In 2010, the UFL has expanded from four teams to five. A sixth team recently was added in Norfolk, but that franchise won’t begin to play until 2011.
Despite significant losses to date, with total estimated losses of $30 million and $5 million alone coming out of Paul Pelosi’s pockets, Commissioner Michael Huyghue aims high.
Huyghue said via Twitter on Friday (hat tip to Reservations for Six) that possible expansion locations include Raleigh, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Austin, Los Angeles, and Hawaii.
Yes, Hawaii.
We doubt that it’ll happen, given the expenses associated with flying teams from and to the islands. The best news is that that UFL finally has realized not to bother with playing in cities where NFL teams currently reside. And with the NFL considering a developmental league, the UFL could grow into just that, in time.
If the UFL wants to be the NFL’s D-league it is going to need team owners that are willing to spend a lot of money and kiss a lot of old white NFL ass. Good luck to them.
Colt Brennan for QB!!
Sooooooo…it’s ok to transport teams to Europe to play football but not ok to fly them to Hawaii.
Allrighty then……..
Distance from Hartford, CT to Sacramento, CA – 2558 miles. Distance from Sacramento, CA to Honolulu, HI – 2461 miles.
@edgy1957 . . . distance from Hartford to Honolulu . . . 5019 miles.
Distance from hartford ct to Honolulu Hawaii ~ 5,000 miles…
NOT going to happen.
Hawaii Iceheads
UFL needs to be a Friday night league…… It doesn’t matter where the teams are, this is a made for TV league. As long as there are no games on to compete, there could be decent TV revenue if the eyes support it. The Players still can make for interesting games worth betting on. And, isn’t that why we love football anyways?
Mr. Florio, I think you meant to say Honolulu, but I’ll let you slide! I have lived near Aloha Stadium for 10 years. This would be a fantastic venue for the UFL because of the amazing pro athletes that come from the islands. There are so many huge, fast guys here. The fanbase is crazy; ever seen a UH Warriors game? And this is a big ass city in the middle of paradise, and it does not cost that much to fly. 8-10 team league could schedule the road trips pretty easily. I think it would work.
Hawaii has the biggest sports fans in the world, particularly for football, but no pro teams. It would be the biggest thing in town (after UH football).
So what if a flight from the east coast to here takes twice as long as flying to the west coast? The expense is not double, and I’m sure teams would always consider a flight to Hawaii a nice change of pace.
And yes, Colt Brennan would make a great QB for the Hawaiian team.
Hawaii? They did lose the pro bowl, but having a semi-pro franchise there makes no sense. They are obviously too far away from the east coast. Louisville would make sense.
Hawaii would work, you just have to work the schedual right. Have the Hawaiian team stay at home for the first half of the season, bringing all the other teams to them in one shot, then bring them to the rest of the league. No need to fly back and dorth every week.
They should get Boise, Idaho in on this also
“The best news is that that UFL finally has realized not to bother with playing in cities where NFL teams currently reside.”
What do you mean by that? Hartford, Omaha, Norfolk, Sacramento, Orlando, Las Vegas. Wasn’t that the plan all along?
# Mike Florio says:
@edgy1957 . . . distance from Hartford to Honolulu . . . 5019 miles.
# aec4 says: June 25, 2010 10:58 PM
Distance from hartford ct to Honolulu Hawaii ~ 5,000 miles…
NOT going to happen.
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Which is why they would most likely go to Sacramento for a game and then head to Hawaii the next week. Yes, heading there for a single game would be the longest trip BUT previous leagues have thought of ways to cut down on the actual flight time. Also, they could hold off on Hawaii until they have enough teams to split into divisions and reduce the number of trips from East to West to 1 team a year. See, not as hard to do when you think about, is it.
The problem is that too many people have a COLLEGE FOOTBALL mentality when it comes to Hawaii. Ok, you’re leaving South Bend and fly a long, long way to get to Honolulu but if you’re a professional team, you can go to a West Coast city, play a game and then go to Honolulu for the week and then play a game. Give them a bye the next week to give them time to recover.
I bet that if you think long and hard about it, you’d find that it would be really hard to think that the players are going be bitching about having to stay a whole week on the beaches before they have to play a game.
Another option is to have them fly straight out to Hawaii and then have them come back after the game and then give them a bye the next week to give them time to recover.
Message to the UFL..
(in whispers)
If you build it, in Raleigh, we will come
Count me in on season tickets when Raleigh gets a team!
Louisville is a good idea. So is Milwaukee and Birmingham. Give them Portland, Columbus and Oklahoma City or Tulsa too.