What Happens In Vegas Stays In Casa Grande
The United Football League - the four-team, quasi-football league that kicks off next month - is planning a host of innovations, including advertising on uniforms and teams that represent cities but only have a nominal presence there.
As one of the league’s “founding partners,” ticket scalper reseller StubHub will have its logo on the players’ helmets. Which would be one thing if the players had actual team logos on their helmets as well, but they won’t, apparently - just a league logo where you’d expect a team logo to be.
And, in a stunning bit of not-attaching-yourself-to-the-cities-you-represent, the Las Vegas and San Francisco teams will be housed in a new complex in Casa Grande, Arizona. For the entire season. Great for Casa Grande, I guess. Not so much for Las Vegas and San Francisco, who won’t have their players around to actually be covered by local media or make appearances or be a part of the community. Solid planning, that. Because if there’s one thing a new sports venture needs, it’s to be seen as carpetbaggers.
Vegas will actually play two games in Las Vegas (and Sam Boyd Stadium will host the league’s first championship game on the day after Thanksgiving), while the California Redwoods will play all three (three!) of their home games at AT&T Park in San Francisco (assuming the Giants aren’t in the National League Championship Series).
Look, no one loves a good alternative sports league - especially a football league - more than me. But I just can’t see how this works. The league is touting itself as featuring “tomorrow’s stars,” yet its Orlando team has signed former NFL misfits Koren Robinson, Simeon Rice and Todd Sauerbrun. Yay. Tomorrow’s stars. If tomorrow is 2001.
Oh, and the league’s TV partner, Versus? Good luck seeing it on DirecTV.
Bottom line: if they’re paying out the kind of salaries they’ve been talking about (paying guys $50,000 to $200,000 for six games?), there’s no way they do anything but lose scads of money. Especially without a major network TV contract and if they’ve just signed their first major sponsor one month before the first game.
And this is not the time to be losing scads of money in anything.
Tags: football, things that are stupid, UFL