Mark Cuban may start a new pro football league

[GA Russell]

I was a season ticket holder of the Philadelphia (and Baltimore) Stars of the USFL all three years. My friends and I always had a ball at the games. The best game I have ever attended (of any sport) was a 1983 playoff game between the Stars and the Chicago Blitz, who as I recall were coached by George Allen.

Anyway, I thought you sports fans would like to read this:

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home

Cuban looking at possibility of a new football league

Associated Press and Canadian Press

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is part of a group considering formation of a football league that would compete with the NFL for players drafted after the second round.

The league, still very much in the preliminary stage, would play its games on Friday nights. The NFL does not play then because of the potential conflict with high school football.

"It's a pretty simple concept," Cuban said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "We think there is more demand for pro football than supply."

The proposal was first disclosed by The New York Times on its website, which said it was the idea of Bill Hambrecht, a Wall Street investor who was a minority partner in the Oakland Invaders of the USFL, which played in the spring from 1983 to '85. Sharon Smith, a spokeswoman for Hambrecht and Company, had no comment and said Hambrecht was travelling and unavailable to talk about the idea.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said he was aware of the proposed league, but had no further comment.

Cuban believes the salary cap makes it easier to compete financially with the NFL because of the salary imbalance that leaves lower-level players with lower salaries. That would allow the new league to fill its rosters with players taken lower than the second round, as well as late NFL cuts and free agents who escape the NFL draft.

That could have an impact on the CFL, which routinely targets NFL cuts and players bypassed in the NFL draft to continue playing football in Canada. A big selling point for the Canadian league is its longstanding working agreement with the NFL, which give players entering the option year of their CFL deals a window to sign on with clubs south of the border. That not only gives many players released by NFL clubs a second option, but literally a second chance at returning to an NFL team after a brief detour to Canada.

Then again, many late NFL draft picks — most notably Tom Brady, a former sixth-round selection of the New England Patriots — have become stars.

"That's not to say it will be easy. It won't," Cuban wrote. "We still have to cover quite a bit of ground and have a lot of milestones to hit.

"That said, if we can get the right owners I obviously think we can make this work."

There have been numerous leagues that have tried to compete with the NFL and a few that actually played games, starting with the AFL, which began in 1960 and fully merged with the NFL a decade later. It included such current franchises as New England, Oakland, Kansas City, San Diego, Buffalo, the New York Jets and Denver.

More recently came the World Football League in the early 1970s, which raided the NFL for such stars as Larry Csonka. Then came the USFL, which played in the spring before folding after receiving only US$3 in an antitrust "victory" over the NFL.

The USFL featured such future Hall of Famers as Jim Kelly, Reggie White and Steve Young, but lost millions trying to compete for players. It also had internal struggles among a majority of owners who wanted to stay in the spring, and the best known among them, Donald Trump, who wanted to move to the fall and try to force a merger with the NFL.

The most recent pro football league was the XFL, founded by the World Wrestling Federation and televised by NBC. The XFL lasted just three months in the spring of 2001 and was best known for a player named Rod Smart, called "He Hate Me," who later played as a return man and backup running back in the NFL.

So far, the proposed new league is in its infancy and Cuban is the only potential owner for what the founders hope will be an eight-team league.

[Tim McG]

I hope the arrogant bastard gets his lunch fed to him.

Greatest picture ever, in the history of sports:

[catesta]

I hope the arrogant bastard gets his lunch fed to him.

You and me both.

I doubt Cuban can make this happen.

[Eric]

I do not like the Friday night element of this. Friday = HS football night. So a big part of his demographic will either be playing or watching HS football. Not an issue if this is non-fall of course.

[J Larsen]

This is rather poor journalism - Cuban is not the man behind this, but rather one person who has expressed an interest in purchasing a team from the man behind the USFL.

I actually think the league is a pretty good idea - they have a plan for getting good players, good coaches, and an instant fanbase by placing teams in major markets like LA that have been abandoned by the NFL. The idea of selling shares in each team to its fans is also a great one. Also, it is pretty ingenious to exploit the ban on the NFL broadcasting on Friday nights, which was originally designed to protect high school (!) football.

[J Larsen]

Here is a better (imo) article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home

[Man with the Golden Arm]

I remember that WFL thing way back when - a tremendous success.

Always loved them logos!

and the "Chicago Winds" was the bestest name ever ... after a few red-hots thru the garden. foont.

[connoisseur series500]

NFL is the best run sports league. No need for any competition. NBA needs some competition. It's full of glory-hungry individuals, who have gotten away from basketball fundamentals and team play.