Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is part of a group considering formation of a football league that would compete with the NFL for players drafted lower than the second round.
The league, still very much in the preliminary stage, would play its games on Friday nights. The NFL does not play then because of the potential conflict with high school football.
"It's a pretty simple concept," Cuban said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "We think there is more demand for pro football than supply."
The proposal was first disclosed by The New York Times on its Web site, which said it was the idea of Bill Hambrecht, a Wall Street investor who was a minority partner in the Oakland Invaders of the USFL, which played in the spring from 1983-85. Sharon Smith, a spokeswoman for Hambrecht and Company, had no comment and said Hambrecht was traveling and unavailable to talk about the idea.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said he was aware of the proposed league, but had no further comment.
There have been numerous leagues that have tried to compete with the NFL and a few that actually played games, starting with the AFL, which began in 1960 and fully merged with the NFL a decade later. It included such current franchises as New England, Oakland, Kansas City, San Diego, Buffalo, the New York Jets and Denver.
More recently came the World Football League in the early 1970s, which raided the NFL for such stars as Larry Csonka. Then came the USFL, which played in the spring before folding after receiving only $3 in an antitrust "victory" over the NFL.
The USFL featured such future Hall of Famers as Jim Kelly, Reggie White and Steve Young, but lost millions of dollars trying to compete for players. It also had internal struggles among a majority of owners who wanted to stay in the spring, and the best known among them, Donald Trump, who wanted to move to the fall and try to force a merger with the NFL.
The most recent pro football league was the XFL, founded by the World Wrestling Federation and televised by NBC. The XFL lasted just three months in the spring of 2001 and was best known for a player named Rod Smart, called "He Hate Me," who later played as a return man and backup running back in the NFL.
So far, the proposed new league is in its infancy and Cuban is the only potential owner for what the founders hope will be an eight-team league.
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.
Many such players, including Tom Brady, a sixth-round pick of New England, have become NFL stars.
"That's not to say it will be easy. It won't," Cuban wrote. "We still have to cover quite a bit of ground and have a lot of milestones to hit. That said, if we can get the right owners I obviously think we can make this work."
Originally posted by Caranthir at 23-7-2007 10:46 PM
haaa.. aku pun sapot SD Charges!
Seriously?? I can't wait for the football season to start. Hopefully the new coach Norv Turner will be as good or better than Marty Schottenheimer. Any Raiders fan here?
Seriously??I can't wait for the football season to start. Hopefullythe new coachNorv Turner will be as good or better than MartySchottenheimer. AnyRaiders fan here?
history said otherwise. norv is a great oc than hc. but, since the bolts have all the core in place, he may do better in san diego than any other places he's been a hc, provided he doesn't touch the defense and his dc keeps it the way wade left it. on offense, chargers are going to fly all season, barring any injury to core players (especially LT and river).
marty is a great coach. one of the best in nfl history. his weakness, he choked in playoffs - not once but many times (especially in big games). the worst one is when he lost his first afc championship while with the brown to the broncos. but, his team was facing one of the best QBs in nfl history, john elway.
semlm aku sambung balik NFL Madden 07 aku.. dah habis main franchise for one season, sekrg nih tgh off-season nak masuk baru nyer lak.. Main guna SD CHarges, record 19-0-0 avg 1.000. Baru habis all-star college game, east vs west.. aku guna west, menang 59-7. hehehe
history said otherwise. norv is a great oc than hc. but, since the bolts have all the core in place, he may do better in san diego than any other places he's been a hc, provided he doesn't ...
Dude, Marty choked big time during playoffs when he was Chargers' HC, not once but twice! I, as Chargers die hard fan was so dissapointed. His big mistake was not running LT on the 2hd half game against the Pats. For someone who made 33 touchdowns in regular season and was not allow to play during playoff, WTF?? Saw Merriman and LT during their training yesterday, he was cool..
i just started only taking interest in NFL, and somehow i picked Charges, probably coz they're from SD and some my fav paintball teams are from there. hehehe..
so, you guys go ahead and talk more and i'll observe. hehee.. still trying to catchup on some abbrv and terms.
here's one Q.
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th down. whats the 'term' after it?
Originally posted by Caranthir at 26-7-2007 11:49 AM
here's one Q.
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th down. whats the 'term' after it? ...
these are numbers of chances a team will have before turning the ball over automatically to the opponent. a team needs to gain at least 10 yards before the number of downs reset to zero. usually, on 4th down, teams will punt the ball to the other team. a great offensive team will go for it on 4th down but only at goal line or deep inside opponent half of the field. if a team is deperately need to win or tie the game, they will go for it on 4th down, especially in the 4th qtr.
in cfl (canadian football), they have only 3 downs. so, teams usually punt on 3rd down.
Originally posted by Caranthir at 26-7-2007 11:49 AM
these are numbers of chances a team will have before turning the ball over automatically to the opponent. a team needs to gain at least 10 yards before the number of downs reset to zero. us ...
If for the 3rd down you're close to the goal, you can either go for field goal (3 points) or go for the 4th down. Depend on your team situation too.
OT: Wow Oobi, you know a lot about NFL. Cool! Are you in US?
Iffor the 3rd down you're close to the goal, you can either go forfieldgoal (3 points) or go for the 4th down. Depend on your teamsituationtoo.
OT: Wow Oobi, you know a lot about NFL ...
yes nhuser, i'm in northern california. a really big fan of football. i want to say i'm a diehard niner fan, but can't for now as i don't like going to the stadium; but i support them all the way, during their up and down years. i follow football all year round - nfl, college, draft, free agency, arena, etc.
You don't have to go to stadium to be a die hard fan. I don't like going to Chargers games either (although Q stadium is just 3 miles away from our home) but still support them. 49ers.. so Kevin Tower took your OC to be our HC.
Originally posted by nhuser at 27-7-2007 06:15 AM
You don't have to go to stadium to be a die hard fan. I don't like going to Chargers games either (although Q stadium is just 3 miles away from our home) but still support them. 49ers.. so Kevin Towers ...
i guess we have different interpretation on being diehard fan for a team.
no, kevin towers doesn't need an oc from a football team to manage his team as it's not necessary - padres is a baseball team. i believe you're talking about a. j. smith.
Post time 31-5-2007 11:05 AM
