UFL Piles up Losses

The UFL lost "roughly $30 million in its debut year, $6 million more than the league's founders projected before the inaugural campaign began last month," according to sources cited by Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Journal.

The loss "averages out to about $2.3 million for each of the 13 games played by the league," which before the season had projected a loss of at least $24 million on $56 million in revenue.

It is "unclear how far off the revenue projection was from what the league actually generated." Kaplan notes the UFL's "big setback was attendance, with the average gate of less than 10,000 per game coming in below the 20,000-a-game average that was projected."

But UFL COO Frank Vuono said, "I gotta tell you, I never bought into 20,000 a game; I am telling you that point blank."

Meanwhile, UFL Commissioner Michael Huyghue said that "one of the biggest lessons from the first season is that marketing must be handled locally and not nationally." Huyghue: "I think our strategy was a little flawed. I also think we will add broadcasts to RSNs" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 11/30 issue).

Huyghue said of the losses, "We were prepared for that. The plan is through better marketing, higher attendance, more corporate sponsors and improved television ratings that we'll cut our losses in half next year and hopefully break even in Year Three" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 11/26).

Huyghue said that the UFL "will play next year, beginning in September," and that "six teams will play 10-game schedules, with the title game set for Thanksgiving weekend." It is "unlikely all 'Original Four' teams will be back in 2010."

Huyghue indicated that after the N.Y. Sentinels and California Redwoods "failed dismally at the turnstiles trying to lure fans from the four NFL teams" in N.Y. and the Bay Area, "both franchises likely will relocate for 2010."

In Las Vegas, Steve Carp noted the Sentinels averaged 6,637 fans for three home games and the Redwoods averaged 5,836 fans per game, and Huyghue indicated that the Sentinels could move to Hartford with the Redwoods "probably heading" to Sacramento.

Huyghue: "It makes more sense to play there and not go head-to-head with the NFL. We thought we might be able to carve out a niche in those two areas as an alternative to the NFL, but it didn't work out."

The Las Vegas Locomotives, who won the inaugural UFL Championship over the Florida Tuskers Friday, "led the league in attendance with a 13,225 average," and Huyghue said the team was the "poster child for what this league wants to be."

Meanwhile, Huyghue said that he "hopes to announce the two new additions before the end of the year." He said that the league "will have a presence in Texas in 2010, either in Austin or San Antonio," while the "other new franchise would come from Salt Lake City, Omaha, Neb., or Portland." The UFL has "decided to put plans for an L.A. franchise on hold until at least 2011" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 11/26).

In Las Vegas, Ed Graney wrote, "Football and coaching wise, the UFL met and exceeded standards."

But while "losing more than $30[M] this first season might be considered the UFL's low point, there were others." Marketing "can drastically improve and the UFL's weekly media relations arm in terms of press box control and accurate/informative releases ranged from average to laughable."

Graney: "The more unprofessional your league comes off with media, the greater chance coverage will decrease for a product that can't afford such an issue." Attendance is "another matter," as the announced crowd for Friday's UFL Championship game was 14,801 at Sam Boyd Stadium, but it "wasn't close to that" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 11/28).

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