The second UFL game held at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas drew just 13,815 fans Photo/US Presswire Kirby Lee and courtesy of the UFL
What do you do when you have a new product, no solid fan base, and a small share of the market? The answer is taking your product on the road and try to expose as many people as possible to it. That was the plan for the UFL and its four team in their inaugural season. They were going to have each of their teams’ play 7 regular season games to be followed by a Championship game.
While they planned to hold a few games in the markets where their teams are located, they also wanted to hold a few games in other potential markets to see where this league could grow.
Now that plan is being modified a bit. The League has moved its November 20th game between the Las Vegas Locomotives and the New York Sentinels from the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles back to Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas.
This is a move to help the Locos build a solid fan base in their home city, help sell tickets for the championship game to be held in Vegas November 27th, and to not ruin LA as a potential UFL market.
The simple fact here is the UFL is not drawing as many fans as the league had hoped. The UFL front office was projecting 20,000 fans per game, but through three games are only averaging 12,524 fans.
With those numbers it would be hard to attract new owners, in any city, to invest in the league. The best hope now is that the Locos can draw a big crowd for the November 20th game, and then hope the Locos make the Championship game, and then sell out the final game of the inaugural season.
In terms of a potential lineup for the championship game, it seems likely that the Locos will make it along with the Florida Tuskers who without doubt the finest UFL team so far.
While the league is making moves to insure a second season, the real test for this league will be the October 30th game to be held at Tropicana Field home of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Ray are a part of the Tuskers ownership group and if that game can draw a large crowd, it will prove that this league is viable.
In compassion the UFL is drawing far less than it football cousins the XFL, or the old USFL. The worst USFL teams averaged 18,000 fans in their first years, and the XFL averaged 23,410 fans in its only year.
Moving another game to Vegas gives that team a chance to improve its yearly attendance, and keeping this league out of LA for the time being keeps that as a viable market for the future. While this league has made some questionable decisions, this seems to be a good one.
Comments
They might do even better if they actually did some MARKETING in Las Vegas... a billboard at the airport does not exactly inspire the locals. Who the heck is running the game plan? It's like a prevent defense in the 1st quarter.
If you play in the fall, you go big or you go home, fans don't have the time or money for propping up tier II football when college and high schools are playing. There's not enough time or money to support the UFL unless it went "big".
Spring ball is the only way to go with 3rd string NFL players.
I've seen a few billboards around town but the marketing plan is a joke.
For instance, the slogan: "It's all about U!"
Seriously? What's about me? This league is no more about me than any other professional league. They need a better position for the league. At least the XFL had unique positioning. Not a stupid, meaningless playoff on the first letter of the league name.
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