Jump to content

Hartford's United Football League team


mamul

Recommended Posts

There is an article on SI.com today which among other things says that Hartford will be getting a franchise in the new UFL football league that is starting up next year. Other cities with franchises include: LA, San Francisco, Las Vegas, NY and Orlando. Supposedly there is some big money behind the league including Mark Cuban and possibly the Wilpons (NY Mets owners). According to the league, the Hartford team will play at Rentschler Field.

Anyone else have any insight into this?

Link to the article:

SI link

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 39
  • Created
  • Last Reply
There is an article on SI.com today which among other things says that Hartford will be getting a franchise in the new UFL football league that is starting up next year. Other cities with franchises include: LA, San Francisco, Las Vegas, NY and Orlando. Supposedly there is some big money behind the league including Mark Cuban and possibly the Wilpons (NY Mets owners). According to the league, the Hartford team will play at Rentschler Field.

Anyone else have any insight into this?

Link to the article:

SI link

Link to comment
Share on other sites

reeeeeeeeeelllllyyyyyy....

well I would be suprised if this league succeeds, but at the same time, I know there is enough interest in Football to make it potentially work.

Hartford would be a better place for having a team, that is for sure.

now to get to some research

Link to comment
Share on other sites

regardless of ownership, what would be the economic impact on Hartford.

Long term we could not know.

Short term lets look at some numbers

XFL Attendance: it only had one year

Rank

Team

Avg.

Total

1.

San Francisco Demons

35,005

175,024

2.

NY/NJ Hitmen

28,309

141,545

3.

Orlando Rage

25,563

127,817

4.

Los Angeles Xtreme

22,679

113,395

5.

Las Vegas Outlaws

22,619

113,069

6.

Memphis Maniax

20,396

101,981

7.

Birmingham Thunderbolts

17,002

85,012

8.

Chicago Enforcers

15,710

78,549

-

LEAGUE

23,410

936,392

5 home game a piece.

I think that a Hartford team would likely hope to end up in the middle of the pack attendance wise. Compared to the other cities confirmed. but it certainly would not be a guarantee. I would hope for 22,000 per game average. this would look a little empty in the RENT, but I guess it would be a start. Fans do not always come out untill they think you will be there a while. I think this league would have to commit to be here for at least a few years

These are the CSA populations of the currently named teams. I added Springfield to Hartford because I can :)

New York 21,962,000

Los Angeles 17,755,000

San Francisco 7,265,000

Las Vegas 1,880,000

Hartford 1,306,000 Springfield 682,000 Total 1,988,000

Orlando 2,696,000

If Hartford is able to manage 20k a game at 20 bucks a head and 20 buck a person in ancilliary revenues like parking and concessions the team would have about 4M in revenues. the league is talking about a $20M cap so I am assuming they are not expecting to break even on buts in seats.

If anyone hears about a TV deal worth $96M a year this league might have some legs.

But any ways, if the team has a player salary of 18M that means there are 40-50 guys getting paid between 50k and 4M (average about 400K) a year now living in Hartford. Not to mention coaching staff trainers, marketing etc..

at this point I will put it all down as interesting...

but some info for your minds. the NFL team with the worst revenue in Arizona with $158M

in NHL its the Islanders with 56M. I do not see this league doing much more than 25-30 in a first year, but you can see the economic impact of professional sports can be pretty huge.

I still think this city needs a pro team in an Arena (Whales) more than anything so that our winters have a purpose, but another fall sport would not hurt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hartford is definitely a candidate for a team but nothing's confirmed officially yet. I think we have to take everything with a grain of salt since the league was supposed to start this year and got pushed back a year. Their plan at least seems better than stuff like the XFL, namely that it would play during football season, but I'll have to see it to believe it.

These things tend to pop up a lot: http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news4375.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hartford is definitely a candidate for a team but nothing's confirmed officially yet. I think we have to take everything with a grain of salt since the league was supposed to start this year and got pushed back a year. Their plan at least seems better than stuff like the XFL, namely that it would play during football season, but I'll have to see it to believe it.

