United Football League Launches Campaign Giving Fans a Voice in Selection of Team Markets
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The United Football League (UFL), a new professional outdoor fall football league scheduled to debut in August 2008, is inviting fans to help determine which markets will host teams for the league’s inaugural season through an innovative program with TicketRESERVE.

The UFL and TicketRESERVE campaign enables fans the opportunity to purchase reservations for season tickets in an interactive web based marketplace prior to the league’s official launch. The eight cities that generate the most ticket reservations will be designated as the leading markets to host a franchise. The online market will open at 8:00 am EDT on October 9, 2007 at TicketRESERVE.com.

The campaign will focus on 12 potential host cities, including: Austin, Birmingham, Columbus, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Louisville, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Raleigh, Sacramento and San Antonio.

“The UFL’s mission is to deliver high quality and accessible pro football to fans in underserved markets around the country, and we felt it was important to give these fans a voice,” stated Michael Huyghue, UFL Commissioner. “This program will give us a good gauge on market interest and gives fans the power to help impact where our teams land.”

Fans can simply visit TicketRESERVE.com and pay an upfront cost of as low as $5 per ticket to reserve their seats. Should their city get selected, the investment acts as a deposit directly towards their ticket purchase. If their city does not get awarded a UFL franchise, the money will be fully reimbursed.

“Forming a new league based on the actual consumer demand ensures fans have a vote in selecting which markets will host a franchise,” said Rick Harmon, Chief Executive Officer of TicketRESERVE. “We are excited to be a part of the first professional league that offers sports fanatics the opportunity to bring a team to their city.”

In addition to the TicketRESERVE reservation data, the UFL will consider market research and other factors in determining the final team markets.

About the UFL

The UFL was developed to meet the unmet needs of football fans in major markets currently underserved by professional football. Featuring real, outdoor professional football played in the fall, the UFL will include eight teams comprised of world class football players. Scheduled to debut in August 2008, the UFL is headquartered in New York City and led by Commissioner Michael Huyghue.

What a joke. It'll suffer the same fate as USFL and XFL.

Joke or not, being on that list of 12 cities shows a major shift in our image.

I was trying to figure out if this is the league Mark Cuban was talking about organizing earlier. He's a pretty good marketer. And when I was listening to the Sports Animal today, they were talking about Derek Strait getting cut by the NFL. I was thinking it would be nice if there were an option for great college players who aren't NFL material to play outside of Arena Football. If they make it a normal football league, and don't try to do something like XFL, perhaps it could fly. I agree that it is nice to be lumped with those other cities, as we should.

So now, if something like this happens, where would the team play?

The could start out at Taft or Wantland.

Or Central Middle School in Edmond.

What a "Negative Nancy "

Lets look at the initial offerings and then place a judgement. If its Cubans deal , then it better than s 50/50 shot

Or "Realistic Roy"

Hah! Awesome, PUG...

Either way I really don't see how this can hurt professional sports in OKC. If anything it can show that fans are ready and willing to support it even if the league flops. If it does flop, it will more than likely secure a fanbase loyalty to the NBA team we eventually get as well. I'd see it as a win-win for any prospective team owners.

Yeah this is different that if we had jumped on the bandwagon with the ABA, since that's already known to be small-league.

Nah, a "Negative Nancy" would have simply said "Pffft...If they gave us a football team, we'd name it something silly like 'The Outlaws' and sell it to Oakland after less than a year".

It is indeed Mark Cuban's league:

"The United Football League, founded by Wall Street investor Bill Hambrecht, Google executive Tim Armstrong and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, said Tuesday that the Triangle is on its short list along with 11 other areas. "

Cool that they're considering us, but is this really a positive? We've got minor league hockey, arena football, etc. already and a lot of people (including several members of this forum) complain that we're a second rate city because we don't have the "real" versions of whatever sports are here. Is this any different?

It's not NBA basketball, that's for sure. It depends on your perspective, and what really happens with this league. If they end up having teams in Austin, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Louisville, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Raleigh, Sacramento and San Antonio, the teams are successful and the games are covered by ESPN, then you definitely get media coverage for your city. The difference between that and a minor league team would be that nobody is covering Blazers games with the Tulsa Oilers and the Shreveport Mudbugs. Personally, I'd rather have the NBA, but a team like this does not necessarily rule out the NBA. Also, in the past, odd leagues have merged with the major leagues, and you just might be one of those lucky teams.

Here's the DOK article. I've reserved two tickets, as I figure it can't hurt and the money is refundable.

Wed October 10, 2007
Oklahoma City might land UFL franchise

United Football League
By John Rohde
The Oklahoman

The Seattle SuperSonics might not be the only pro sports franchise potentially in Oklahoma City's future. A season ticket drive that began Tuesday could result in a local entry joining the fledgling United Football League, which is scheduled to debut next August.

