UFL’s Blueprint For Success? Play On Weekday Afternoons. Seriously.
The Champions League tournament, the FIFA Confederations Cup, Wimbledon, and now the Tour de France.
All popular sporting events, even to the average American.
All comprised of games that Americans understand, but rarely follow.
Almost all events featuring players that the average American sports fan has never heard of.
And all are pulling solid ratings for ESPN2, ESPN 360 (for those that have it) and the other cadre of networks broadcasting them.
What does this tell us? It tells us that people are dicking around at work more than ever before. But more specifically, it tells us that there’s a demand for sports on weekday afternoons. And the market for sports is all of those people, plus anyone that’s ever streamed video of the NCAA tournament to their work PC. Plus anyone that values football over their month-end numbers, meetings with colleagues, or any other kind of actual work. Wouldn’t you rather watch sports at work than work at work? Hell yes, you would.
The United Football League has gone out of their way to say that they will play where the NFL won’t. But what about when? If the UFL played games on Thursday or Friday afternoons, they could tap into this fledgeling fanbase, one that doesn’t seem to mind watching players that they’ve never heard of. If getting into the living rooms of football fans is so much trouble, why not try their cubicles?
This has to happen. The UFL would be everyone’s Friday football fix. Let the NCAA have Saturday and the NFL have Sunday. But put a stranglehold on the end of everyone’s work week. Nothing would please me more than to finish out my week watching football on my laptop. But then, I’m pretty easy to please, generally speaking.
Hey, it can’t be any worse than soccer. Amirite?
Tags: MMP, more weekday sports please, the UFL
July 7th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
This, plus free games streamed live, would rock.
July 7th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
A pro football league that plays during work hours? This is a genius idea! And by that, I mean: I think I’ll start brushing up on my conversational Chinese now.
July 7th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
ps. hell yeah, I’ll watch
July 7th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
This way they can also grab two important demographics: drunk college kids and unemployed losers. There’s also a nice overlap there with a small, but drunk demo: losers who were formerly employed by a college.
July 7th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
They should play on Wednesday nights. College football owns Thursday and Saturday. High school football is huge on Friday nights, I think someone wrote a book about it, and the NFL owns Sunday and Monday night.
I say the UFL play on Wednesday night, because let’s face it there is nothing on good on tv Wednesday nights other than South Park.
July 7th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Slothrop: thanks for the special mention. Finally, I belong to a demographic.
July 7th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Wouldn’t you rather watch sports at work than work at work?
Paraphrasing Billy Mays in memory, are we?
As someone who actually enjoys some of those other sports, here’s what I can say: There’s nothing like a Wednesday afternoon in a pub, drinking pints of Tennent’s and watching sports.
Give me some football to go along with that…and I may not show up for work.
July 7th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Agreed with the Billy Mays comment. I actually read this whole post with his voice in my head.
Football during the week? Hell yeah, that works for me, but I’m sure Bostonians might protest if it interferes with their viewing of the Sawx. “FACK THE UFL, PEDRIOAAAAH IS GONNA FACKIN HIT A HOMAAAHH.”
/obligatory channelling of Tawmmy
July 7th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Worst case scenerio: We don’t watch
Best case scenario: We watch for a week and then corporate throws up a URL block and we don’t watch.
\still can’t believe I can get KSK but not CNN at work.
July 7th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
@Kushiro: We’re like never-nudes. There’s dozens of us.
July 7th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Can’t wait to watch Vick play in Orlando while I’m working.
/seriously
//likes the idea
July 7th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
They should play on Wednesday nights.
Conditions are perfect on Wednesday nights. There’s nothing good on TV. You haven’t had your after work sports team practice. Oh, yeah, baby. It’s business time.
July 7th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
What about the demographic of people that actually get work done AND read blogs and watch sports too??? And a good radio type announcer would be great. Then we could work and listen. We don’t know these people anyway. Well, except Michael Vick.
July 7th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
It tells us that people are dicking around at work more than ever before.
Hey, not so loud with that!
July 7th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Conditions are perfect on Wednesday nights. There’s nothing good on TV. You haven’t had your after work sports team practice. Oh, yeah, baby. It’s business time.
Watchin the UFL … watching the UFL for two minutes.
July 7th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
@ Otto Man: Flight of the Conchords, much? You downright rock for that reference.
/musical nerdiness
//pretending to have a life
July 7th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Assuming they aren’t sending players out to individually kick Americans in the balls, yes, the UFL will be better than soccer. That said, I’m a little saturated with football during the fall and winter. Why not play during the winter/spring? It would have no competition except March Madness and it gives us something to do during the offseason besides pine away for football.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Otto Man is an endless rolodex of tv quotables.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Considering how every tv in my office is currently tuned to the Michael Jackson funeral, I’m pretty sure football would clean up during this time.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Starting a new league with very little corporate sponsorship, no stadiums, no-name players, in the middle of the worst recession in decades? Yeah, sounds like it will work, a real success. They should play on Wednesdays, or whenever WalMart allows their stockboys a day off so they can play in this “league”.
