“New York/Hartford” Team to Play in UFL Premiere Season

After some uncertainty, the United Football League (UFL) has announced that it will kickoff its inaugural season this fall.  Dubbed the “UFL Premiere” season, the league will play a 6-game schedule, with only four teams instead of the anticipated 8 teams, due in part to the prevailing economic conditions.

Details on the season remain rather vague:

In its “Premiere” year, the UFL will have four teams playing in at least seven cities.  The four teams selected for the “Premiere” season are Las Vegas/Los Angeles, New York/Hartford, Orlando and San Francisco/Sacramento. During the course of the six-week season, these four teams will travel to each city for games.  The season will culminate with a Championship Game tentatively scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend in Las Vegas.  

The “New York/Hartford” team has yet to find a home field.  The UFL previously mentioned Rentschler Field and the Yale Bowl as possible home fields.  It remains to be seen whether the reference to New York in the latest announcement is a means of attracting a broader fan base or a case of hedging bets in case the UFL cannot secure a field in Connecticut.

Although part of the UFL’s mission is to be bring football to under served markets, is there a call for football in these markets?  In the case of Hartford, there are serious doubts.  First, there appears to be no grassroots or community efforts to bring a UFL team to Hartford.  Sentiment still remains to bring the NHL back to Hartford, and that movement has included politicians and community members.  However, the UFL does not seem to be on the radar of many people in Connecticut.  Second, UConn football is increasing in popularity.  At about $25 per ticket, the games are affordable and fans can cheer for UConn, which, starting in basketball, has become the de facto professional team in Hartford.  Will football fans choose the UFL over UConn football, or attend both? 

Rather than play a truncated season with a mere 4 teams, it can be argued that the UFL would be better served delaying its inaugural season until 2010 and using that time to develop its product and its fan base.