For the next two months, a campaign channeled through TicketRESERVE allows fans to purchase reservations for season tickets. The eight cities securing the most reservations will become original league members.
Fans can visit TicketRESERVE.com and pay $5, $10 or $50 per ticket to reserve their seats. If their city is awarded a franchise, the down payment becomes a direct deposit toward their season ticket. If their city is not selected, the payment will be fully reimbursed.

Other cities listed as candidates: Los Angeles; Las Vegas; San Antonio; Austin, Texas; Memphis, Tenn.; Orlando, Fla.; Columbus, Ohio; Birmingham, Ala.; Louisville, Ky.; Raleigh, N.C.; and Sacramento, Calif..

The league will be an alternative for former NFL players and players entering the NFL draft. "The biggest hurdle is pulling everything together in a relatively brief time frame,” UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue said. "In terms of getting quality players, I don't anticipate that being a difficulty at all.”

Huyghue confirmed separate evaluations will be made for New York, Mexico City and London, and said the UFL intends to expand to 12 teams for its second season. "We're trying to get a good read on it and we really don't want to launch any cities until that time,” Huyghue said. "We want to give everybody the same opportunity. I will tell you we have a good idea of where at least four of them are going to be, but we're not going to make any determinations until we see the results of our campaign.”

Games will be played on Friday night. Huyghue said he has looked into using Oklahoma's three biggest football venues — Owen Field in Norman, Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater and Skelly Field in Tulsa.
"Most of the venues we've been talking about do not have a tremendous amount of activity, and in many cases only play one or two high school games there a year,” Huyghue said. "We've done our due diligence in that regard.”

It will cost $30 million for an owner to purchase a franchise. The league also is expected to own a share of each franchise. Eventually, fans could become shareholders in their team. Interested ownership parties include Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Wall Street veteran Bill Hambrecht, Google executive Tim Armstrong and Oklahoma State billionaire alum Boone Pickens. Pickens initially was listed as a potential team owner, but his status is now unclear. "Whether or not he is (an owner) in the end, we're not really releasing the names,” Huyghue said. "We certainly have had some discussions with him.”

I got a call from Ticket Reserve today to tell me that you can now reserve 4 tickets, instead of just two. The deposit is fully refundable if Oklahoma City is not selected for a team, and can be as little as $5. They were also interested in marketing suggestions to let more people in Oklahoma City know about the offer, so if anyone has any ideas, let me know.

To get it out to the football fans, have the sports animals talk it up.

I told them they should have either the marketing director or one of the organizers arrange an interview with the Sports Animal. Mark Cuban would be a great choice, as he's a good interview, and he has name recognition around here.

Handing out fliers at local high school fooball games would be a good start. I think this would be good fit for OKC. I went to some MLAF (Minor League of American Footall) when they played in DelCity back in the early 90's. It was great and the tickets were cheap. I remember going to see them play Fresno and it was exciting football. Look at how parity is groing in college football. All these players have to go somewhere.

Yeah... maybe get a real job. I think we'll just have more NFL wannabe's who will never get anywhere.

This isn't a good thing. It'll go the way of the USFL and XFL. No way it can compete with the NFL. This league will fold in a few years (if it even gets off the ground) and then where will we be? The NFL is the most popular pro sports league in the nation so the chances of this league surviving are slim and none.

Okc should focus on the NBA and let this league go somewhere else.

All I am saying is that this league would make a nice tennant for downtown 30,000 seat soccer/football stadium. We have been through the list of possible uses many times but you could add this to the list.

Imagine this in Core to Shore.
http://www.stadiumsofnfl.com/future/chargerstad702.jpg

The founder of the league says the intention is to not compete with the NFL and comparing Google backing to WWF backing is laughable.

Being on this list is much better than:
Austin, Texas
Birmingham, Alabama
Columbus, Ohio
Las Vegas, Nevada
Los Angeles, California
Louisville, Kentucky
Memphis, Tennessee
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Orlando, Florida
Sacramento, California
San Antonio, Texas
Raleigh or Durham, North Carolina

than being on this list:

Bossier City LA
Southaven MS
North Richland Hills TX
Youngstown OH
Loveland CO
Broomfield CO
Oklahoma City OK
Tulsa OK
Wichita KS
Austin TX
Corpus Christi TX
Laredo TX
Rio Grande Valley TX
Amarillo TX
Prescott Valley AZ
Rio Rancho NM
Odessa TX

Why not? With money from Cuban and Pickens behind the deal, it could possibly work. I agree with the argument that talent is much deeper today than it was 25 years ago. There's only so many positions within the depth chart in the NFL and right now the options are Canada or NFL Europe. Why not a "triple A" of football here in the states? There could be some great talent playing here in OKC and see them develop with some of them going to the National Football League. I wouldn't discount this too fast. I don't like Friday nights though, this state is high school football crazy. Oh, and I'm with Kerry, it's better to be on a list of potential cities for things like this than not. Being on the radar screen is a step up for sure.

Kerry

Thanks for printing off the CHL list, man how arrogant can you be ?

A lot of the football town on the list are close to the football list, so get your nose out of the air, must be related to either Kirk Humphries or Jim "Big Mouth " Trabor