These things tend to pop up a lot: http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news4375.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is interesting to discuss start up sports leagues. I have been very emotionally involved in MLS since before it began play and it seems as though, now after 12 years it has reached a level of sustainability and solvency. MLS was financially supported by billionaire Phil Ancheutz for year 3-9 almost exclusively. I have no idea how much money he might have spent during that time, and many fans have thrown around numbers, but pro soccer exists in America due to his determination and willingness to throw good money after bad. Now he is making a return, and it seems as though his investment will ultimately pay him back handsomly, but not many people have that kind of patience, or money.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well Uconn draws 40k and they are not really that good.

take the best UCONN players that dont get jobs in the NFL and maybe get a few that would get crap jobs in the NFL. add a bunch more players and put a team on the field that is better than Big East Football, but not so much worse than NFL patriots football.

for 2.5 Million or so people around Hartford the Rent is a short drive.

The Razor or the swamp are quite a hike. So if the games are more entertaining than UCONN you should get some fans. I am not saying I am a believer, but I am a devils advocate :)

Orlando is a bit more competitive with TB near by. and tons of good college footbal.

LV you never know.... its a wild card.... ohhh that was bad.

SF delivered 35000 fans a game to XFL and they have 2 NFL teams both accessable by mass transit.

who really knows

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well Uconn draws 40k and they are not really that good.

take the best UCONN players that dont get jobs in the NFL and maybe get a few that would get crap jobs in the NFL. add a bunch more players and put a team on the field that is better than Big East Football, but not so much worse than NFL patriots football.

for 2.5 Million or so people around Hartford the Rent is a short drive.

The Razor or the swamp are quite a hike. So if the games are more entertaining than UCONN you should get some fans. I am not saying I am a believer, but I am a devils advocate :)

Orlando is a bit more competitive with TB near by. and tons of good college footbal.

LV you never know.... its a wild card.... ohhh that was bad.

SF delivered 35000 fans a game to XFL and they have 2 NFL teams both accessable by mass transit.

who really knows

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.courant.com/news/custom/topnews...0,7757730.story

Northland Investment Corporation is attempting to acquire a United Football League franchise. The UFL is schedule to begin play in 2009 and a league spokesperson said Tuesday that franchise locations could be announced in the next few weeks.

well Lary G it is

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...

Hey all, just noticed that the United Football League's website is up and running. Hartford is mentioned as a possible location. If you want to support bringing a team to Hartford, you may want to sign up for season tickets. There is no cost to sign up right now.

The team may play at Renscheller (sp) but could play at Yale if the Rent is not available.

You can also propose a team name.

Here is the link:

http://www.ufl-football.com/home

Go Hartford!!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey all, just noticed that the United Football League's website is up and running. Hartford is mentioned as a possible location. If you want to support bringing a team to Hartford, you may want to sign up for season tickets. There is no cost to sign up right now.

The team may play at Renscheller (sp) but could play at Yale if the Rent is not available.

You can also propose a team name.

Here is the link:

http://www.ufl-football.com/home

Go Hartford!!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree completely and only call it "Rentschler Field". Suddenly every American stadium needs to be called "The (insert lame one syllable nickname here)" The worst is "The Vault" because a bank owns the name. How anyone thinks that's clever is beyond me.

Also, I chose the nickname "Hartford Blues" because that was Hartford's old team name, played in the NFL for one season, and it's a damn good nickname also.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree completely and only call it "Rentschler Field". Suddenly every American stadium needs to be called "The (insert lame one syllable nickname here)" The worst is "The Vault" because a bank owns the name. How anyone thinks that's clever is beyond me.

Also, I chose the nickname "Hartford Blues" because that was Hartford's old team name, played in the NFL for one season, and it's a damn good nickname also.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.