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2012 United Football League season
Regular season
Duration September 26, 2012 – October 19, 2012
2012 UFL Championship Game
Date  
Site  
United Football League seasons
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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.[1][2] The league ceased operations on October 20, 2012, after four weeks, extensive financial problems and dismal attendance figures.[3] 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,[4] 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.[5] 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.[4]

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.[1] 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.[6] 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.[7] Players began reporting for training camp the week of September 17,[8] with the abbreviated camps expected to run through the following weekend.[9]

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.[10] 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.[11][12][13] One agent who represents 3 UFL players went so far as to recommend that his clients not practice or play lest they risk injury.[14] 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.[15] 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.[16] After the week 4 contests were held, the league suspended operations[3] and arranged to pay for all of its players to return to their homes.[17]

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.[8] 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.[18]

The Virginia Destroyers will return to the Virginia Beach Sportsplex.[1] The Omaha Nighthawks are to return to TD Ameritrade Park.[19] 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;[4] 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.[20] Only after the Locos paid back rent from the 2011 season did Sam Boyd Stadium agree to host the team for the 2012 season,[8] but only for the first two games.[21]

Coaching changes[]

Team 2012 Coach 2011 Coach Reason for leaving Story/Accomplishments
Omaha Nighthawks Bart Andrus Joe Moglia Resigned Moglia, who led the Nighthawks to a 1–4 (.200) record in his lone season as head coach (his first since leaving coaching to pursue a business career in the mid 1980s), left the league after the 2011 season to become head coach of the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football team. Andrus had previously served as head coach of the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL in 2009 and the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe from 2001 to 2007. He was Moglia's offensive coordinator in 2011.
Sacramento Mountain Lions Turk Schonert Dennis Green Contract dispute Green, who coached the Mountain Lions from their founding as the California Redwoods in 2009 and accrued a record of 8–11 (.421) in those three seasons, plans on filing legal action against the league for breach of contract and lack of payment.[22] It has been speculated that Green, who previously proposed using legal action to try and take control of the Minnesota Vikings in 1997, may be using the legal maneuver to wrest control of the team away from the Paul Pelosi-led consortium that currently owns it.[23] Schonert is in his first ever head coaching position; his prior coaching positions have been almost exclusively at the level of quarterbacks coach.
Virginia Destroyers Kurt Schottenheimer Marty Schottenheimer Contract dispute In 2011, Marty Schottenheimer led the Destroyers to a 4–1 (.800) season and a UFL title, the only professional championship of his coaching career. Marty abruptly resigned shortly before the the start of the 2012 season and handed the head coaching reins to his younger brother Kurt, who served as the team's defensive coordinator in 2011.[24] Marty was, at the time of his resignation, said to be on good terms with the team[25] but would, like Green, later file legal action against the league for failure to pay.[26] Kurt is in his first ever head coaching position, having spent most of his 30-year career as a defensive assistant. He agreed to work for the league for free in order to continue collecting his NFL pension.[27]

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.[28] 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).[14] 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[29] 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[30] or, should a schedule conflict arise, KTKZ.[31]

Schedule[]

The eight-week 2012 UFL schedule (4 home and away games for each team) was originally announced on August 1, 2012.[32] 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).[33] 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.

Week Date Kickoff Visitor Home Result Site Attendance TV
1 Wednesday September 26 6:00 pm (PT) Virginia Destroyers Las Vegas Locomotives VA 6, LV 19 Sam Boyd Stadium 2,500[34] CBS Sports Network
Friday September 28 8:00 pm (PT) Omaha Nighthawks Sacramento Mountain Lions OMA 24, SAC 20 Raley Field 8,023[35]
2 Wednesday October 3 6:00 pm (PT) Omaha Nighthawks Las Vegas Locomotives OMA 6, LV 41 Sam Boyd Stadium 601[36]
Friday October 5 7:00 pm (ET) Sacramento Mountain Lions Virginia Destroyers SAC 29, VA 37 Virginia Beach Sportsplex 5,316 [37]
3 Wednesday October 10 6:00 pm (PT) Las Vegas Locomotives Sacramento Mountain Lions LV 20, SAC 9 Raley Field 5,210[38]
Friday October 12 7:00 pm (CT) Virginia Destroyers Omaha Nighthawks VA 10, OMA 38 TD Ameritrade Park 3,563[39]
4 Wednesday October 17 8:00 pm (CT) Las Vegas Locomotives Omaha Nighthawks LV 38, OMA 23 TD Ameritrade Park 2,234[40]
Friday October 19 9:00 pm (ET) Sacramento Mountain Lions Virginia Destroyers SAC 20, VA 17 Virginia Beach Sportsplex Classified[41]

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

Week Date Kickoff Visitor Home Site TV
5 Tuesday October 23 8:00 pm (CT) Sacramento Mountain Lions Omaha Nighthawks TD Ameritrade Park CBS Sports Network
Thursday October 25 6:00 pm (ET) Las Vegas Locomotives Virginia Destroyers Virginia Beach Sportsplex
6 Wednesday October 31 6:00 pm (PT) Omaha Nightawks Las Vegas Locomotives Sam Boyd Stadium
Friday November 2 6:00 pm (PT) Virginia Destroyers Sacramento Mountain Lions Raley Field
7 Wednesday November 7 6:00 pm (PT) Las Vegas Locomotives Sacramento Mountain Lions Raley Field
Friday November 9 9:30 pm (ET) Omaha Nighthawks Virginia Destroyers Virginia Beach Sportsplex
8 Wednesday November 14 6:00 pm (PT) Sacramento Mountain Lions Las Vegas Locomotives Sam Boyd Stadium
Friday November 16 6:00 pm (CT) Virginia Destroyers Omaha Nighthawks TD Ameritrade Park

