UFL's Survival May Depend On Ability To Secure TV Revenue

The UFL "think it's playing it smart" by starting with only four teams, but many different formulas for a second pro football league in the U.S. "have failed," according to Jeff Schultz of the ATLANTA CONSTITUTION. Schultz: "Big league, small league. U.S., Europe. Outdoor, indoor. Feh." Falcons President Rich McKay "cant speak directly about the UFL" due to an NFL mandate, but he said of other U.S. football leagues, "They've all tried very different models but not have been able to succeed with any consistency. The biggest problem is none of them have found a way to produce television revenue." McKay said the "last one that really worked" was the AFL, which Tuesday suspended operations. Schultz wrote the NFL is "too big and there's too much competition from other sports," and football is "too expensive of a venture without TV revenue." Schultz: "A football league needs a major TV revenue. The UFL is public access" (AJC.com, 8/5). The AP's Jim Litke noted the UFL has a "cost-containment strategy ... and plans to position itself as a complementary league, rather than a rival." Litke: "Whether it survives, or like most of its predecessors, lasts just long enough to provide the NFL with a few innovations worth stealing, remains to be seen. But here's a few words to the wise, the same ones that could have been engraved on the tombstone of every rival league that thinks America's desire for football is unlimited: It's the game, stupid" (AP, 8/5).

AFL FALLOUT: Cowboys and AFL Desperados Owner Jerry Jones said of the AFL, "I've always thought the game was an attractive game, but we all know when you get the kind of pressure we're in, in these economic times, and then you have an economic model that really doesn't work, then it's not surprising to see it stop play." Meanwhile, NFLPA general counsel Richard Berthelsen, who served as an outside counsel retained by the AFLPA, said that there are "several unresolved issues" for the AFL. Berthelsen: "I don't want anybody to think that because the league has made the announcement they did, the players are just going to go away" (AP, 8/5).