UFL in East Hartford

It's a bye week, but there is much more football in Connecticut.

I will be heading to the Rent to cover the New York Sentinels against the Florida Tuskers, a UFL game at Rentschler Field on Thursday night.

The UFL, if you don't know, is a new professional football league that has four teams playing this season in New York, Orlando, Los Angles and Las Vegas. The goal of the league is to serve neglected pro football markets and it's careful to not be a competitor to the NFL. the commissioner is Windsor native Michael Huyghe, who has 20 years experience in sports management and spent the majority of his time with the NFL.

I talked to Huyghe Wednesday and he said a UFL franchise in Hartford/East Hartford at Rentschler Field is likely to happen.

"Hartford is very likely,” Huyghe said. “It’s one of the top priorities and fits the model. Investors with interest, a beautiful stadium, a non-NFL city, and it’s a city that can support a pro team.”

Hartford is going to be a part of the expansion for next season and the league is almost certain to have another season. This year's UFL season was much like a soft launch. Next season the league will have an entire schedule and play home and road games.

The UFL is different from a lot of other start-up football leagues. Unlike the famed USFL, the league isn't going to directly compete with the NFL in any markets or for players. The XFL, of WWE fame, was played in the spring and the UFL will be in the fall, and important distinction according to Hughye. Also, unlike the arena football league, the game is going to be played with NFL rules and look like an NFL game.

The dreaded word minor leagues isn't something anyone wants to call the UFL, but they are going to get p;layers who aren't on NFL rosters and it's a chance for those players in the UFL to showcase themselves for the NFL.

To date, there is no other legitimate professional football league in the United States. There are so many players, and so many under-served markets, this is what the UFL is trying to go after.

It's worth a try. The other leagues seemed to think to big and were too costly out of the gate (USFL, XFL), it looks like the UFL has guarded against that. It isn't being positioned as a competitor, and there plenty of players out there to fill out rosters. The big question is, is there enough interest?

We'll find out in the next year or so. I would imagine this will be the last attempt to start a football league for quite some time if this doesn't work out.