This October will see the introduction of yet another football league in America. Move over XFL, the United Football League looks to become a successful addition to the football landscape. The odd thing is that we may see Michael Vick playing overseas in the UFL. Crazy talk? They don't think so. The first season will see four teams compete in a 16 game schedule, with a championship game on the day after Thanksgiving. Cities that will field teams include Orlando, San Francisco, New York, and Las Vegas. The last three will also play games in Sacramento, Hartford, and Los Angeles, respectively.While all of this sounds fine and dandy, there are two news stories that should really peak your interest. First, the league announced that they plan to expand overseas in either their second or third year. Really? That sounds pretty ambitious to me. While the idea of a truly global sports league is appealing, I still think it will be incredibly taxing on teams; especially if they are required to play regular season games in a different continent. Now, if you have say a European Conference and North American Conference where teams only meet for the championship, that could actually work.
The second big story out of the league is their announcement that Orlando has acquired the rights for Michael Vick. While everyone still waits for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to rule on Vick's eligibility, the UFL is wasting no time in making it known that he is welcome in their league. He alone would make their broadcasts on Versus Network skyrocket.
So what should we expect out of this league? It'll still be a while to tell but it appears that they are positioning themselves to not be competition to the NFL but rather setup as a eventual farm system for it. Should be very interesting to see the league develop.
