2012 UFL season

The 2012 UFL season was the fourth season of the United Football League. Four teams began what was originally scheduled to be an eight-game schedule beginning September 26, 2012. The league ceased operations on October 20, 2012, after four weeks, extensive financial problems and dismal attendance figures. At the time of the cessation, the Las Vegas Locomotives had compiled a perfect season to date, thus by default giving them their third UFL Championship. The league officially intends to resume the season some time in spring 2013, but no dates have been given.

Offseason developments
The league, which had coerced the resignation of commissioner Michael Huyghue after the 2011 season, had closed all of its offices and remained completely silent throughout most of winter, spring and early summer 2012, raising doubt about a potential 2012 season or even if the league, which has suffered heavy financial losses throughout its existence, would continue at all. League management will rest with two of its owners, Bill Mayer and William Hambrecht, while football operations will be handled by Las Vegas team president, head coach and general manager Jim Fassel.

For the first time in league history, there was no expansion, contraction, or relocation of any UFL franchises, with all four teams and markets returning from the previous season. The Hartford Colonials, which had been officially "suspended" prior to the 2011 season, did not return and were removed from the league's Web site.

On September 5, 2012, an anonymous source tipped The Virginian-Pilot that the start of the 2012 season, originally slated for September 19 on the schedule released July 26, would be delayed one week. The league confirmed the news the next day, also indicating that the championship game would be delayed two weeks instead of one. Difficulties in securing workman's compensation insurance prompted the delay. Players began reporting for training camp the week of September 17, with the abbreviated camps expected to run through the following weekend.

By kicking off for its fourth season, the UFL achieved a feat not matched since the American Football League by lasting more than three seasons as a fully professional league. By Week 2, the league began experiencing severe financial shortfalls, sparked in part by drastically reduced attendances at all three stadiums at which the league had played to that point (the Locomotives' Week 2 attendance at kickoff was only 601 fans), as well as the UFL's continued, systemic delays in payment stemming back to at least the 2010 season. The delayed payments (players were only paid $1,000 of the $7,000 owed to them after their first two games) prompted rumors of possible strike action or walkouts from the league's players beginning in Week 3. One agent who represents 3 UFL players went so far as to recommend that his clients not practice or play lest they risk injury. Virginia Destroyers owner and UFL president Bill Mayer and Sacramento owner Paul Pelosi in a joint on-air interview with CBS Sports Network on October 5, confirmed that the UFL had indeed not yet issued game checks to its players for 2012, but promised that the league would fulfill its wage obligations to its players and coaches. The Destroyers players again threatened to not play the week 4 contest without a personal guarantee of payment, which the ownership had not yet offered, and that the team's earlier promise of a payment by October 31 would not be sufficient. After the week 4 contests were held, the league suspended operations and arranged to pay for all of its players to return to their homes.

Rule changes for 2012
Prior to the season, the UFL made two notable on-field rule changes: The league expanded each team's roster from 50 to 54 players, 4 of which are designated as "practice squad" players. The league also moved its kickoffs back up from the 30-yard-line to the 35-yard-line, consistent with changes made by the NFL (in 2011) and NCAA (also in 2012).

Stadium changes
The Sacramento Mountain Lions, on August 6, announced that they would be moving to Raley Field, a baseball park in West Sacramento, California. The Mountain Lions, 2011's attendance leader, played their previous two seasons at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento but chose not to extend their two-year lease on that stadium.

The Virginia Destroyers will return to the Virginia Beach Sportsplex. The Omaha Nighthawks are to return to TD Ameritrade Park. The Las Vegas Locomotives (which had previously contemplated a move to Salt Lake City, Utah) remain for now in Las Vegas despite poor attendance in 2011; at UNLV's Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney after discussion and negotiations with Cashman Field, a Triple-A baseball stadium currently home to the Las Vegas 51's. Only after the Locos paid back rent from the 2011 season did Sam Boyd Stadium agree to host the team for the 2012 season, but only for the first two games.

Media changes
In 2011, the UFL lacked national exposure for its games after two-year deals with Versus and HDNet expired, with the league relying instead on limited regional TV coverage. On July 26, 2012, the league announced a broadcast deal with CBS Sports Network that will see the network carry all of the league's games in 2012. Though the deal with CBSSN brings the UFL national TV exposure, the league receives no rights fee from the network, and in fact pays the network upfront for production costs (roughly $150,000 per telecast). An additional caveat of the CBSSN deal prevents live games from being simulcast online, as opposed to previous seasons.

Local radio broadcasts were abandoned in Virginia and Las Vegas for 2012; radio deals for Omaha and Sacramento continue, however, with Nighthawks games airing on KOZN and the Mountain Lions being heard on KHTK or, should a schedule conflict arise, KTKZ.

Schedule
The eight-week 2012 UFL schedule (4 home and away games for each team) was originally announced on August 1, 2012. Due to the above mentioned delay, the league released a revised schedule (shown below) on September 6, essentially moving the original Week 1 games, which would have been played on September 19 and 21, to the end of the schedule (November 14 and 16). The Championship Game, which was originally scheduled for November 16, was also moved to December 1, allowing teams to have a 2-week break between the end of the regular season and the title game, a first for the UFL. Two other firsts are also included in the schedule: No team will have a bye week during the regular season, and each team will have an unbalanced schedule (3 games with two teams and 2 games with the third team).

With the suspension of the season on October 20, 2012, no games will be played beyond that date. As of that date, each team had played every other team once and one team twice, with two home games and two away games. The October 17 game between the Locomotives and the Nighthawks would end up serving as the de facto UFL Championship Game for the 2012 season; had the Nighthawks won that game, they would have tied for the league's best record with Las Vegas.

Had the season continued as scheduled, the remaining games would have been played as follows:

The 2012 UFL Championship Game would have been played on December 1 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. No venue had been chosen for the game at the time of the cessation.

Attendance figures are based on gate draw, not ticket sales. The Locomotives sold 5,277 tickets for their Week 1 game and 3,500 for Week 2.