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Hartford's United Football League team


mamul

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  • 5 weeks later...

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It will be interesting to see how this works out.

sometimes when I read about this league it seems very bush league

then other times I think it is actually fairly well organized and creative.

for a fledgling league having a team represent a region is actually a good idea. A new league might not sell enough seats in just one market, and there would be a certain fall off after the innitial curiosity spike. But playing 2 hames in Hartford would likely bring a further afield fan base, and also sell additional seats because it would be a fresh novelty in the hartford region.

Same for LA and LV

There is currently no football in LA/LV Hartford, San Jose, and Orlando.

The San Francisco and the New York markets might not sell as well because loyalties are very strong allready there.

Also I understand that the ownership structure is a lot like Major League Soccer. MLS may not be a smashing financial success, but my keeping controll and keeping cost down as a league, it has been able to stick around for far longer than many expenced and is now begining to reap the rewards of stability.

Lets face it Football is an under served sport. there ar more fans that teams, and more fans than games. so if a league can start and operate at a tolerable level for a few yeas, the money will start to flow into its coffers. XFL would have worked out if it wasnot so wastefull of its resources and had the ability to commit to several years of play. No professional sports league will be a success right away. it just does not work like that.

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It will be interesting to see how this works out.

sometimes when I read about this league it seems very bush league

then other times I think it is actually fairly well organized and creative.

for a fledgling league having a team represent a region is actually a good idea. A new league might not sell enough seats in just one market, and there would be a certain fall off after the innitial curiosity spike. But playing 2 hames in Hartford would likely bring a further afield fan base, and also sell additional seats because it would be a fresh novelty in the hartford region.

Same for LA and LV

There is currently no football in LA/LV Hartford, San Jose, and Orlando.

The San Francisco and the New York markets might not sell as well because loyalties are very strong allready there.

Also I understand that the ownership structure is a lot like Major League Soccer. MLS may not be a smashing financial success, but my keeping controll and keeping cost down as a league, it has been able to stick around for far longer than many expenced and is now begining to reap the rewards of stability.

Lets face it Football is an under served sport. there ar more fans that teams, and more fans than games. so if a league can start and operate at a tolerable level for a few yeas, the money will start to flow into its coffers. XFL would have worked out if it wasnot so wastefull of its resources and had the ability to commit to several years of play. No professional sports league will be a success right away. it just does not work like that.

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  • 4 months later...

There isn't much publicity locally for this, but it seems that the UFL is in fact coming to Hartford. It will be a 4-team league with only a 6 game season, which means 3 home games. The problem I see is that the Hartford team is actually a New York/ Hartford team. With this being the case, where would those 3 home games be played? No decision has been reached but I've seen Rentschler, Yale Bowl and Hofstra as possibilities. I dont see this as a great short term investment, but in case the leagues doesnt fail (which we all expect it will), it would be nice for Hartford to be an Original-4 team. The popularity of football in CT is on the rise and eventhough UConn is the major face, it would be nice to have another option (even if it is just one or two games).

It looks like more news will be coming out of UFL headquarters each day for the next few months.

http://ctsportslaw.com/2009/02/10/new-york...remiere-season/

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  • 4 months later...

Jeff Jacobs has an interesting columb regarding the UFL. I think he makes some interesting observations about how they are going about trying to establish this business. I really like that the commissioner is a Hartford guy who described this market as priority number 1. Hopefully this can be successful for the leauge and for Hartford. I think I will go out to the game tonight and check it out.

Hartford Courant

Huyghue grew up in Windsor. He played football at Cornell, went on to get his law degree at Michigan. He has held a variety of leadership roles in football, including general manager of the Birmingham Fire of the World League before moving on to executive positions with the Lions and Jaguars in the NFL. He became a sports agent. Now he's a commissioner of a four-team experiment in a six-game schedule that's looking to expand to six teams and a bigger schedule.

"Hartford is very high on our list," Huyghue said. "We're looking at markets that fit the profile for a UFL team. I think those are cities that have a good stadium, don't have an NFL team, have supported pro teams in the past — or strong college support. The fact that I'm from here doesn't hurt, but I just think Hartford's going to be a strong market."

How high is Hartford on the UFL list?

"I would say it is our first priority," Huyghue said.

Above Los Angeles?

"Yes," Huyghue said. "I think we could wait on Los Angeles and still do well."

