The UFL, another new go at a professional football league in the United States?



Well, maybe, according to Mark Craig of the Star Tribune's Around the NFL Blog:

Let's just say I'm skeptical anytime I see a press release wildly promoting yet another attempt at creating another professional football league. It's usually followed months later by a tamer and shorter release saying, "Um, due to blah, blah, blah, everything we said we were going to do, we, um, can't really afford to do."

Here's a clip from the UFL's press release.

The United Football League, a new professional outdoor football league, today announced VERSUS, a national sports network in more than 75 million homes, will air the League's "Premiere" season beginning in October 2009. VERSUS will air live weekly games beginning on Thursday, October 8, and continuing through the Championship Game scheduled to air Thanksgiving weekend. Each live telecast will be approximately three hours and all games will be produced and available in HD. The complete schedule will be announced this summer.

"The UFL's business model is to align with companies who are willing to grow with us and embrace the UFL's vision of innovation, accessibility, excitement and entertainment," said Commissioner Michael Huyghue (MY NOTE: Huyghue is a former senior VP of football operations for the Jaguars). "As a national sports network with more than 75 million viewers, we felt there was no better network to showcase the UFL's "Premiere" season. The UFL is very excited about many of the enhancements our television broadcast will have during the season. Airing our events on VERSUS will allow us the opportunity to provide our at-home audience with a true inside look on game day."

In its "Premiere" year, the UFL will host teams in Las Vegas, New York, Orlando and San Francisco. There are also plans to play additional games in Hartford and Los Angeles. The season will conclude with a Championship Game tentatively scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend in Las Vegas. On Wednesday, the UFL will announce its four coaches at a press conference in San Francisco. League officials are in final negotiations with various stadiums and these agreements will be announced as they are completed.

In other UFL news, there's speculation that disgraced former NFL star quarterback Michael Vick could potentially find a home in the new football league:

In addition to former New York Giants coach Jim Fassel, who will lead the Las Vegas team, the UFL has hired Dennis Green as San Francisco's coach, Jim Haslett for Orlando and Ted Cottrell for New York. All except Cottrell have been head coaches in the NFL.

It is also believed the league is efforting to have former NFL quarterback Michael Vick play in its inaugural season. Vick, currently serving time for federal dogfighing charges, will be dealing with financial issues and time in a halfway house before he's available to play for any football team. Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff has said that he will seek a trade for Vick, but it's possible that a release will be the only way.

Each UFL team will play six games, with the championship game expected to be played in Las Vegas during Thanksgiving weekend. The UFL has announced a deal for a Thursday night game of the week to be televised on VERSUS, which is also home for National Hockey League games.

While Vick would surely bring attention to the new football league, you'd have to think that a vast majority of it would be negative.