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The United Football League does not tread down the unworn path. In fact there have been many a league that tried to compete against the National Football League. Most never even made it to the first snap, dying in the anonymity of the ownerships proposal. A few, the WFL, USFL, and XFL actually made to the first snap (and some a few years beyond).

“This Is The USFL” is a fan site that chronicles the creation, demise, and winning anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL that was settled for the ultra-small sum of $3.76 (including interest and penalties). Everyone involved in UFL management, currently signed up to own or manage a team or even thinking of getting involved needs to read this site and internalize the lessons learned.

Lesson #1 - Keep Player Salaries under control. The USFL started out in debt due to large player salaries. Don’t be tempted to extend that bonus or make promises that will unbalance the scales. $20 million tops, at least for the first few years.

Lesson #2 - Don’t complete head to head against the NFL. The USFL’s move to a fall schedule spelled doom for league teams located in cities that already had NFL teams. Teams in cities without the NFL did better. So the UFL might want to rethink that New York City team.

Lesson #3 - Don’t count on a lawsuit against the NFL to solve your problems. Sure the USFL won, but the jury essentially nullified the victory with their $1 award. On the other hand the steroid issue might just cause congress to rethink the NFL’s trust status. That might mean interesting things for the UFL’s prospects.

Lesson #4 - Big Money attractions the Heisman Trophy winners and other name players. Imagine Tim Tebow playing for the Orlando Orbits (sponsored by Orbitz, of course)(and yes, I know Tim’s not leaving Florida, just yet, or is he?). A top salary of $2 million a year probably won’t cut it when Tebow is expected to draw upwards of $7 million in the NFL. That’s a quandary as you see above with Lesson #1.

From what I’ve seen from the UFL so far, they’ve been dealing with these issues already. So I look forward to writing about the UFL for years as an active league, not as a museum as the poor owner of the “This is the USFL” site is left with.

Cindy over at Home By The Sea blog notes an unusual fact of NFL team names. You can pair almost all of them together. Here are a few from her post:

Tennessee Titans vs. New York Giants
TITANS/GIANTS - Obvious connection.

Seattle Seahawks vs. Philadelphia Eagles
SEAHAWKS/EAGLES - Two prey birds.

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Washington Redskins
CHIEFS/REDSKINS - Obvious connection.

Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Carolina Panthers
JAGUARS/PANTHERS - Two big cats.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Minnesota Vikings
BUCCANEERS/VIKINGS - Ship-based marauders.

Atlanta Falcons vs. Baltimore Ravens
FALCONS/RAVENS - Two prey birds.

Indianapolis Colts vs. Denver Broncos
COLTS/BRONCOS - Two kinds of horses.

Green Bay Packers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
PACKERS/STEELERS - Two blue-collar workers.

Detroit Lions vs. Cincinnati Bengals
LIONS/BENGALS - Two big cats.

Well, you get the picture. Anyone care to posit on the reason for this strange phenomenon of name pairings?

So, some advice to the future team owners of the UFL… please come up with some great names and make sure you’re not separated at birth from any of the above twins.

Over at the AOL FANHouse David Warner ponders the fate of Panther’s rookie QB Matt Moore who may get the start this weekend.
 

it looks like Matt Moore, the rookie from Oregon State, will get his opportunity to start. Unless he works miracles in this game, this start will be little more than his preparation for a United Football League career.

Not sure what Warner is trying to say about Moore’s playing ability, but the UFL will be attractive territory for 2nd and 3rd string NFL QBs who might jump at the chance to get play time. However, there are only going to be 8 starting spots in year one. So I’m not sure how much of an affect that’s going to have on the NFL’s ability to retain top talent.

Michael Vick will be at least 29 when he’s released from jail and quarterbacks with good physical training have been known to play late into their 30’s, so there’s hope for Vick should he desire a return to professional sports. Vick’s style of ‘running’ quarterback was probably more punishing on him physically than the ’stand and throw’ QB, so that might negatively affect his longevity.

A few more stories have chimed in with their feelings on Michael Vick’s possible return to football. Will the NFL let him in or would Vick be better off plugging into the United Football League to launch his comeback.

Peter Keating at Slate - “Vick will be older and thicker in 2009, and the league will be bigger and faster. It’s probably a good idea for him to get some job training while he’s in prison. Either that, or he could declare for the United Football League draft.”

Bob Glauber at Newsday - “If, at the end of his term, he wants to resume playing in the NFL, or the CFL, or the United Football League, which will be up and running when he is no longer behind bars, it is Vick’s right under the law.”

It may not be the way the UFL intended, but at least they’re finally getting some play in the media.

Michael Vick just received his sentence of 23 months, which means, with time off for good behavior (probably walking the warden’s dogs or something), Vick could be ready to play in the 2009 fall season of the NFL. But no know knows if NFL Commish Roger Goodell will say time served is enough for Vick to repair the damage he did to the NFL. So what is a superstar quarterback in need of money to do?

Of course, the speculation is join one of the 2009 season teams in the United Football League. There’s no way to know if the UFL’s commissioner Michael Huyghue’s will allow Vick (and other NFL players banned for violating NFL rules) to join the UFL. But the thinking is upstart leagues like the UFL can’t be too choosy in deciding what talent can play if they’ll attract viewers and news coverage. That’s something Vick could certainly bring to the league as it starts its second season in the fall of 2009.

I just had a thought. If Huyghue was really sneaky, he’d get his fellow sports agents to start sowing the seeds of a NFL player’s strike to be timed with the second or third season of the UFL. That would certainly help the UFL expand and cement its role as a real professional league.

If you’re a fan of sports then you’ll enjoy reading this article by Michael Lewis in the NY Times about the unique life of Kickers in professional football.

there is still some faint resistance to the notion that a kicker could ever really do anything great. Brett Favre can throw 10 more game-ending interceptions and fans will still cherish his moments of glory. Reggie Bush may fumble away a championship and still end up being known for the best things he ever does. Even offensive linemen whose names no one remembers are permitted to end their days basking in the reflected glory of having been on the field. Kickers alone are required to make their own cases.

Less than a year from now someone will go down in history as the kicker whose job it was to kickoff the first play in the United Football League. I hope that someday he ends up in an article as well written as this one.

Good news for the upstart United Football League. After 16-years the NFL’s player development ‘World League’, now NFL Europa, has folded. Not that the UFL should become a development league for the NFL, but it’s clear that the pool of available talent for a new league has just expanded greatly.

I think this would be a good time for officials at the UFL to announce the next stage of their progress as signal to former NFL Europa players not to give up hope.