Pre-2009: The Beginning of the United Football League
In the mid-1990s, when the Los Angeles Rams moved to St. Louis and the Houston Oilers relocated to Nashville, Bill Hambrecht was mystified. It seemed illogical that National Football League teams would leave two of the largest and best potential growth markets in the country. From a marketing angle, he knew there was room for more football teams around the United States. In conversations during this same period with the late San Francisco 49ers and Stanford University coach Bill Walsh, Hambrecht realized that there were many good football players who were on the verge of making NFL rosters, but often missed out due to the numbers game.
Fast forward a little more than 10 years, and Hambrecht’s vision of expanding the football landscape beyond NFL markets and providing a platform for those promising players now has become a reality. The United Football League has played its first two seasons (2009 and 2010), and is in preparations for its third season, to kick off in August of 2011.
Although the UFL first piqued the public’s interest in an article in The New York Times Magazine on June 3, 2007, Hambrecht by then already was several years into planning his disruptive business model for a professional football league that would complement the NFL. Many, if not all, of the core tenets on which the league was conceived still remain today. The basic principles of the Hambrecht model were to provide quality football at affordable prices in underserved markets. In staying true to that goal, the UFL ensured the average ticket price for a UFL game is $20.
Early on, Hambrecht partnered with smart business people to develop the plan and then sought top-notch football experts to execute. Hambrecht had established a relationship with former Google executive Tim Armstrong, now Chief Executive Officer of AOL, and together they invested the seed money to launch the league. Sports team owner and investor Mark Cuban showed early support of the league, and he subsequently came on board offering his television network, HDNet, to broadcast some of the games. Hambrecht conducted his due diligence on the past failures of other professional leagues and took calculated measures not to repeat those enterprises’ past mistakes.
First and foremost, Hambrecht sought personnel who have worked in the trenches, or in this case the sidelines/front offices of the NFL, to oversee the football operations. In September of 2008, former Senior Vice President of Football Operations of the Jacksonville Jaguars Michael Huyghue was named the first Commissioner of the UFL.
Hambrecht commented on the Commissioner’s hiring: “Michael possesses the perfect combination of firsthand experience in the football industry with the strategic vision necessary to shape and launch the UFL.”
Commissioner Huyghue was familiar with start-up operations, having been a primary architect behind the Jaguars' roster and helping the team to become the winnngest franchise in expansion history. During Huyghue’s tenure with the team, the Jaguars won two AFC Central Division championships and made an unprecedented two AFC Championship Game appearances.
The initial plan was to launch the UFL in the fall of 2008. While many debate the merits of playing at the same time as the NFL and college football, research indicated that the fall is when fans are most interested in watching football and attending games.
The onset of the largest economic downturn since the Great Depression reduced the number of initial investors and delayed the league’s debut. It also reinforced the overall premise of the league, which is to provide quality sports entertainment at affordable prices during a time when fans are seeking less expensive leisure time activities. The "Premiere Season" validated the UFL belief that even in a tough economic environment, fans will invest in entertainment, and few options are greeted with more passion than quality football.
One of the primary goals of the UFL was to carve out a presence in markets void of professional football. Commissioner Huyghue visited numerous cities, some of which previously had housed alternate league teams. After numerous meetings with investors, stadium representatives and government officials, the inaugural cities were selected.
2009: The "Premiere Season" gets the UFL underway
The 2009 UFL “Premiere Season” was a success for the mere fact that it was played, given that it had been more than three decades since a professional football league played its games during the traditional fall football season. But the inaugural UFL campaign gave fans exactly what the league said it would - high-quality professional football during a traditional fall season while embracing innovation and fan interaction.
On February 9, fueled by Hambrecht’s vision based on his realizations years earlier, the UFL announced its “Premiere Season,” to begin in October of 2009 with four teams, which ended up being the California Redwoods, Florida Tuskers, Las Vegas Locomotives and New York Sentinels. Just a little more than a month later, on March 11, the UFL announced its four Head Coaches for the “Premiere Season” - Dennis Green in San Francisco, Jim Fassel in Las Vegas, Jim Haslett in Orlando and Ted Cottrell in New York - all of whom brought vast amounts of NFL experience to the new league.
On July 21, the UFL received a credibility boost in terms of on-the-field play with the UFL’s first confirmed player signing, former Buffalo Bills quarterback and first-round pick J.P. Losman.
Finally, on October 8, 2009 and October 10, 2009, the UFL’s first-ever games were played. The first-ever UFL contest was a 30-17 win by the Locos over the Redwoods at Sam Boyd Stadium, and two days later, the Tuskers rallied from a 10-0 deficit to defeat the Sentinels, 35-13, at the Florida Citrus Bowl.
Florida quickly established itself as a dominant team, and ran the table during the regular season. Las Vegas lost twice to the Tuskers in a 16-day period, but finished the regular season on a three-game winning streak to reach the championship game.
As it turned out, the initial UFL Championship Game was the most competitive game of the “Premiere Season.” It also was the first game where the league’s unique overtime rules - where both teams are guaranteed at least one possession - were implemented. When the dust settled at Sam Boyd Stadium, nearly 15,000 fans saw Locos kicker Graham Gano, who had also scored the first points in league history, end the inaugural UFL season with a 33-yard field goal 1:43 into overtime.
