Two Teams For Texas In The UNFL
New Football League Has It's First Two Franchises
The UNFL has announced the forming of two franchises in Texas. The new professional football league aims to begin play in January of 2009.
Since the story of the UNFL, a football league focused on becoming an organized professional football feeder system for other professional football leagues (NFL or CFL), initially broke, internet chat rooms have been buzzing. Posters voiced opinions on both sides of the thought of another professional football league stated their cases on the pros and the cons of the proposed league. With the announcement that UNFL has sold their first two of the projected twenty two franchises on the 7th of February, the new found league is charging full steam ahead.
The league has announced that the initial two franchises will both be located in Texas. Exact city locations haven’t been announced as the UNFL has given the new owners time to set up their football operations. The league hasn’t publicly revealed the locations of the remaining twenty franchises, as they are currently contacting prospective owners and following the initial business plan laid out by league co-founders, Ben Eison, Marvin Tomlin and Nick Saraceni.
It's not too late to get your bid in, as the UNFL is still accepting inquiries about ownership opporunities throughout the country. Interested parties can initiate contact through the league website.
“The franchises will represent various markets that have been researched and selected by the UNFL marketing staff so that teams can thrive both economically and have a strong connection within the community”, said Executive Director of Marketing, Brian Massey.
Where Will Players Come From?
The UNFL has a plan that includes contacting seniors from and through the NCAA (all divisions) and the NAIA, giving the player the opportunity to compile game film and send it to the league for review. The league will then contact the player with the results and the process will continue
The UNFL will give the players a chance to add more competitive game film to their resume for NFL scouts, as well as keeping their career dream of playing professional football alive. Players will be compensated according to a league scale to keep salaries at a level that will remain consistent throughout the league, and prove to be economical to the owners and the UNFL as a whole.
“We make sure the owners understand the business mistakes that other professional football leagues have taken in trying to outbid the NFL for players or switch to a time frame where our games are in direct competition with the NFL’s, we are going the extra step to make sure our owners and players understand that we are carving our own niche as a supplement to the NFL, and not trying to be direct competition with the NFL”, Massey added.
Fan Support
The UNFL has a plan to stay away from the half empty seats that has plagued other leagues that have attempted to survive. Focusing on markets that have shown that they can and will get behind a local team is important to the league.
“In the business plan that we present to prospective owners, we point them toward stadiums that fit reach capacity anywhere from the 15,000 to 30,000 seat range.” Massey explains, “We want our fans to feel as if they are part of our franchises and our franchises to feel like a part of their communities.”
As more franchises get on board, the UNFL keeps getting closer to "...developing tomorrow's stars of the game"
