Despite the difficult economy, executives with the UFL remain bullish they can launch the league in 2009.
CNBC's Darren Rovell spoke with the UFL’s chief operating officer Frank Vuono about the league’s future here.
Last week the SF Business Times spoke with UFL Commissioner Michael Huyghue about progress the league has made.
Hambrecht, others inject $20M into new football league
San Francisco Business Times - by Eric Young
San Francisco investment banker Bill Hambrecht and other backers have poured $20 million so far in the UFL, a startup football league planning to kick off next fall despite the deepening recession.
League officials said this week they expect to line up owners for six teams, possibly including one in the Bay Area, in spite of the economy’s meltdown. They acknowledged that market gyrations have made it difficult to line up franchise owners, who are being asked to shell out at least $30 million to control a team.
“We’ve had some (investors) drop out and some (investor groups) are having to add more people,” said UFL Commissioner Michael Huyghue, a former NFL executive. The recession’s impact has been “significant on the ownership groups,” he said. “You can’t go through what we’ve gone through and not have it impact our investors.”
Hambrecht, who founded the WR Hambrecht & Co. investment bank in San Francisco a decade ago, could not be reached for comment.
The UFL, or United Football League, has already downsized its plans and delayed its launch once — before the October stock market crash and accompanying credit market fallout. When originally envisioned by Hambrecht, the league was to begin play this year with eight teams. Still, Huyghue said, there remains enough interest from investors that the league is committed to putting players on the field in August 2009 for its inaugural 10-game season.
The UFL will begin drafting players in March.
The franchise fee to get into the UFL is steep. Thirty million dollars is enough to buy into a franchise in Major League Baseball or the National Basketball Association. Backers of the UFL said their league has the potential for growth because it can serve the overwhelming hunger for pro football.
UFL teams will play on Thursday and Friday, when the NFL does not play. Along with the Bay Area, the UFL is considering placing teams in Hartford, Conn., Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Monterrey (Mexico), New York, Orlando and Salt Lake City.
The 32-team NFL has outlasted previous pro football leagues. Since it merged with the American Football League in 1970, three other leagues have come and gone. The most recent was the XFL, a joint venture between NBC and the World Wrestling Federation, which played one season in 2001.
The UFL is not trying to compete with the NFL, Huyghue said. “There is more than enough fan interest and player talent for us to coexist and even be mutually beneficial,” Huyghue said.
