Posted on 05/30/2007 8:55:44 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is part of a group considering formation of a football league that would compete with the NFL for players drafted lower than the second round.
The league, still very much in the preliminary stage, would play its games on Friday nights. The NFL does not play then because of the potential conflict with high school football.
"It's a pretty simple concept," Cuban said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "We think there is more demand for pro football than supply."
The proposal was first disclosed by The New York Times on its Web site, which said it was the idea of Bill Hambrecht, a Wall Street investor who was a minority partner in the Oakland Invaders of the USFL, which played in the spring from 1983-85. Sharon Smith, a spokeswoman for Hambrecht and Company, had no comment and said Hambrecht was traveling and unavailable to talk about the idea.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said he was aware of the proposed league, but had no further comment.
On his blog, Cuban explained how the new league, dubbed the UFL, would actually be good for the NFL.
"The NFL wants and needs competition," Cuban wrote. "They have grown so big and powerful that every move they make is scrutinized by local or federal officials. A competitor allows them to point to us and explain that their moves are for competitive reasons rather than the move of a monopoly."
There have been numerous leagues that have tried to compete with the NFL and a few that actually played games, starting with the AFL, which began in 1960 and fully merged with the NFL a decade later. It included such current franchises as New England, Oakland, Kansas City, San Diego, Buffalo, the New York Jets and Denver.
More recently came the World Football League in the early 1970s, which raided the NFL for such stars as Larry Csonka. Then came the USFL, which played in the spring before folding after receiving only $3 in an antitrust "victory" over the NFL.
The USFL featured such future Hall of Famers as Jim Kelly, Reggie White and Steve Young, but lost millions of dollars trying to compete for players. It also had internal struggles among a majority of owners who wanted to stay in the spring, and the best known among them, Donald Trump, who wanted to move to the fall and try to force a merger with the NFL.
The most recent pro football league was the XFL, founded by the World Wrestling Federation and televised by NBC. The XFL lasted just three months in the spring of 2001 and was best known for a player named Rod Smart, called "He Hate Me," who later played as a return man and backup running back in the NFL.
So far, the proposed new league is in its infancy and Cuban is the only potential owner for what the founders hope will be an eight-team league.
Cuban said in his e-mail he believes the salary cap makes it easier to compete financially with the NFL because of the salary imbalance that leaves lower-level players with lower salaries. That would allow the new league to fill its rosters with players taken lower than the second round, as well as late NFL cuts and free agents who escape the NFL draft.
Many such players, including Tom Brady, a sixth-round pick of New England, have become NFL stars.
"That's not to say it will be easy. It won't," Cuban wrote. "We still have to cover quite a bit of ground and have a lot of milestones to hit. That said, if we can get the right owners I obviously think we can make this work."
LOL, a good one, well Cuban has $$$ to waste.
This guy is jealous of Jerry Jones.
If Mark Cuban was a voice of sanity, this might work but I just don’t see it working with this loon at the helm. What’s the matter Mark? Jerry Jones isn’t returning your calls?
Of course, if there was truly more appettite for pro football than what is currently available, the ratings for the Arena Football League would be through the roof.
I miss the USFL. It was creative and entertaining. It needed more time to build it’s springtime niche and it could have been a great longstanding spring league. Instead Trump and some others got greedy and ruined the whole thing. Somehow, Cuban and Trump have more in common than just being “reality show” hosts. They’re both a little nuts.
BTW, those who don’t remember, the USFL gained one of the most hollow legal victories in the history of jurisprudence. They took the NFL to court claiming anti-trust violations and used Al Davis (the NFL’s version of John McCain) as their star witness.
The jury’s verdict: Yes, the NFL is a monopoly that restricts fair trade.
The award: One dollar. As is typical in such cases, the award was automatically tripled so the USFL won $3. Total.
The jury felt that while, the NFL is a monopoly, the USFL was to blame for their own red ink, not the NFL.
Yes, the demand for pro football exceeds the supply IN THE OFFSEASON. Playing a new league on Friday night when the NFL is already playing on Sunday, Monday, and Thursday is a recipe for football fatigue.
Cuban is even jealous of the image he sees in his own mirror. This guy got rich by beng lucky!
Cuban is even jealous of the image he sees in his own mirror. This guy got rich by beng lucky!
Yeah but there's just too many entertainment options in the offseason which includes baseball, basketball, hockey, and now forming its own niche, soccer.
He would be better off just giving the money to me and I’ll do more constructive things with it =D
I am sure all the games will be on Cubans HDTV and internet networks.
XFL
USFL
“Of course, if there was truly more appettite for pro football than what is currently available, the ratings for the Arena Football League would be through the roof.’
Arena football isn’t ‘real’ football. The high scores are like basketball games, there are only eight players on a side, and the field is more like a hockey rink. A good arena game draws only twelve thousand fans. It doesn’t scratch the itch.
Because the NBA stinks. Too much hip-hop and not enough focus on the fundamentals and true competitiveness.
the thing I remember about the xfl is the cheerleaders. They had the word stripper written all over ‘em...
Arena football doesn’t do it for me either so I agree with you. I’m just shooting down the comment that the demand is greater than the supply.
In my case, I have plenty of games I’ve recorded over the years and watch when I really need a football fix.
Cuban is a jerk and a fool... How does that saying go.. A fool and his money...
You mean a whites-only league? That would be interesting...and wouldn't last in the U.S. for 30 seconds before a lawsuit was filed.
I went to the first game of the New York/New Jersey Hitmen in the XFL. I have to say, it was quite exciting in the pregame and up through the first 5 minutes. The problem was ENDLESS penalties because McMahon was too cheap to have a real training camp. Had he spent more money on the training camp, the XFL might have had a shot at being significantly more popular than arena football.
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