The New York Sentinels of the UFL will play one home game at Citi Field, one at Giants Stadium, and one in East Hartford, Conn., at Rentschler Field, the league announced today.
The Nov. 4 game at Citi Field will be the first professional football game in the stadium.
The premiere season of the four-team league won’t open for nearly two months, with training camp in Orlando in almost a month.
Commissioner Michael Huyghue, who helped build the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars in the mid-1990s, has dubbed the eight-week season “Broadway, off-Broadway.” Huyghue emphasized his league will be a complement to the NFL.
Indeed, all players and coaches are free to leave the UFL right now if an NFL opportunity arises. They must commit to the UFL from Sept. 10, when training camps begin, until after the title game in Las Vegas on Nov. 27. Then, their contracts are up and if the NFL beckons, they will not be held back by the Sentinels, Las Vegas Locomotives, Florida Tuskers or California Redwoods.
“I think there is no question you will see players moving from our league to the NFL,” Huyghue said. “There is nothing formal, but I’d say we have a very good relationship with the NFL.”
To keep it that way, the UFL will not go after any players under contact to NFL teams. It will, however, consider Michael Vick should he not find a job in the established league.
Huyghue acknowledged that Vick would bring a surge of attention for the UFL, which will have all its games televised nationally on either Versus or HDNet. Vick’s rights belong to the Orlando franchise.
“If he plays for an NFL team, fine,” Huyghue said. “If not, we are very interested … we have spoken to his representatives to express that.
“On balance, our fans have said overwhelmingly he has the right to play. As time passes and he is not with an NFL team, the likelihood of him playing in our league grows.
“We’re a nice tenant,” the commissioner added. “We’ll be in an important role. We’ll have most-favored status filling stadium (dates) for six to seven games. It makes more sense for us to be a tenant.”
The season begins Oct. 8 with California at Las Vegas. The Redwoods, based in San Francisco, will play their home games in AT&T Park, the baseball Giants’ home. The Locomotives have two games at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, and one at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., near Los Angeles.
Orlando will be based in the Citrus Bowl, with one home game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, home of baseball’s Rays.
By the 2010 season, though, Sentinels owner Bill Mayer wants to have a permanent home.
Mayer also believes 2011 will be the critical year for the league; he and Huyghue said there is enough financing for the UFL’s first two seasons.
“The third year will be our report card,” Mayer said, noting that the TV deals are for two years. “We hope to sign a more normal contract for media then.”
Thinking beyond this year is extremely optimistic for a league that doesn’t yet really have a product. Then again, in 2011, the NFL could be in the midst of a work stoppage if a new collective bargaining agreement with the players union is not reached, making the UFL the only game in town.
“We read the papers, too,” Huyghue said. “If it’s a strike year, no question it bodes well for our league. But that’s not a halo on our league.”