs in one basket, and that basket was a NFL lockout where they remained the only source for football. In today’s media and economic market, it was terribly short sighted.

My main point in my criticism of this league is the conditions did not ruin (or help ruin as the case may be) this league. The Arena Football League has carved out its own niche in the football market, as has the Canadian Football League, but the folks at the UFL have really defeated themselves much like the folks at the USFL and really the XFL have done in previous decades.

Coach Schottenheimer on the delay of the UFL Season

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