JP Losman may or may not be ready for some football
The United Football League opener is this Thursday. You wouldn’t know it because not that many people care. That’s because the UFL is trying to ride the NFL gravy train and satiate the inflated demand for football. But do people really want to watch football games where Doug Gabriel and Koren Robinson dominate? That remains to be seen.
The first game on the schedule pits the Las Vegas Locomotives (already nicknamed “Locos” by the league) against the California Redwoods. The teams will face off in UNLV’s Sam Boyd Stadium. The game is televised on Versus — sorry DirecTV subscribers! Oh, and if you wanted to buy tickets… you can’t because the website is broken. Who do they think they are? The NHL?
The matchup will likely feature scrambler Mike McMahon starting for the Redwoods and J.P. Losman under center for the Locomotives. McMahon isn’t very skilled, but he’s fun to watch since he’s constantly improvising. Losman’s career never really got off the ground in Buffalo and he’s attempting a comeback in the UFL. Hey, some NFL teams might be envious of the Locos QB situation since they have Tim Rattay as a backup. Losman or Rattay might have a shot at starting in Oakland or Carolina given the opportunity. Losman and Rattay possess lifetime 75.6 and 81.9 QB ratings in the NFL while Delhomme currently sports a 54.3 and JaMarcus Russell rocks a putrid 39.8.
The new league likely has two potential long-term goals. The first and most obvious would be to become the NFL’s companion league. In the future, the UFL teams could serve as minor league affilliates for NFL teams. This helps the UFL because they don’t have to fight for players (they’d be “sent down”) and the league would also receive much-needed marketing support.
The time has come... for a football league with white cornerbacks
The other option makes the UFL a semi-competitor with the NFL. In this scenario, they’d lure top talent out of high school and college hoping to turn a profit when they ship them to the NFL. The UFL could target raw talents that are dismissed from big college programs (such as LeGarrette Blount, Ryan Perrilloux, Rhett Bomar, Ramonce Taylor, etc.) or players not yet eligible to join the NFL (such as this guy). This could position them as an alternate (other than college football) source of player development. Then the UFL could “sell” the rights of their players to the NFL — which is the way most teams and leagues outside of the US operate. Typically, this is a top-heavy financial model with the stars’ transfer fees subsidizing the rest of the league’s operational costs.
The prospects for the league looks bright considering they already have a national TV deal and some ex-NFL talent. However, they’re going to need to do a lot more to become a “real” sports league — especially with marketing. I still can’t believe that all of the teams essentially wear alternate versions of the same jersey. The team names and subsequent nicknames are also horrific. I can’t say whether or not the UFL will be successful. But I think we can all agree that the game on Thursday will be craptastic.
