Post by Dcmac on Jul 29, 2009 1:25:23 GMT -5
A new football league has emerged, it has aspirations of taking on the NFL but many claim it will become a development league, equivalent of the AHL. One thing is certain...if it's successful it will effect the CFL.
Found at: www.winnipegsun.com/sports/football/2009/07/26/10265156-sun.html
Found at: www.winnipegsun.com/sports/football/2009/07/26/10265156-sun.html
The United Football League could take off, or it may never get off the ground.
That's the risk you take when you start a four-down football league in the U.S. that isn't named "the NFL." Ask the XFL how its venture turned out in 2001.
North of the 49th parallel, however, there doesn't seem to be much concern about the possibility of the UFL putting down roots and serving as the primary alternative to The League.
"The obvious thing is our ability right now to sign some of the players that they're going after," Argos GM Adam Rita said. "There's so much doubt in that league that it hasn't been a problem thus far."
The UFL, which hopes to field four teams in its inaugural season, has already hired recognizable former NFL coaches: Dennis Green, Jim Fassel, Jim Haslett and Ted Cottrell.
It has also been getting plenty of buzz lately with the talk of Michael Vick possibly starting his comeback in the loop, and earlier this week the yet-to-be-named Las Vegas franchise inked former Buffalo Bills quarterback J.P. Losman.
Uncertain future
The UFL schedule is tentatively scheduled to run in October and November (in an effort to land players that NFL teams cut at the end of August), and it hopes to expand to six teams in 2010.
If the UFL somehow succeeds (and most doubt that it will), there will actually be people in the CFL who would not be upset at that development.
"It gives us a chance to look at players that we wouldn't have seen with the demise of NFL Europe, which was a great place to evaluate players that were kind of on the bubble for the NFL," Rita said.
Reports are that UFL teams will have a salary cap of between $12 and $20 million. A CFL source, however, has been told that some players have been offered salaries as low as $40,000, which actually isn't bad for a two-month season.
The source also noted that some of the players being targeted by UFL franchises have been cut by CFL squads.
On the flip side, Edmonton Eskimos GM Danny Maciocia believes the UFL has caused some players to take a wait-and-see approach, thereby preventing them from coming to the CFL.
"I'm sure there's a lot of teams, including ourselves, that haven't probably been able to secure the services of certain players because of this UFL," Maciocia said.
Set in stone
In the end, though, the CFL isn't going anywhere, no matter how successful the UFL turns out to be. Montreal Alouettes GM Jim Popp said star players in any league simply won't pursue something that isn't set in stone.
"If that league took off and they paid a crapload of money, then obviously you'd see some players leave," Popp said. "But the ones that get paid well in this league, who are stars in this league, who have a job and know what they've got, most of them won't leave or wouldn't consider leaving.
"Why would they give up what they have?"
That's the risk you take when you start a four-down football league in the U.S. that isn't named "the NFL." Ask the XFL how its venture turned out in 2001.
North of the 49th parallel, however, there doesn't seem to be much concern about the possibility of the UFL putting down roots and serving as the primary alternative to The League.
"The obvious thing is our ability right now to sign some of the players that they're going after," Argos GM Adam Rita said. "There's so much doubt in that league that it hasn't been a problem thus far."
The UFL, which hopes to field four teams in its inaugural season, has already hired recognizable former NFL coaches: Dennis Green, Jim Fassel, Jim Haslett and Ted Cottrell.
It has also been getting plenty of buzz lately with the talk of Michael Vick possibly starting his comeback in the loop, and earlier this week the yet-to-be-named Las Vegas franchise inked former Buffalo Bills quarterback J.P. Losman.
Uncertain future
The UFL schedule is tentatively scheduled to run in October and November (in an effort to land players that NFL teams cut at the end of August), and it hopes to expand to six teams in 2010.
If the UFL somehow succeeds (and most doubt that it will), there will actually be people in the CFL who would not be upset at that development.
"It gives us a chance to look at players that we wouldn't have seen with the demise of NFL Europe, which was a great place to evaluate players that were kind of on the bubble for the NFL," Rita said.
Reports are that UFL teams will have a salary cap of between $12 and $20 million. A CFL source, however, has been told that some players have been offered salaries as low as $40,000, which actually isn't bad for a two-month season.
The source also noted that some of the players being targeted by UFL franchises have been cut by CFL squads.
On the flip side, Edmonton Eskimos GM Danny Maciocia believes the UFL has caused some players to take a wait-and-see approach, thereby preventing them from coming to the CFL.
"I'm sure there's a lot of teams, including ourselves, that haven't probably been able to secure the services of certain players because of this UFL," Maciocia said.
Set in stone
In the end, though, the CFL isn't going anywhere, no matter how successful the UFL turns out to be. Montreal Alouettes GM Jim Popp said star players in any league simply won't pursue something that isn't set in stone.
"If that league took off and they paid a crapload of money, then obviously you'd see some players leave," Popp said. "But the ones that get paid well in this league, who are stars in this league, who have a job and know what they've got, most of them won't leave or wouldn't consider leaving.
"Why would they give up what they have?"