Hartford Courant: Hartford Hosts UFL Game Tonight

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I did make it out to the game last night and it was cool. Nothing spectacular and it was crazy being in the Rent without the huge crowds that I usually see at the UConn games. Florida actually played pretty good football and Andrew Pinnock from Bloomfield looked good. New York was pretty dismal, but the overall product on the field was not bad. It does have potential and I really like the incremental approach that the leauge is taking. We should hear something about our own Hartford team soon. I'll support it next year.

Hartford Courant

But even as a stream of cars was leaving the parking lot at halftime Thursday night, league officials were glowing. The number of bodies in the stands was secondary to the ability of the people who run Rentschler demonstrating they know how to stage a game.

And according to Commissioner Michael Huyghue, the stadium proved it's ready for house a franchise.

"Markets like Hartford appeal to us because I think we have the opportunity to come in here, not have a lot of competition and to put a good quality product on the field," Huyghue said. "There's just a lot of things here that give us a good feel and make us excited about the prospect."

The fans that turned out saw the best and the worst of the UFL, as the unbeaten Florida Tuskers beat the winless New York Sentinels, 24-6. Florida (5-0) has already clinched a spot in the league title game while New York (0-5) is playing out the season.

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  • 2 months later...

Looks like Hartford is getting the New York Sentinals for next season. I'll probably try to catch a few games. Hopefully they can win a few unlike last season.

USA Today

The UFL called a news conference for Tuesday morning in Hartford. Former Giants QB coach Chris Palmer, once the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, is expected to be named head coach, the paper reported.

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It's official. The UFL has arrived in Hartford and honestly I'm more excited about it than I thought I would be. I think there really is potential to build this league into something respectable and the strategy of getting out of NFL markets and focusing on large markets without the NFL is a sound one that should have been pursued from day one. Right now there are teams in Hartford, Las Vegas, and Orlando. The team that played in the Bay Area last year is moving to Sacramento and they are talking expansion into Louisville, San Antonio, Salt Lake City, Omaha, and Portland. I like the idea of playing against teams from these cities a lot more than the Wolf Pack playing against Providence, Springfield, Worcester, and Bridgeport all the time.

Also, I find it intriguing that the league seems to have set up its Headquarters in Greater Hartford for the 2010 season and this makes me want the UFL to succeed for our sake even more. Football is king in this country and there is room for a lower level than the NFL IMO. If this league and our team are a success and the league is based here that presents some very interesting potential scenarios for the future.

I for one would like to welcome the UFL and our Hartford UFL team to Hartford. Good luck and please don't give our team a lame name!

Hartford Courant

The United Football League arrived with a press conference that included Gov. M. Jodi Rell, league commissioner Michael Huyghue, team owner William Mayer and new coach Chris Palmer. Huyghue, a Windsor native and former NFL executive, joked that he has spent the last 20 years trying to bring a football franchise to the state.

"I think it's a very deserving city," Huyghue said.

The league, which debuted with four franchises last year, will begin play in September. Training camp, which will be held in the state, will start in August.

The Hartford franchise spent 2009 as the New York Sentinels, but the league will hold a name-the-team contest on its web site. League offices will be based in Greater Hartford and tickets will be on sale beginning in April.

The team will play five of its 10 games at Rentschler all on Friday and Saturday nights -- and the average ticket price will be $20. Huyghue said the league plans to aggressively market the team.

My expectation is not that we'll get 5,000, 10,000, or 15,000, but that we'll fill the stadium," Huyghue said. "I know we have that potential here in Hartford."

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Here's some more stuff about the team. East Hartford wants to cash in with this but has found UConn not as lucrative as they had hoped. The chances that there is some economic benefit increases with the more tenants and events they have I suppose but there really isn't much to do in East Hartford now. I think that when the Rentschler site gets more developed that could and should very well change. I find it pretty funny that the Mayor of East Hartford was disappointed that the team would be called Hartford instead of East Hartford. That is small time thinking at it's finest folks. When will people in this state understand the concept of a region? East Hartford is only a town, Hartford is a city but also a region and metro area. Do they really not get this yet?

Hartford Courant

EAST HARTFORD — - The town is getting a professional football team, and if local officials' hopes are realized, they'll be getting a lot of money along with it.

Here are some great videos from the announcement. Chris Palmer and the Commissioner both seem really sold on the area and dedicated to making this work. Our team will be very important to the fate of this league. The commissioner Micheal Huygue is really impressive and seems like a true Hartford guy to me. I really want to see this work.

UFLAccess.com

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