Mark Cuban to start new Football league

[Chubz]

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."

I'd like to think this would be a good idea, but will likely flop like the XFL

[egcoupe94]

say hello to the XFL pt.deux

I heard about this on ESPN radio this evening. I don't think it will be a hit

[egcoupe94]

but I agree, there is more demand, than supply. I am desperate for some damn football right now...

[Chubz]

once football season starts, this place is gonna bsut at the seams..

one can hope

[thefootballmaniac]

Cuban needs to be concerned about how to get his team out of the playoffs WITH a championship and not the usual early exit.

The reason for the success of the NFL is that is does leave us wanting more. 17 weeks + playoffs come and go leaving us like the show that ends with the dreaded "To be continued"

[Uncle Ben]

Don't get your panties in a twist. Football is only two months away, maybe a little less; preseason is closing in on us, which should satiate our need for it And yes, this league would suck just as bad as the XFL; why would we need the talent in the NFL thinned out so the rich can get richer?

[Spike McAwesome]

At least Vegas has a shot of getting a pro team...

I heard one very interesting piece of information about this league. Apparently, Cuban wants each team owner to pay $30mil per team. The league will then own the other $30mil (50%) of the team. The plan is to sell off shares of these new teams like stocks to players and fans alike, allowing them to become part owners. Definitely an interesting concept, in my eyes.

[Agent Zero]

Cuban is an idiot. Why doesn't he just buy the Cowboys? :p He needs to just go ahead and buy an NFL franchise, stop trying to loose money the way Vince McMahon did when he did the XFL. Just my .02

[Andrew]

LOL
this will flop like no other
isn't NFL Europa suppose to be something very similar?

[FSUViking]

Originally Posted by Spike McAwesome

At least Vegas has a shot of getting a pro team...

I guess. If you actually consider this to be "pro" sports.

[FSUViking]

Originally Posted by Andrew

LOL
this will flop like no other
isn't NFL Europa suppose to be something very similar?

NFLE is pretty much like AAA or the NBDL. It's run by the NFL, not as some rival league.

[jstchilln120]

Xfl...

[J-Bird]

I think just the friday night idea is pretty dumb on its own. Who wants to stay home on a friday night and watch a second rate football league game.

[FSUViking]

Originally Posted by J-Bird

I think just the friday night idea is pretty dumb on its own. Who wants to stay home on a friday night and watch a second rate football league game.

In certain parts of the country, literally nobody will be home Friday's. They'll all be at the local high school game.