UFL expected to delay season's start

Press release: The UFL officially announces the delayed season

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The United Football League will put the start of its 2011 season on hold, delaying the opening of training camps by a month and the beginning of the regular season until early September.

A source with connections throughout the five-team league told The World-Herald on Monday that formal practices, which were supposed to start Tuesday, will not be held until Aug. 15. Regular-season games will begin the second weekend of September.

The source's information was confirmed by two officials within in the league. Omaha coach Joe Moglia and Rick Mueller, the team's general manager, were unavailable for comment.

It was uncertain how Monday's action would impact the length of the league schedule or if the UFL intends to go ahead with its original plan to play some of its games on Sundays. The World-Herald's source said at least one UFL coach was pushing to have the season shortened, from eight games to possibly four.

But an agent with Kaufmann Sports Management Group, based in Philadelphia and Los Angeles, told UFL Access, a Website that covers the league, that his clients had been told that the season will not be shortened. One of the officials within the league confirmed that to The World-Herald.

The Nighthawks' players have been in camp since last Wednesday, with the first formal practice originally set for Friday. The UFL announced last Thursday that it was requiring teams to wait until Tuesday to begin practicing.

In a Thursday interview with The World-Herald, UFL Commissioner Michael Huyghue said the uniform start date would assure competitive balance throughout the league.

“We just felt it would be fair if every team had the same amount of formal practice time,'' Huyghue said, “and the players feel the same way.''

It now appears that other factors might have figured into the delay, including the Hartford team's inability to open its camp last Friday because of a workers' compensation insurance issue.

The Hartford Courant reported that the Colonials had received an inquiry from the Connecticut attorney's general office about the team's failure to have the insurance in place, a violation of state law.

That forced the Colonials to cancel a planned minicamp that was to begin Friday and wait for Tuesday's first day of practice.

In the same interview last week, Huyghue dismissed rumors that the three-year-old league would fold because of ongoing financial problems. The UFL lost between $45 million and $50 million last season, and Huyghue said the league still owed about $6 million to creditors.

“We're working on clearing up the financial issues,'' Huyghue said, “and we're ready for business.''
As it's turned out, business will be delayed for at least a month.

The UFL kicked off operations in 2009 with four teams. It added Omaha as an expansion franchise in 2010 and increased the number of games from six to eight. The UFL had intended to add Virginia as an expansion franchise in 2011 but then decided in January to move its team in Orlando to Virginia and retain five teams.

Last year, the regular season ran from mid-September to mid-November, with the championship game played in Omaha on Nov. 29. Before the title game, Huyghue announced that the UFL planned an August start of play in 2011, with the regular season concluding in mid-October.

One of the reasons for the earlier start this season was to possibly secure a network or cable television contract that would produce some much-needed revenue. It was generally thought that the UFL would become a more appealing product if the National Football League work stoppage stretched into late summer or early fall.

Huyghue said the UFL had discussions with CBS and TNT but was unable to negotiate a deal because of uncertainty about when the NFL lockout would end. It now appears that it could end this week.

Huyghue said UFL games again will be shown on Versus and HDNet this season. Huyghue said the league will continue to pay production costs in order to have its games broadcast by Versus.

Staff Writer Henry Cordes contributed to this report.

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