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Google exec to form rival to NFL (1 Viewer)

Godsbrother

Godsbrother

Footballguy
Didn't see this posted anywhere. If it is a honda please delete.

Hambrecht, Google exec to form rival to NFL: reportWed May 30, 2007 10:49AM EDTCHICAGO (Reuters) - Well-known investment banker Bill Hambrecht and Google Inc. executive Tim Armstrong plan to launch a competitor to the National Football League next summer, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.The leagues -- named the United Football League -- already boasts billionaire Mark Cuban, who owns the National Basketball Association's Dallas team, among its owners, the paper said.Hambrecht, Google and Cuban were not immediately available to comment.The plan is for eight teams to begin preseason games in August 2008, according to the paper. The UFL would be the latest in a series of leagues since the 1970s, including the World Football League and the United States Football League, that have failed to thrive against the NFL.The plan is to establish teams in markets where the NFL does not have teams, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Mexico City, according to the paper.Each owner will put up $30 million for an initial half-interest in a team, with the league owning the other half, the paper said. The league will eventually sell shares to the public so that the league, owner and fan each own a third of each team.An NFL spokesman declined to comment.
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I think it will never fly. If I were starting a league do a Midget Football League (MFL), played on a 50-yard field with shorter goalposts and a smaller ball. At least THAT would have a shot at being successful.
 
I don't get it. Why start a brand new league instead of trying to buy into the only league in history that's been able to coexist with the NFL for any length of time- the Arena Football League? I'd think the chances of increasing the popularity of the AFL are much higher than the chances of success for another entirely new football league. I mean, seriously, who is going to care about an 8-team league? At best, I can see them waiving the 3-years-out-of-highschool requirement, getting a lot of kids who might otherwise have gone to college, and becoming a sort of mini farm system for the real NFL... but this seems like a lot of money to be investing just to become a glorified farm system.

 
Sigmund Bloom said:
No matter what they do, the product on the field will be inferior to the NFL, and fail.
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Unless they are able to pay more. Then MAYBE the leagues would be competive.But, as big as Google is, I don't see the ability to pay competitive salaries. (probably over competitive, as players will want to hit the NFL first and need more $ to head elsewhere)
 
Godsbrother said:
Didn't see this posted anywhere. If it is a honda please delete.

Hambrecht, Google exec to form rival to NFL: reportWed May 30, 2007 10:49AM EDTCHICAGO (Reuters) - Well-known investment banker Bill Hambrecht and Google Inc. executive Tim Armstrong plan to launch a competitor to the National Football League next summer, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.The leagues -- named the United Football League -- already boasts billionaire Mark Cuban, who owns the National Basketball Association's Dallas team, among its owners, the paper said.Hambrecht, Google and Cuban were not immediately available to comment.The plan is for eight teams to begin preseason games in August 2008, according to the paper. The UFL would be the latest in a series of leagues since the 1970s, including the World Football League and the United States Football League, that have failed to thrive against the NFL.The plan is to establish teams in markets where the NFL does not have teams, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Mexico City, according to the paper.Each owner will put up $30 million for an initial half-interest in a team, with the league owning the other half, the paper said. The league will eventually sell shares to the public so that the league, owner and fan each own a third of each team.An NFL spokesman declined to comment.
Click to expand...
I think it will never fly. If I were starting a league do a Midget Football League (MFL), played on a 50-yard field with shorter goalposts and a smaller ball. At least THAT would have a shot at being successful.
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All that emphasis on how ownership will be handled is not a good sign...
 
the XFL failed 'cuz the WWE just went public and NBC backed out...

the problem was they didn't give it time, there was no reason for the XFL to fold like it did, I'm 99% sure they even turned a profit on it...

 
Memphis never misses out on these leagues. I'm sure we'll have a UFL franchise playing in the Liberty Bowl come fall 2008. Will it come to anything? Doubtful. But we can always hope.

 
SSOG said:
I don't get it. Why start a brand new league instead of trying to buy into the only league in history that's been able to coexist with the NFL for any length of time- the Arena Football League? I'd think the chances of increasing the popularity of the AFL are much higher than the chances of success for another entirely new football league. I mean, seriously, who is going to care about an 8-team league? At best, I can see them waiving the 3-years-out-of-highschool requirement, getting a lot of kids who might otherwise have gone to college, and becoming a sort of mini farm system for the real NFL... but this seems like a lot of money to be investing just to become a glorified farm system.
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AFL down?This plan worked out OK for glorified farm teams like, say, the Denver Broncos.

