UFL pushes back season

Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb.

With the NFL working to end its lockout and save the preseason, the struggling United Football League announced Tuesday it would push back the start of its games from August to September.

The schedule switch is another blow — at a critical time — to the second-tier pro league that has lost more than $100 million in its two years of existence.

The UFL includes the Omaha Nighthawks with Youngstown natives Maurice Clarett and Daryll Clark on the roster.

The UFL had hoped to gain exposure in the vacuum left by a locked-out NFL. It scheduled several early-season games on Sundays and aimed to fill television time slots normally reserved for NFL exhibition games. But commissioner Michael Huyghue told reporters he was resigned to losing a “windfall” from the NFL.

“It seems nonsensical for us to play on Sundays when the NFL is there,” Huyghue said. “The only reason we did it was we hedged our bet and felt confident the labor situation was going to invade the traditional preseason, and that might be inducement for networks to want to fill that void with a high-quality football product. That is not the case.”

The UFL also has franchises in Hartford, Conn., Norfolk, Va., Las Vegas and Sacramento. Players earn about $40,000 a season.

Even with the delayed start, the plan is for each team to play eight regular-season games, Huyghue said.

This is considered a make-or-break year for the UFL, whose majority owners are Bill Hambrecht, Paul Pelosi and Bill Mayer.

Huyghue said the league projected that it would lose money the first three years. But the $100 million in losses so far is considerably higher than Huyghue had reported previously. There also are $6 million in unpaid bills from UFL vendors.

Huyghue said he twice recommended that the league suspend operations, in January and again last month. But he said each time the owners told him they believed in the UFL’s mission.