UFL Live - United Football League News and Fan Forum

Apparently the United Football League is happy to let news of their first few cities leak out through the press before any big announcement is made. The latest paper to get the inside scoop is the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Sam Boyd Stadium director Daren Libonati said an agreement is close on a two-year deal with options. The team would play on Friday nights.

Libonati said he had two face-to-face meetings with Huyghue in the past two months, most recently about two weeks ago.

“They have been very, very positive conversations, probably the best conversations with all the leagues we’ve had from Day 1, starting back with the Canadian Football League and all the basketball leagues and the XFL,” Libonati said.

Las Vegas was one of the few cities where fan support of the XFL was strong. I lived there when the league auctioned off all the teams surplus merchandise and equipment. It drew quite a crowd.

This article says that the first 8 teams will be announced in January. If so, I hope they mean early January. This slow news leak stuff is driving me crazy.

Keeping in mind that nothing official has been announced yet, here is what we know about potential owners of United Football League teams.

• Mark Cuban is the only officially announced owner. But while everybody thinks he’ll end up owning the Las Vegas team, I’m hearing he’ll instead end up with the Los Angeles franchise.
• The Maloof family currently owns two professional basketball teams in Sacramento, CA (Kings and Monarchs). They also own the Palms Casino in Las Vegas. It’s likely that they’ll end up owning the Las Vegas franchise.
• The UFL team in Sacramento looks like it will be owned by league founder Bill Hambrecht. Teams in Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas will give the league a strong west coast anchor to start.
• Islander’s owner Charles Wang is in line for the New York/Hoftsra location. With the Jets moving to a new stadium, Long Island is ripe for the picking and I don’t expect the UFL to pass that opportunity up.
• FEDEX founder Donald Smith has been mentioned as the owner of the Memphis, TN franchise.
• Charles Butts is a strong possibility for a San Antonio team. He’s the founder of HEB, a San Antonio based grocery chain. This is definitely an area of Texas that deserves a team.

That’s six teams. With one foreign team (Mexico City or London), that leaves a few cities fighting for the 8th and final team of the inaugural year. The two cities I hear that are on the top of the list are Raleigh and Orlando. If the foreign location doesn’t pan out both cities may get in.

If your city isn’t mentioned. Don’t give up. It may be that whatever city comes up with ownership and a fan base first wins the team. So it’s time to get serious.

Previously discussed here.