Many years and a marriage ago I remember lying abed in the small hours listening to the fledgling United States Football League (USFL) games on American Forces Network (AFN).
I remember broadcasts from Birmingham, AL in particular, mostly ‘cos the commentators were wrapped-up in the attempts of the small crowd to perpetuate a Mexican wave. I even ventured down to Wembley to see the Philadelphia Stars and Tampa Bay Bandits lock horns.
So I am intrigued now to see that yet another new league is to kick off in the States this year. This time someone has already taken the ‘S’ out of ‘USFL’; so we’re left with the UFL, which kicks of a four team,six game season October 2009.
October 2009 – UFL “Premiere” Season Begins
November 19, 2009 – UFL “Premiere” Regular Season Concludes
Thanksgiving Weekend 2009 – Championship Game in Las Vegas
I can’t wait.
This time the league is not premiering a new season (the USFL’s Summer season format never caught on) and is aiming at small-mid market cities. It plans to capture the sub-NFL talent that has hithertoo missed out on professional sport apart from those lucky enough to escape to the CFL.
So, the UFL could become a complementary league structure. An NFL 2 or something along the lines of the UK football’s Championship.
More on this subject in coming months I feel.
Ian Bridge
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