I'm not saying this thing will stick. The odds are against it for sure. But I'm not going to dismiss it out of hand.

 
1. Play in the spring.

2. Cities without NFL teams. Good move.

3. Hold your draft in February. After the NFL draft, go after the big names that dropped, college stars like Troy Smith, 2nd and 3rd round picks, etc.

4. Go for local talent as much as possible. Team in LA? Sign USC and UCLA players. Maybe initially, every team has to draft a local player, or teams are prohibited from taking players in another teams area. For at least a few rounds. Not sure how I'd work that out, but I'd try and involve the local college fans right away.

5. Sign a TV deal with Spike or FX, a station like that.

6. Stream non-televised games online, for free.

7. Do interactive stuff for the fans. Run free FF leagues, on the league website, stuff like that. Go after the tru football junkies first. Wouldn't be great with an 8 team league, but hey, it's free!

 
Why do these leagues not play in the summer?

The summer void between the beginning of June and end of August is HUGE. The only sport available is baseball.

Play during summer so that the non-baseball sports fan has another option. Play an abbreviated schedule your first few seasons and expand if it catches on.

 
I agree. What the hell do these guys know? That Google thing is going to fail too. Microsoft and Yahoo are too powerful.

 
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This story makes me feel like I am watching a "Flashback to the 80's" program on VH-1.

On the bright side....if any of those teams want to steal Jim Kelly and Joe Cribbs it won't bother me as much this time around.

 
Godsbrother said:
Didn't see this posted anywhere. If it is a honda please delete.

Hambrecht, Google exec to form rival to NFL: reportWed May 30, 2007 10:49AM EDTCHICAGO (Reuters) - Well-known investment banker Bill Hambrecht and Google Inc. executive Tim Armstrong plan to launch a competitor to the National Football League next summer, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.The leagues -- named the United Football League -- already boasts billionaire Mark Cuban, who owns the National Basketball Association's Dallas team, among its owners, the paper said.Hambrecht, Google and Cuban were not immediately available to comment.The plan is for eight teams to begin preseason games in August 2008, according to the paper. The UFL would be the latest in a series of leagues since the 1970s, including the World Football League and the United States Football League, that have failed to thrive against the NFL.The plan is to establish teams in markets where the NFL does not have teams, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Mexico City, according to the paper.Each owner will put up $30 million for an initial half-interest in a team, with the league owning the other half, the paper said. The league will eventually sell shares to the public so that the league, owner and fan each own a third of each team.An NFL spokesman declined to comment.
Click to expand...
I think it will never fly. If I were starting a league do a Midget Football League (MFL), played on a 50-yard field with shorter goalposts and a smaller ball. At least THAT would have a shot at being successful.
Click to expand...
The MFL. Brilliant!
 
-OZ- said:
Sigmund Bloom said:
No matter what they do, the product on the field will be inferior to the NFL, and fail.
Click to expand...
Unless they are able to pay more. Then MAYBE the leagues would be competive.But, as big as Google is, I don't see the ability to pay competitive salaries. (probably over competitive, as players will want to hit the NFL first and need more $ to head elsewhere)
Click to expand...
If iunderstand the plan they will initally attempt to raid the mid to late round choices of the NFL by paying those guys more the league minimum and whatever bonueses. The problem of course, is developing enough of those guys into legitmate stars. While this is the immediate plan, the names of the owners thrown around don't seem like the types who will settle with being AA football, and they will go after more name players than this report initally states.
 
massraider said:
1. Play in the spring.

2. Cities without NFL teams. Good move.

3. Hold your draft in February. After the NFL draft, go after the big names that dropped, college stars like Troy Smith, 2nd and 3rd round picks, etc.



4. Go for local talent as much as possible. Team in LA? Sign USC and UCLA players. Maybe initially, every team has to draft a local player, or teams are prohibited from taking players in another teams area. For at least a few rounds. Not sure how I'd work that out, but I'd try and involve the local college fans right away.

5. Sign a TV deal with Spike or FX, a station like that.

6. Stream non-televised games online, for free.

7. Do interactive stuff for the fans. Run free FF leagues, on the league website, stuff like that. Go after the tru football junkies first. Wouldn't be great with an 8 team league, but hey, it's free!
Click to expand...
The USFL did something exactly like that with their Territorial Draft. It's a key to gaining local fan support, IMO. More info:http://www.thisistheusfl.com/1983usflterri...assignments.htm

Probably the key point for the survival of a secondary football league for the last 25 or so years has been a broad-reaching TV contract with one or more networks. It's a very interesting thing to consider whether it's a requirement anymore for a full-blown national network (ABC) to pick up these games or not in order for this league to get the exposure it needs to succeed. I would argue it isn't necessary. . . BUT you would need several contracts with major cable/satellite networks to offset that. It seems like pretty poor timing because ESPN locked in to MNF last season through 2014 and the Fox Sports Nets would almost certainly be prohibited from showing these games because of the parent network's deal with the NFL.

