As UFL teams and players continue to buzz regarding Commissioner Michael Huyghue’s clumsily-abandoned desire to collect $150,000 for each UFL player who signs with an NFL team after the UFL season ends, we’re being flooded with more and more information that tends to prove that the UFL isn’t as interested in helping players get back to the NFL as the UFL pretends to be when persuading players to sign with them.
Case in point? As Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported in late October, the Chargers wanted to sign Florida Tuskers kicker Nick Novak, after Nate Kaeding suffered an injury. The Chargers were willing to pay the $150,000 transfer fee in order to get Novak.
But the UFL declined. Specifically, Huyghue declined.
So why should anyone think that Huyghue won’t enforce the league’s contractual rights to the letter, absent a clear commitment not to do so?
For a league that has struggled to get attention for the things it’s doing on the field, the UFL finally has something in common with the NFL -- an intriguing off-field scandal.