I feel like I should state from the get-go that I like Mark Cuban as an owner in the NBA. He runs a team like I imagine I would run it if I were a giant fan with a ton of money and wanted to own a team — giving his players the best equipment, the coolest locker room, and showing up at the games damn near every night in the stands, and not in a luxury box.
That said, I think he’s fucking nuts to even consider being part of a group to develop a new football league to compete with the NFL. The new league would play on Friday nights, which the NFL doesn’t do, because that’s high school football nights, and there are certain parts of the country where fucking with high school football is not looked upon well — why do you think, despite bad ratings, that Friday Night Lights is a cult fave as a TV show? (Well, aside from gawking at Minka Kelly.) For Mark, it’s simply supply and demand:
Cuban said in his e-mail he 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.
It’s telling that one of the group members may be Bill Hambrecht, a former USFL minority owner, because, save the AAFC and AFL, most of the attempts at competition with the NFL have not gone well.
All-America Football Conference – Actually the first serious rival. The league wound up folding at the onset of the 50s, but the competition sent the Rams franchise to Los Angeles from Cleveland to avoid competing with the Browns. The AAFC had two black players playing before Jackie Robinson had hit the majors in baseball. Gave the NFL the Colts, Browns, and 49ers before folding.
American Football League – Ran from ’60-’69, and the only successful competitor. Eventually folded into the NFL in 1970 as the AFC, gave us the Chiefs, Broncos, Raiders, Chargers, Dolphins, Bills, Oilers (later Titans), and the Patriots.
World Football League – lasted for 1974 and part of 1975. Best known for getting Dolphins Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Paul Warfield to ditch the NFL for the Memphis Southmen. Folded due to lack of cash, and none of the teams moved to the NFL (although now we know the origin of “Charlotte Hornets.”) Best team name of the bunch: Shreveport Steamer.
United States Football League – Gave us the two-point conversion during its run from 1983-85, along with the early glimpses of Steve Young, Jim Kelly, Reggie White and Herschel Walker. The league now is probably best remembered for its successful anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL — posthumously successful, which netted them $3 in damages. The USFL staked its future on the suit, and that 1985 season turned out to be its last.
XFL – Oof. Where to begin with this one? From the sprints for ball possession instead of a coin flip, to the career of Jesse Ventura as color commentator, this one season in 2001 was a car crash waiting to happen, and it had good ratings to start, but fell through the tank when everyone watching realized that this was NFL football with crappy gimmicks and worse players. Notable for the sole instance where Tommy Maddox was a championship winning starting quarterback, and for giving us the gift of custom nameplates, which put “He Hate Me” in the American lexicon. (I still remember watching these games to kill time at work in college.)
So, Cuban and crew (if he gets one) have their work cut out for them — the problem is that they’ll have to find a way to stay financially solvent while competing with an American advertising and sporting monolith, which is really no easy task — plus, there will need to be someone on board who can develop rules that can kind of separate the new league, if it ever comes to fruition, from the ones that aggravate fans in the NFL every week. I’ve got a few suggestions:
1) Pass interference is a 15-yarder only.
2) Give us the college style OT, but start the teams from the 50.
3) Speed up the play clock.
4) College rule for catching touchdown passes — one foot in is good. Keep it moving and up-tempo.
5) This is the big one. NFL coaches are by nature conservative. Hire coaches and GMs that believe in non-NFL offensive systems — you may have to pluck them from big name universities, because college coaches come up with all kinds of crazy systems to get in the end zone. Seeing styles of play like WVU, Florida, etc — devastatingly crazy offensive systems in a pro league would get you eyeballs, and with lower level talent, you’re going to need to be creative on those fronts to maximize potential.
Good luck, Mark — you’ll need it.
Filed under: NFL | Tagged: advice, Mark Cuban |
Signal to Noise 
Don’t forget the interest on the judgment. That’s a cool $3.76 in damages.
If Trump hadn’t been such a monumental dipshit or if they had continued to play in the spring and summer instead of trying to go head to head w/ the NFL in the fall and winter, the USFL might still be around today.
Ah, yes, I almost forgot that Trump fucked the whole thing up.
The XFL also gave us those swoopy cameras-on-strings that run across the field at about 20′ height, usually seen during punt or kickoff coverage, or once in awhile when the line is setting up on a 1st down. I’m not really a fan of the gimmick, since it doesn’t really show me too much that’s useful, but “credit” where it’s due, I suppose.
But I just really don’t understand why people can’t find a way to profitably have NFL rules football in the summer months. Yes, there’s baseball, but none that matters until August. Yes, there’s basketball, but that stuff happens at night anyway. Yes, there’s hockey, but end of sentence.
We have the Arena Football League (which isn’t in competition; it’s more of a minor league system and has provided some decent talent in the past few years to the NFL proper) that seems to be making some decent gains in its niche, from what I’ve read. And we have NFL Europe, which is practically a secret, it’s so hard to find the games.
What the hell is so hard about breaking up the torturous six-month drought in the country’s most popular sport?
— Ajax.
P.S. I disagree with rule #4, even though you mollify me somewhat with rule #1. The neutering of what the defensive secondary is allowed to do (in what seems to me a fairly unabashed attempt to rule-tweak Peyton Manning into the Hall of Fame) is a major black mark against the NFL. Many of the “heave it and hope for a flag” plays would stop with rule #1, but rule #4 hurts defenses to no real purpose. And I definitely don’t like “up-tempo” when it translates into “basketball scores” as we see in the NCAA.
It’s probably because I’m a Chicago fan, but aesthetically speaking, I just don’t like touchdown passes of longer than eight or ten yards. Never have. ;)
— A.
Have a rule that requires teams to go for it on 4th and 5 or less.
Ajax – my view is, if the league is going to succeed, then it needs to take some of what makes college football great that the NFL does not either out of rules or conservative coaching. With lower-round talent, they need to use offensive systems to get exciting play.
The old, smash-mouth football won’t differentiate it any. Arena League does it by cutting the field to 50 yards and fewer players. This UFL needs to find ways to separate itself, and I think stealing from the college game is a great way to do it.