Unless. . . Maybe this creates an opening for a "smaller" network that wants to establish itself as a national presence like the CW to move in. According to Wikipedia, the CW is available in over 96% of US homes (a number I was amazed at).

And of course, with the involvement of a high-level Google exec, the idea of streaming games over YouTube/Google Video is certainly something that could be mutually beneficial.

This will be a fun story to follow.

 
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Castle of Grayskull said:
I agree. What the hell do these guys know? That Google thing is going to fail too. Microsoft and Yahoo are too powerful.
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:) Yeah, that "Google" thing wasn't supposed to work either....But seriously, if they can attract a few big names by offering higher salaries & some type of ownership incentives, who knows. If they do gain some traction, I'm sure you will see the leagues merge (which is probably the underlying goal anyways).
 
Eh, let 'em waste their money...

The NFL has a stranglehold on the market. Other leagues have been tried before, the XFL and USFL come to mind, and failed miserably. Other leagues, like the CFL and AFL, are sorta popular, but nowhere near the level of the NFL. Where are they going to get their players? Again, the NFL is tapped into college and pulls it's players mainly from there. This new league would be like any other league, and pull from the leftovers that weren't drafted, were banished from the NFL, ones that were injured/retired early from the NFL and want to make a comeback, etc. No college player is going to pass up on the NFL and go to this new league. It would be ridiculous and stupid on their part. The NFL has the history, the marketing, and everything going for it...

 
SSOG said:
I don't get it. Why start a brand new league instead of trying to buy into the only league in history that's been able to coexist with the NFL for any length of time- the Arena Football League? I'd think the chances of increasing the popularity of the AFL are much higher than the chances of success for another entirely new football league. I mean, seriously, who is going to care about an 8-team league? At best, I can see them waiving the 3-years-out-of-highschool requirement, getting a lot of kids who might otherwise have gone to college, and becoming a sort of mini farm system for the real NFL... but this seems like a lot of money to be investing just to become a glorified farm system.
Click to expand...
Maybe that's the plan. Maybe Cuban and these others have tried (unsuccessfully) to purchase or introduce an NFL team, and they see this as a vehicle to do so.
Success for the UFL may not mean long-term existence as a league, but a place for some of its teams as expansion members in the NFL, Carter said.
Click to expand...
 
Sigmund Bloom said:
No matter what they do, the product on the field will be inferior to the NFL, and fail.
Click to expand...
College football is an inferior product, and that does pretty well.Actually, while the article paints this as an "NFL rival", I didn't see anything about when games would be played. If, as someone mentioned above, they would waive the age limitations, and then also pay more to the mid/late round guys. This would pit them squarely somewhere in between the two leagues, and I think might be a bigger rival to college football than NFL. Especially if they chose to play weekday primetime games or, gasp, saturday games.
 
Sinrman said:
Eh, let 'em waste their money...The NFL has a stranglehold on the market. Other leagues have been tried before, the XFL and USFL come to mind, and failed miserably. Other leagues, like the CFL and AFL, are sorta popular, but nowhere near the level of the NFL. Where are they going to get their players? Again, the NFL is tapped into college and pulls it's players mainly from there. This new league would be like any other league, and pull from the leftovers that weren't drafted, were banished from the NFL, ones that were injured/retired early from the NFL and want to make a comeback, etc. No college player is going to pass up on the NFL and go to this new league. It would be ridiculous and stupid on their part. The NFL has the history, the marketing, and everything going for it...
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Actually, I would partially disagree and partially agree with you. I agree NFL has a stranglehold on the market in that they have a fat TV deal. I don't believe they have a stranglehold on players. In response to your notion that no college player is going to pass up the NFL and go to a new league, I would say "money talks". Most will go wherever they are paid the most. The USFL proved that. They lured away NFL caliber guys by paying big $$$.. Now the tough part of the equation is making money to pay those hefty salaries. That is the part they would have to solve long term. So they'll have to take a risk upfront and hope they can make it profitable long term.
 
