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According to the Sports Business Journal and UFLaccess.com the UFL lost 30 million dollars in its first season on revenues of 56 million dollars. While that news is not shocking, since all new leagues have to lose money while they establish themselves in the marketplace, it does call into question the overall plan for this league.
More and more it seems that the people running the UFL, most notable Commissioner Michael Huyghue and COO Frank Vuono are suffering from Donald Trump disease. They feel the place or their league is in the fall, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Since the UFL is trying to bill itself as the unofficial minor league to the NFL it seems that the place for this league would be sometime just after the NFL draft, with the season ending as NFL training camps start to open in the first week of August.
By putting this league in the fall, they are not only competing with the NFL, but College Football, and the MLB playoffs as well. This does not seem to be a recipe for success.
In 2009 126,464 fans came out to see the new league. The league had predicted 20,000 fans per game, and came nowhere near close to that number. Since the league lost 30 million dollars and played 13 games that is a loss of 2.3 million per game, and the fact they were competing with so much other football seems to be to blame.
To put that number in perspective the XFL drew 936,415 fans, averaging 23,410 fans per game in its only season. The USFL drew 2,703,339 fans, averaging 25,031 fans per game in its inaugural season. Both of these leagues played a spring football schedule.
A lot of the blame for the poor attendance also lies with the lack of a unified, quality advertising campaign. The League will look to fix that in year two, and will open local offices for each team in their home markets. This should lead to more localized advertising campaigns, and some localized viral marketing as well.
While it may be hard to justify a bigger advertising budget for a league that lost money, clearly the UFL will have to launch a successful ad campaign to get more football fans interested in their league.
More on the Business of the UFL
Comments
Can't understand why they continue to waste money on these ventures??
I am personally a BIG fan of the Lingerie Football League, now that is a league that can sustain!
Is this really a surprise?? Huyghue has run every business he has ever owed or managed into the ground. He's a clown - all talk and no substance. If the UFL board has any clue they let Vuono run the league.
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