After the UFL's “tumultuous and truncated 2011 season, it would be easier to see the league headed for the football scrapheap” than it would be to see a fourth season, according to Steven Pivovar of the OMAHA WORLD-HERALD. The league's hierarchy, though, is "steadfast in its proclamations that the UFL will play in 2012.” Sacramento Mountain Lions Owner Paul Pelosi, one of the league's “three principal investors,” said that he “believes there is an 80 percent chance that the UFL will return bigger and better than ever next season.” But what happened “in what one pundit labeled the ‘Unreliable Football League’ over the past few months caused an erosion of any credibility the league might have built in its first two seasons.” The UFL, hoping to “take advantage of labor strife in the National Football League, planned to start training camp in mid-July and games in mid-August.” The league though “had to audible when the lockout was settled in late July.” Since that time the league “closed down its franchise in Hartford, Conn., leaving it with four teams instead of the six it had hoped to play with in 2011.” What the league did then “surprised even observers who had come to expect the unexpected from the league.” The UFL “canceled the final two weeks of the regular season, scheduled a championship game between Las Vegas and Virginia and then hastily arranged a consolation contest between Sacramento and Omaha.” UFL officials said that the league did this “to save the $3.5 million it would have cost to play out the regular season and solidify the foundation for next season.”
REDUCED LOSSES THIS SEASON: The league “lost more than $100 million in its first two years of operation,” but UFL Commissioner Michael Huyghue said that it “tightened its belt this season and reduced losses to about $20 million.” Each of its franchises “became more responsible for its day-to-day operations, while the league continued to pay salaries, workmen's compensation insurance and travel costs.” Pivovar asked, “How does an operation that might appear a better candidate for bankruptcy than a fourth season move forward?” Pelosi said that work "needs to be done in three areas to assure that what he calls ‘an excellent football product’ reaches the field for a fourth season.” First, the UFL “needs to secure a television contract to bring in some much-needed revenue.” Second, the league “needs to establish a relationship with the NFL.” Finally, the UFL “needs to expand to a minimum of six teams in 2012.” Another revenue source “could materialize if the UFL could enter into an agreement with the NFL.” The NFL reportedly had “interest in buying into the UFL after its first season, but the ownership group balked at turning over 51 percent control” (OMAHA WORLD-HERALD, 10/29).
