UFL To Kick Off In October, Pelosi's Spouse Buys Clubs

The upstart United Football League (UFL) today announced it will begin play in October with its "UFL Premiere" season, which will feature four teams playing in at least seven cities. The first four teams will be based in Las Vegas/L.A., N.Y./Hartford, Orlando and S.F./Sacramento. During the course of the UFL's six-week season, the four teams will travel to each city for games, culminating in a Championship Game tentatively scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend in Las Vegas. The UFL is being funded in part by a consortium of investors that includes S.F.-based investment and consulting company FLS, Inc. President Paul Pelosi, which paid $30M to operate the league. The UFL also is in final negotiations with a sports cable net for a weekly nationally-televised game (UFL). SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Daniel Kaplan reported the investment group led by Pelosi, the husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), will serve as the owner for the four teams. UFL Commissioner Michael Huyghue said that the UFL was "originally envisioned as a six-team, six-owner league but had to scale back its ambitions because of the economy." Huyghue added, "The real focus is to treat this is a soft launch and come back strong in 2010." Huyghue said that the league will have $16M of "labor costs in its planned four-to five-week kickoff season." The six teams were originally to have salary caps of $20M each and $12M salary floors. Acting UFL COO Frank Vuono said that the league is "in advanced talks to play" at The Home Depot Center in L.A., at Hofstra Univ. on Long Island, at AT&T Park in S.F., at the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium in Orlando, at Rentschler Field in Hartford, Connecticut, and at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. Vuono also "identified Memphis, Sacramento and Birmingham, Ala., as other cities that could host games" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 2/9 issue).