After the game, Fassel was carried off the field after winning his first professional championship, and he and his Locos were awarded the William Hambrecht Trophy as the first-ever UFL champions.
The Locos and Tuskers saved the best for last, as 27 of the game’s 37 points were scored in the fourth quarter and overtime, and the lead changed hands three times in a matter of 7 minutes.
The championship game illustrated how the quality of play and competitiveness of the UFL games improved as the season went along. Of the final eight games in the regular season and the championship game, five were decided by a touchdown or less.
The “Premiere Season” featured many names familiar to professional football fans. From head coaches like Fassel, Haslett and Green to players such as Losman, Locos linebacker Teddy Lehman and Florida running backs Tatum Bell and Michael Pittman, the UFL proved it could stock its teams with the best available talent. Meanwhile, the league also was adept at making its own stars, such as California running back Cory Ross and New York wide receiver Craphonso Thorpe.
After the championship game, Florida quarterback Brooks Bollinger was named the UFL’s Motorola Most Valuable Player, and Haslett earned the league’s Men’s Wearhouse Coach of the Year award. In leading the Tuskers’ high-powered offense, Bollinger was the UFL’s leading passer with a 112.8 passer rating, 1,518 yards and 14 touchdowns. Haslett guided Florida to a perfect 6-0 regular season, as the Tuskers won those games by an average of 15.2 points per contest.
2010: The UFL finds a flagship franchise, brings new stars into the fold...and the Locos win it all again
In February and early March of 2010, the UFL featured a series of major announcements that would help shape the future of the league.
The first announcement came in Orlando, Florida, as Tuskers Offensive Coordinator Jay Gruden was elevated to the position of head coach after the NFL's Washington Redskins hired Haslett as their Defensive Coordinator. One week later, Hartford, Connecticut, became the new home of the New York Sentinels, and former NFL Head Coach and coordinator Chris Palmer was announced as the team’s Head Coach and General Manager. The Hartford franchise launched a "Name the Team" contest that resulted in the birth of the Hartford Colonials after thousands of fans suggested potential names.
In early March, the city of Sacramento was announced as the permanent home of the California franchise of the UFL that had played games in San Jose and San Francisco during the "Premiere" season. The Sacramento team also launched a "Name the Team" contest to find a name that best represented Sacramento and the surrounding region. Ultimately, Mountain Lions was selected by fans.
Expansion came by the way of the Omaha Nighthawks, who introduced head coach Jeff Jagodzinski, formerly of Boston College in April 2010, and the new team enjoyed an instant rapport with the passionate football fans of Nebraska. Nighthawks season tickets were snapped up in the thousands as a wave of excitement engulfed the news that Omaha’s professional football team would play at the historic Rosenblatt Stadium as the league’s fifth team in 2010.
In July, the UFL announced its first expansion team for the 2011 season, to be placed in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. The team name - Virginia Destroyers - was announced in November, along with the team's logo and the team's home venue - the Virginia Beach Sportsplex.
The UFL succeeded in adding to its already-impressive talent pool by acquiring such "name" players as Tuskers running back Dominic Rhodes, Colonials quarterback Josh McCown, Locos middle linebacker Ed Hartwell, Nighthawks quarterback Jeff Garcia and Mountain Lions quarterback Daunte Culpepper.
On September 18, the UFL’s first-ever doubleheader was how the league kicked off season No. 2. The Colonials rang in their new era in their new home at Rentschler Field with a 27-10 win over the Mountain Lions. Then, the Tuskers and Locos met in a title game rematch at Sam Boyd Stadium, and the Tuskers rallied for a 27-20 victory.
On November 27, a year to the day after the first UFL Championship Game, another Locos-Tuskers title game greeted UFL fans at Rosenblatt Stadium. And the 2010 Championship Game ended with the same result as the year prior - the Locos won on a last-second play. This time, the play was a blocked field goal as time expired, and the final score was 23-20.
The expansion Nighthawks sold out all four of their home games at Rosenblatt Stadium, setting one new UFL attendance record after another. The Mountain Lions played to near-capacity crowds in three of their four home games at Hornet Stadium, and the Colonials had at least 14,000 fans at each of their four home games at Rentschler Field.
Taking top individual honors in the UFL during the 2010 season were Mountain Lions running back Cory Ross (Offensive Player of the Year), Locos cornerback Isaiah Trufant (Defensive Player of the Year) and Tuskers kicker Nick Novak (Special Teams Player of the Year).
2011: The UFL prepares for season No. 3
The UFL begins its third season with four teams - the Locomotives, the Nighthawks, the Mountain Lions and the Destroyers. The league also will christen a new stadium, as the Nighthawks will begin play at TD Ameritrade Park on September 15 against the Destroyers.
Fassel and Green return to their respective teams for the 2011 season, the Destroyers hired Marty Schottenheimer, the sixth-winningest Head Coach in NFL history, as their Head Coach/General Manager and the Nighthawks are led into their second season by Head Coach/President Joe Moglia, a former executive advisor with the University of Nebraska football team and the CEO at TD Ameritrade.