Fucking fuck.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
The Penncotech sponsored UFL Championship game…
July 7th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
More football? Yes please.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Weekday afternoons aren’t a terrible idea. Although that would be weekday mornings on the west coast- not like anyone gives a shit about them anyway. There’s also that timeslot between the 4:15 games and the Sunday night game. There’s really no reason we need a football break right then.
Also, no live blog for the Michael Jackson Funeral? Are you trying to be classy all of a sudden? We just missed an opportunity to make a bunch of Kobe Bryant/Magic Johnson Rapist/AIDS jokes.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
I am compelled by the forces of genetics to drink while watching football. Getting drunk on Friday afternoons while working and watching football is a challenge I’m up for.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Watchin the UFL … watching the UFL for two minutes.
After the game is over, you say “is that it?” I know what you thinking….”Oh yeaaahhhh…that’s it!”
July 7th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
I’m with LaFavre. Football on weekdays will force me to drink. Football is the devil.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
I agree with Tracer Bullet. In the Fall I have plenty of football. College games normally crop up on Thursday and Friday (or I’m out somewhere on Friday). College Football owns my soul on Saturday and the NFL has me on Sunday and Monday. I’d love to see something in the doldrums of post Superbowl to Stanley Cup playoffs area.
Really I’d love to see something in the summer, but I figure it is too hot for a league to play then. The only sport I’m watching right now is the Tour De France.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
As an add on, is the TV market even the primary market the UFL wants? As others have pointed out they have no TV contract.
I’d love to the see UFL focus on building itself around getting people in the bleachers. Imagine on say Wednesday evening in the summer being able to go see a UFL game. The prices are reasonable (like AAA baseball) and due to the lack of a massive TV contract there aren’t commercial breaks every 5 minutes. A game could take 2 hours at the most and it wouldn’t break the bank to take the entire family to see it, have food and a beer or three.
I’m just not sure if there is enough money to be made simply off gate and concessions for that to work though.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
“every tv in my office is currently tuned to the Michael Jackson funeral”
Mo, please tell me you work in an insane asylum.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
\still can’t believe I can get KSK but not CNN at work.
Wow, ‘tards manage your web filters too???????
July 7th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
I am shocked that there’s no MJ funeral LiveBlog today.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
why go for a tv contract at all? Stream the games free with an add-on of HD streams for a mild charge.
July 7th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
@ Upstate Underdog: In that case they would be tuned to the Leon Kompowsky funeral
July 7th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
A pro football league employing has-beens, never-weres and felons going head-to-head with high school, college and NFL gridiron action, huh? As a football-related idea, this ranks right up there with retired Titans QB Steve McNair thinking Sahel Kazemi would make a good girlfriend.
One season and done.
July 7th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
@old gregg, nice gratuitous Simpsons reference
July 7th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Mo, please tell me you work in an insane asylum.
That make me damn near spit up my already digested lunch. I could hear Al Sharpton screaming at me through the phone when I called home. Glad there are no TVs near my office.
July 7th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Football during work hours . . .
now if there was just a way to replace the water cooler with a keg I might actually start to enjoy coming to this shit hole everyday.
July 7th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
I work with a bunch of chicks. It sucks ass.
On the other hand, I did see Kobe cry earlier today.
July 7th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
i honestly wonder what my boss would say if i brought a little grill, some burgers, and a few adult beverages to work with me once a week. i guess, either way i’d get to watch…either as a paid employee or as an unemployed loser.
July 7th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
The UFL has a TV contract to broadcast Thursday evening games on Versus and plans to show some games on a mix of wednesday and friday( rumored to maybe be on HDnet Mark Cuban’d station ). Names Like J.P Losman and Graham Harrell may be seen playing in the UFL with an open invite to Michael Vick pending his NFL suspension
July 8th, 2009 at 12:55 am
instead of starting a new USFL, why didnt whoever these guys are that wanted to start this new league just work with the CFL to get some American teams in their league. If anything it might help to keep the Bills playing at home (I am a Bengal fan, dont care where the Bills play) and if the CFL plays here maybe it will show the NFL how much more scoring can happen with a 20 yard end zone. As a Bengal fan I also would like a CFL team to come to this town so that I can support another effin team!!
July 8th, 2009 at 8:49 am
who needs a TV contract.
just allow gambling on the UFL and watch the popularity skyrocket