AhrnCityPahnder said:
larry_boy_44 said:
I'm 99% sure they even turned a profit on it...
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They were 8 digits in the red.
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:)still, the only real reason it folded was because NBC stopped supporting it so they could get NFL Sunday Night Football on NBC, which left Vince screwed with nothing to do but fold it...the problem was that they weren't committed to making it work, they wanted an immediate fix, and that simply is not gonna happen...but with the deep pockets that are behind this, they might be able to handle a few years in the red before they make a profit...
 
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Who's ready for some UFL fantasy football?

I'll take Vegas' QB. :useless:

ETA: Will FBG have separate cheatsheets for the UFL next year? :)

 
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coolnerd said:
-OZ- said:
Sigmund Bloom said:
No matter what they do, the product on the field will be inferior to the NFL, and fail.
Click to expand...
Unless they are able to pay more. Then MAYBE the leagues would be competive.But, as big as Google is, I don't see the ability to pay competitive salaries. (probably over competitive, as players will want to hit the NFL first and need more $ to head elsewhere)
Click to expand...
If iunderstand the plan they will initally attempt to raid the mid to late round choices of the NFL by paying those guys more the league minimum and whatever bonueses. The problem of course, is developing enough of those guys into legitmate stars. While this is the immediate plan, the names of the owners thrown around don't seem like the types who will settle with being AA football, and they will go after more name players than this report initally states.
Click to expand...
think about it, though...if they can pull of signing 75% of the players drafted from round 3 on to play in thier 8 team league for 2 or 3 seasons, they will have a ton of superstars... THERE ARE ONLY 8 TEAMS!!!just look at this years draft... we don't even know if these guys will pan out, but if they got:lets say they started this in 2005... they could have:Frank Gore, Charlie Frye, Andrew Walter, Channing Crowder, Alex Smith (TE), Vernand Morency, Ryan Moats, Chris Henry, Brandon Jones, Kyle Orton, Marion Barber, Brandon Jacobs, Ciarick Fason, Marviel Underwood, Brady Poppinga, Alvin Pearman, Darren Sproles, Adrian McPherson, Damien Nash, Cedric Houston, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Abdul Hodge, Leanord Pope, Brian Calhoun, Jerious Norwood, Brandon Williams, Brodie Croyle, Jeremy Bloom, Ingle Martin, Wali Lundy, Jonathon Orr, Bruce Gradkowski, DJ Shockley, and the NFL Rookie of the Year in 2006 Marques Colston...plus whoever they get in this draft... spread those guys out between 8 teams and you can have, just at RB, starting on teams:Gore, Morency, Jones, Moats, Barber, Jacobs, Calhoun, Houstonnow, are all of these guys great? No... but 5 of them (Gore, Morency, Jacobs, Barber, Houston) had significant playing time last year...at QB: Frye, Walters, Orton, Fitzpatrick, Croyle, Gradkowski, plus 2 othersthose are SIX QBS WHO STARTED GAMES LAST YEAR IN THE NFL AS ROOKIES!!!just from signing a ton of guys who would have been drafted in round 3-7...plus the NFL Rookie of the Year, plus who knows how many lineman and d players whose names I didn't recognize...singing players to a higher minimum than the NFL, you could easily field 8 quality teams, even NFL caliber teams, within 3 years....
 
Interesting development. As mentioned by others, the odds against success are great, but one can't entirely dismiss the history of the NFL choosing to merge with the AFL. At present, the NFL has decided expansion is not in it's near future - so, as a businessman, perhaps I risk $30 million to secure a UFL franchise is a city that the NFL would like to expand into in, let's say, five to ten years. Can I keep it afloat for that long? Who knows . . . depends on the ability to attract a few big names. But let's look at the valuation of an NFL franchise relative to the cost of purchasing and running a UFL franchise for a few years - be a money maker in the long run if the NFL chose to merge once again. Personally, I think it's doomed to fail if it really wants to compete with the NFL in the long run, but as a short term business proposition to grasp a foothold in NFL expansion markets, it may have some merit.