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[34] and 3,500 for Week 2.[42]

Standings[]

United Football League
view · talk · edit W L T PCT PF PA STK
Las Vegas Locomotives 4 0 0 1.000 118 47 W4
Omaha Nighthawks 2 2 0 .500 94 109 L1
Virginia Destroyers 1 3 0 .250 70 106 L2
Sacramento Mountain Lions 1 3 0 .250 78 98 W1


References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Minium, Harry (July 26, 2012). Virginia Destroyers say they'll play games this fall. The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
  2. 2012 UFL Schedule
  3. 3.0 3.1 Katzowitz, Josh (2008-06-11). "UFL suspends rest of 2012 season". CBS Sports. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/eye-on-football/20618826/ufl-suspends-rest-of-2012-season. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Carp, Steve (January 31, 2012). UFL commissioner Huyghue steps down. Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved January 31, 2012.
  5. Pivovar, Steven (July 20, 2012). Report: Nighthawks plan return with UFL. Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
  6. Robinson, Tom (September 5, 2012). UFL pushing back start of season. The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
  7. Pivovar, Steven (September 6, 2012). Nighthawks won't play first home game until October. Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Carp, Steve (September 18, 2012).Locos set to kick off next week after UFL finds insurance. Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
  9. 5 former Huskers on Omaha Nighthawks roster. Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
  10. Note that other paying leagues such as the Atlantic Coast Football League, Seaboard Football League, and American Football Association also had more than four seasons, but whether or not they can be classified as either professional or semi-professional is in dispute.)
  11. Davidson, Joe (October 10, 2012). Unpaid player salaries add to uncertainty for Mountain Lions, UFL. Sacramento Bee. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
  12. Fledgling UFL struggling to pay players. Sports Xchange via Lindy's Sports. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
  13. Crandell, Jim (October 10, 2012). Mountain Lion’s Financial Problems Mount. KTXL. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
  14. 14.0 14.1 "Agent: Three UFL players haven't been paid yet," from The Virginian-Pilot, 10/3/2012
  15. "UFL will pay coaches, players," from Omaha World-Herald, 10/6/2012
  16. Andrews, Reed. Virginia Destroyers players say ‘No pay, we won’t play’. WTKR. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
  17. Smith, Michael David (October 20, 2012). UFL calls off its season. ProFootballTalk.com. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
  18. A sign of things to come: another team playing at Raley Field? KTXL. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  19. Nighthawks tickets not yet on sale: Omaha football team ironing out agreement with TD Ameritrade Park. KETV. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
  20. Forster, Chad (August 1, 2012). The Las Vegas Locos to return for a 4th season. KXNT. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  21. Carp, Steve (September 22, 2012). Locos settle debt, hastily prepare for UFL opener. Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  22. McMorris, Bill (August 16, 2012). Former NFL head coach Dennis Green sues husband of House minority leader for breach of contract. Washington Free Beacon. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
  23. Florio, Mike (July 30, 2012). Dennis Green sues the UFL. ProFootballTalk.com. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
  24. Frankenberry, Jamie (September 18, 2012). Schottenheimer's brother to coach Virginia Destroyers. The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved September 19, 2012.
  25. Robinson, Tom (September 20, 2012). Coach: I won't go 'deep into' reasons for leaving Destroyers. The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
  26. Harris, Joe (October 18, 2012). Marty Schottenheimer Sues UFL Founder. Courthouse News Service. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  27. Robinson, Tom (October 24, 2012). Destroyers coach unsure league can continue. The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  28. Dougherty, Pete (July 26, 2012). CBS Sports Network to air UFL games. Times Union (Albany, NY). Retrieved July 26, 2012.
  29. Robinson, Tom (September 26, 2012). Champion Virginia Destroyers open season tonight. The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
  30. Source: Sacramento Mountain Lions
  31. Brian Banks, UFL linebacker wrongly convicted in 2002, in Sacramento for game, news conference. Sacramento Bee. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
  32. "UFL Sets 2012 Schedule," press release from UFL via OurSportsCentral, 8/1/2012
  33. "UFL Announces Revised Schedule for 2012," press release from UFL via OurSportsCentral, 9/6/2012
  34. 34.0 34.1 Fast start lifts Locos in opener. Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  35. Jones, Jason. It's take me out to the ballpark for football. Sacramento Bee. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  36. Dewey, Todd (October 4, 2012). Sparse crowd sees Las Vegas Locos roll over Omaha. Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
  37. Robinson, Tom (September 6, 2012). UFL defending champs win their first home game. The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved October 6, 2012.
  38. "Pair undaunted by missing game checks," from Sacramento Bee, 10/11/2012
  39. Pivovar, Steven (October 13, 2012). Nighthawks dominate in front of 3,563. Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
  40. Pivovar, Steven (October 18, 2012). Nighthawks again grounded by Locos. Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  41. Sparse crowd sees Destroyers lose to Sacramento. The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
  42. "Locomotives steamroll Nighthawks," from Omaha World-Herald, 10/4/2012



This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 2012 UFL season.
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