The United Football is really trying to put its best foot forward in 2011. They have agreed to drop one of the most controversial rules of the upstart league. This league no longer will charge their players a 25k (a fee that at one time was 150k or roughly three times what the average UFL player is paid for a year) fee to transfer to the NFL once the UFL season has concluded. On top of that the league will allow its players under contract to start negotiating new NFL deals on October first. That means the UFL is actually going to function like a minor league system and help the NFL develop some talent, without trying to keep the bills paid by charging this fee.
This is a great move for the UFL, and it is made even greater with the news that they have moved up their season. So the UFL season will start in August and be done by Halloween. That means the early part of the UFL season will go head to head with pre season NFL games, and the later part of the season will go against early season game that don’t mean as much.
On top of all that NFL clubs could add UFL players to their roster as theirs get hurt, or as need arise. That should keep NFL personnel departments very bust as each team will need to know everything they can about each UFL player. More to the point this is a big step in the right direction for this league. It cannot fight the NFL, nor can it scalp its own players to keep the lights on. It has to continue to carve out its place in the football world.
Related Links:
- The Business of the UFL
- Joshua Lobdell.com