After watching most of the first United Football League game I have a few observations and comments.

• The fan base is lacking. The announced attendance was 14,209 which would be about average for an Arena Football game, but this isn’t Arena Football and the budget is larger as are the stadiums.  And we all know that actual attendance is usually lower than what is announced. While attracting 14,000 to any event seems amazing to me, they’ll probably need to be more in the 20-30k range to be comfortable.
• The play is sub par (thus far). From the other reviews I read I know that I have some people who disagree, but on one drive I seriously saw the quarterback fumble the ball a few times.  I don’t know if it was nerves or the footballs are greased up, but that is poor ball handling. Sure, there were some good plays and amazing hits, but it wasn’t quite up to speed.  But maybe I’m being too critical.  There was scoring and hopefully this will improve once they get settled in.
• I’m not sure that I like the in game interviews. That wouldn’t fly in the NFL beyond the Pro Bowl.
• The uniforms are hideous. They’re the same uniform with different colors and they aren’t easy on these half color-blind eyes.
• The uniforms are flimsy. I saw two uniforms that were ripped without even looking for it. I know NFL jerseys (and pants) do rip from time-to-time, but I’ve never seen it on that consistent of a basis. Maybe it’s a fluke, but I wouldn’t be buying an authentic jersey (plus, like I said, they’re ugly anyway).
• The team logos are OK, though I’m not really fond of California’s. I may have given a little more thought to the names and marketing efforts, but of course, that’s my line of work and my mind always goes there.  And living in Indiana I have no idea what their local efforts were in each market.
• There’s a lack of major sponsorship. I’m not saying that’s good or bad, just a little odd.  There were quite a few products being touted that I’d never even heard of before. In a way this is good for the “little man” and if the league takes off I hope they get some sort of special “ground floor supporters” status and benefits.
• High School Cheerleaders? Honestly, I don’t know that we really need cheerleaders at any sporting events (and in come the flaming arrows), but if you must I’d probably steer clear of bringing in minors.  There are some strange birds out there, so as a parent, I’m just saying.

So there’s my run down.  I’ll continue to catch the games as I’m able and truly do wish the league to best of luck. You can never have too much football!

This entry was posted on Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 2:39 pm and is filed under Featured, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.