 
larry_boy_44 said:
coolnerd said:
-OZ- said:
Sigmund Bloom said:
No matter what they do, the product on the field will be inferior to the NFL, and fail.
Click to expand...
Unless they are able to pay more. Then MAYBE the leagues would be competive.But, as big as Google is, I don't see the ability to pay competitive salaries. (probably over competitive, as players will want to hit the NFL first and need more $ to head elsewhere)
Click to expand...
If iunderstand the plan they will initally attempt to raid the mid to late round choices of the NFL by paying those guys more the league minimum and whatever bonueses. The problem of course, is developing enough of those guys into legitmate stars. While this is the immediate plan, the names of the owners thrown around don't seem like the types who will settle with being AA football, and they will go after more name players than this report initally states.
Click to expand...
think about it, though...if they can pull of signing 75% of the players drafted from round 3 on to play in thier 8 team league for 2 or 3 seasons, they will have a ton of superstars... THERE ARE ONLY 8 TEAMS!!!just look at this years draft... we don't even know if these guys will pan out, but if they got:lets say they started this in 2005... they could have:Frank Gore, Charlie Frye, Andrew Walter, Channing Crowder, Alex Smith (TE), Vernand Morency, Ryan Moats, Chris Henry, Brandon Jones, Kyle Orton, Marion Barber, Brandon Jacobs, Ciarick Fason, Marviel Underwood, Brady Poppinga, Alvin Pearman, Darren Sproles, Adrian McPherson, Damien Nash, Cedric Houston, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Abdul Hodge, Leanord Pope, Brian Calhoun, Jerious Norwood, Brandon Williams, Brodie Croyle, Jeremy Bloom, Ingle Martin, Wali Lundy, Jonathon Orr, Bruce Gradkowski, DJ Shockley, and the NFL Rookie of the Year in 2006 Marques Colston...plus whoever they get in this draft... spread those guys out between 8 teams and you can have, just at RB, starting on teams:Gore, Morency, Jones, Moats, Barber, Jacobs, Calhoun, Houstonnow, are all of these guys great? No... but 5 of them (Gore, Morency, Jacobs, Barber, Houston) had significant playing time last year...at QB: Frye, Walters, Orton, Fitzpatrick, Croyle, Gradkowski, plus 2 othersthose are SIX QBS WHO STARTED GAMES LAST YEAR IN THE NFL AS ROOKIES!!!just from signing a ton of guys who would have been drafted in round 3-7...plus the NFL Rookie of the Year, plus who knows how many lineman and d players whose names I didn't recognize...singing players to a higher minimum than the NFL, you could easily field 8 quality teams, even NFL caliber teams, within 3 years....
Click to expand...
:lmao:I like the idea. :thumbup:
 
larry_boy_44 said:
the XFL failed 'cuz the WWE just went public and NBC backed out...the problem was they didn't give it time, there was no reason for the XFL to fold like it did, I'm 99% sure they even turned a profit on it...
Click to expand...
I'm 100% sure you're wrong. The ratings were so bad they basically had to give away ad time to the few advertisers they had and once NBC backed out no one else wanted to show the XFL's games. You know a league is in trouble when the commish admits the league needs to get guys straight out of high school to "improve the talent pool"
 
FTRWRTR said:
larry_boy_44 said:
the XFL failed 'cuz the WWE just went public and NBC backed out...the problem was they didn't give it time, there was no reason for the XFL to fold like it did, I'm 99% sure they even turned a profit on it...
Click to expand...
I'm 100% sure you're wrong. The ratings were so bad they basically had to give away ad time to the few advertisers they had and once NBC backed out no one else wanted to show the XFL's games. You know a league is in trouble when the commish admits the league needs to get guys straight out of high school to "improve the talent pool"
Click to expand...
but any idiot would have known that was how the first season was going to go...it was going to take a few years to get it going for real, they just needed to not expect so much and stick with it...the problem was that no one was willing to do that...although I definately could be wrong that they turned a profit...
 
A bunch of rich guys excluded from the NFL, wanting NFL franchises and hoping this will work. It won't. It will fold up and they will take a loss.

 
Short memories here.

XFL - Failure due to NBC bailing, but still a failure.

AFL & AFL2 - Success. Indoorr versus outdoor, different season, different level, different everything.

USFL - Mixed bag. Success in the spring, failure in the fall. If they don't move to the fall, I think they are still around. The $3 lawsuit result was a joke, probably the worst monetary damage award for sheer wrongness on the low end. Guilty, and your fine is $1 per count? Shoplifting from a dollar store will get you more than that.

WFL - Failure.

AFL - Success big-time, complete merger with NFL.

AAFC - Success big-time, significant merger with NFL.

It can work as long as they learn from the USFlLs mistake of letting ego get in the way.

 
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I also think they need to be careful about signing huge name players (see: Reggie White, Jim Kelly, etc.)

they aren't going to be worth the contracts... like I said in my large post before, the guys in the late rounds who would be getting NFL minimums would be better and end up giving you just as many (if nor more) stars for a similar price, plus you'd be getting 10+ players for the price tags...

so don't spend $6 million/year on a huge name guy, get 12 guys who would have been drafted in the NFL in the late round for $500 K a piece...

 
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