UFL Has It Right Where Others Didn't

If you take a walk across the landscape of the NFL's history, you'll find the buried remains of other start-up leagues under your feet, leagues big on hope who are now chapters in a cautionary tale that clearly lists the NFL as the only viable option for professional football in America.

The UFL seemingly hasn't considered what lies beneath, for they surely would have thought twice before launching onto a limb that is tenuous at best. Or maybe they've considered it greatly.

The graves that line the land are labeled WFL, USFL, and XFL, three leagues who have come and gone for various reasons. Yet the UFL, the four-team league which will debut its inaugural six-week season in October, seems poised for a much better fate.

Of course, time will be the only true barometer of the UFL's success, the only determinant of its ultimate place in history. After all, the USFL actually managed to play three seasons in the NFL's shadow before giving way, and the XFL, backed with an avalanche of hype, actually had 14 million people watch its first game, more than tuned in for the Pro Bowl that year (yes, it's the Pro Bowl, but still ...). At the time, their futures looked bright as well. Still, there are a number of things that point to possible long-term success.

Humility

The demise of the WFL and USFL can both be partially linked to a disregard for the power of the NFL. Both leagues attempted to take the NFL head on, to win fans away from the nation's preeminent league. The WFL signed then-NFL players to lucrative deals, stealing talent from the big league and driving up the price of talent that remained. Larry Csonka, Paul Warfield, Ken Stabler and Craig Morton, among others, were all wooed by the WFL. The USFL, meanwhile, also tried to take NFL talent and top college stars -- Steve Young, Walter Payton, Eric Dickerson, Herschel Walker, Jim Kelly and Reggie White included.

It's a little bit of karmic payback that the heavy-handed shortcut both leagues tried to take towards credibility ultimately played a part in the downfall of both.

But the UFL has no plans, apparently, of getting too big for its britches. Commissioner Michael Huyghue has stated he envisions an eventual partnership with the NFL in which players are allowed to transfer from one league to the other mid-season. In short, he views the UFL as a sort of farm system for the NFL (the league's home page is branded with the slogan, "Where the future stars come to play!"). If so, it's something the NFL needs, as practice squads aren't nearly an effective way of developing talent. The UFL has a chance to succeed where NFL Europe failed, in this regard, because prospects will be closer to their NFL franchises, allowing them to have a greater hand in working with the partner franchises and their players. Additionally, the UFL has only been linked to one big NFL name, and it's a name (Michael Vick) who most NFL teams won't want back anyway. Their coaches (Jim Haslett, Ted Cottrell, Jim Fassell, and Dennis Green), while recognizable names with extensive NFL resumes, weren't "stolen" from the NFL. They'll bring credibility to the new start-up, but their departures won't anger the NFL gods.

Patience

Too much too soon is a phrase which can heavily be linked to the failings of the WFL and USFL. The latter, run by David Dixon, was actually cognizant of the importance of starting small and building slowly on an established foundation. Dixon had the forward-thinking mentality to establish a salary cap of $1.8 million in an attempt to keep teams from overspending, but (as NFL teams have done), USFL franchises found a way to circumvent the cap in order to spend whatever they wanted anyway. Against Dixon's advice, franchises began to engage in an arm's race to acquire talent, putting the league in debt.

If that weren't bad enough, the USFL compounded those bad decisions by adding six new franchises in 1984, the league's second season, bringing the total to 18. The league simply needed the capital from all the expansion fees the new teams brought to cover their overspending, but that total made the USFL too big, causing the league to collapse on itself.

The WFL began with too many teams in the first place -- 12 -- and wound up losing two (Jacksonville Sharks and Detroit Wheels) before the first season ever ended. It didn't get any better from there, with teams folding, moving, and being sold frequently. The problem for the WFL is that it attempted to convince people of its grandiosity early, boasting attendances without disclosing until later that most of the attendance came from giveaways or tickets sold at drastically-reduced prices. Franchises expected fans to embrace the sport once they were exposed to it on the cheap, but when that didn't happen the teams not only had to deal with the hit to their reputations, they had to confront the economic reality that they were in a hole they couldn't emerge from. It's no surprise that with so much turmoil the league couldn't make it through another season.

The UFL seems to recognize that it has to build slowly. The league is planning on its first season being more of a "soft launch" instead of the "grand opening" that other leagues fell prey to the harmful spectacle of. By partnering with Versus instead of a big network (the XFL famously partnered with NBC, giving it a much higher profile than it deserved), the league is sure to have national coverage without the burden of expectation (and, believe it or not, Versus has proven to be pretty adept in covering the NHL). Starting with four teams will allow for a greater concentration of talent, meaning a better product at first that should leave fans wanting more instead of with unfulfilled expectations.

Timing

Perhaps the thing working most in the UFL's favor is the most serendipitous; the league is simply coming along at a great time. Football in general has never been more popular than it is now. More and more, fans are seeking alternative outlets not to replace NFL football, but supplement it. Whether we're talking the throngs of draftniks who found a niche to dive headfirst in, the increasing numbers at small high school football games, or the dominance of Madden in the video game market, it's clear that people aren't getting enough from the NFL season alone. The UFL can help fill that void, especially with the AFL's future in limbo and the uncertainty of the labor situation in the NFL pointing towards a possible work stoppage.

Beyond that, the cutbacks NFL franchises are making in the name of economic troubles as well as the likely demise of the AFL have meant that a lot of talented people -- players, coaches, front office and administrative personnel -- are looking for work. The XFL's biggest problem (besides the lack of credibility it had from the start) was the quality of its talent. After the NFL, CFL, and AFL picked through the resumes and game film, the XFL was ultimately left with the scraps, and it showed. The UFL doesn't seem to stand this problem -- they've already gotten four coaches with substantial names and should be able to choose from a lot of people with bigger-league experience.

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Again, these good signs could mean nothing. Things happen. Things change. Yet the UFL seems to have the tangible and intangible on their side already. Football fans should not look to discredit the league based on the failings of others; after all, if the UFL succeeds, we get more football in our lives. I can't speak for anyone else, but that's certainly music to my ears.