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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.

Newsday football columnist Bob Glauber reports on the growing possibility of the league establishing a New York team that would play its home games at Hofstra University on Long Island (the ‘island’ starts with Brooklyn and ends with The Hamptons giving you pretty much the whole economic range of the region).
 

UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue, a former executive with the Jacksonville Jaguars who later founded Axcess Sports & Entertainment, confirmed in an interview that the Hofstra venue is being considered for one of the league’s franchises. Huyghue would not confirm that [Islander’s owner Charles] Wang is a potential owner. Wang could not be reached last night for comment.

We knew that New York was being considered by the UFL, but the question remains can the New York City area support three professional football teams playing at the same time? I think the original idea of playing in markets the NFL is currently under-serving is the smarter route. If you live on Long Island, do you think your area qualifies? I seem to remember them being pretty heavy Jets fans.

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