This story comes from the Worldwide Leader in Sports, ESPN.com. Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban along with others are contemplating the development of a new Football League. The United Football League (UFL) hopes to allure NFL Players Drafted lower than the 2nd Round to become the main flux of its competition put on the field of play for potential consumers. Cuban's reasoning for starting a Rival league to that of the NFL is simple in his opinion:
The only problem with this idea (and this quote pulls at my heart strings as I'm a recent Economics Graduate) is that "The Demand" is for more "Pro Football", in other words, fans want to see more of the same HIGH QUALITY product. Not watered down versions of it: the XFL, Arena League Football, and the Canadian Football League. Are you the fan going to want to watch the Lorenzo Bookers, the Quinn Pitcocks, and the Troy Smiths of the world battle it out in a league that is featured on Friday Nights? It's tough enough to get the girlfriend, wife, or mother to allow us all to watch College Football Saturday and Pro Football Sunday. Now your asking me to beg for Friday Night as well? Nah I don't think so and this is all hinging on the fact that these 3rd to late round draft picks even want to join a league, that is, in essence, a gimmick league. Mark Cuban is one of the main cogs in the machine making it run. Sure we all know Cuban is a fairly decent owner, but I'd guess the majority of sports fans know Cuban through his antics on the sidelines at his teams [Dallas Mavericks] games.
I think the league could survive, but its gotta have serious team names: Colts, Bears, Cowboys. It can't roll out there with the Las Vegas Dice Rolls or the L.A. Sparks and its got to steal away some of the NFL's current stars ... Not the Pac Man Jones and Tank Johnson's of the world either. As many have proclaimed, the league could work as a minor league system for the NFL (like the NBA's D-League), but is that really competition or feeding a co-called Demand for more football? I don't think so ... Cuban save your money