2012 UFL season

Offseason developments

The league, which had coerced the resignation of commissioner Michael Huyghue after the 2011 season, 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 had suffered heavy financial losses throughout its existence, would continue at all. League management rested with two of its owners, Bill Mayer and William Hambrecht, while football operations were handled by Las Vegas team president, head coach and general manager Jim Fassel.

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. 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. 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. Players began reporting for training camp the week of September 17, with the abbreviated camps running through the following weekend.

By Week 2 of the regular season, 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. One agent who represented three UFL players went so far as to recommend that his clients not practice or play lest they risk injury. 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. 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. After the week 4 contests were held, and attendance continued to get even worse (the Virginia Destroyers' Week 4 home game was so poorly attended that the league refused to release an attendance total), the league suspended operations As of November 3, 2012, the UFL still had not paid the players for their time; several players set a deadline for November 8 before pursuing legal action against the league.

Postseason litigation

On January 16, 2013, a coalition of approximately 70 players from the Nighthawks and Locomotives served papers to league owner William Hambrecht in order to file a class-action lawsuit to claim their pay. The Destroyers players also have not received any additional pay apart from the $1,000 they received during the season; player liaison Chris Greisen lost contact with Destroyers owner Bill Mayer shortly after the season ended. The Mountain Lions' players have been paid in full for their work. Hambrecht later demanded that the lawsuit be thrown out on a contract technicality that stated all pay disputes be resolved through a committee that, according to the players' attorney, does not even exist. A hearing on the lawsuit was scheduled for June 2013, at which point a Nevada judge turned the case over to a third-party arbiter. The players won the lawsuit and were awarded a combined $2.4 million in back pay in 2014, money that as of 2016 remained unpaid.

A separate lawsuit involves four assistant coaches of the Las Vegas Locomotives, who are also suing for unpaid salary. That lawsuit was also filed in January and is being handled by the same attorneys.

Yet another lawsuit was filed in July 2013, this one against Paul Pelosi. The five litigants in that case include former Mountain Lions defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan, who says he was not paid $250,000. Bresnahan eventually won the lawsuit and was paid for his services.

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, four of whom were designated as practice squad players. 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.

The Virginia Destroyers returned to the Virginia Beach Sportsplex The Las Vegas Locomotives (which had previously contemplated a move to Salt Lake City) remained in Las Vegas despite poor attendance for its lone home game in 2011; Only after the Locos paid back rent from the 2011 season did Sam Boyd Stadium agree to host the team for the 2012 season,

Coaching changes

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 would see the network carry all of the league's games in 2012. Though the deal with CBSSN returned the UFL to national TV exposure (albeit generally on less widely distributed premium cable and satellite tiers than the regional sports networks that the UFL had utilized in 2011), the league received no rights fee from the network and in fact paid the network upfront for production costs (roughly $150,000 per telecast). An additional caveat of the CBSSN deal prevented live games from being simulcast online, in contrast to the previous three seasons where all televised games had been carried on the Internet (the league's Webmaster had left the league after 2011 as well, which may have also been a factor in the discontinuation of both the Webcasts and the league's centralized Web site).

Local radio broadcasts were abandoned in Virginia and Las Vegas for 2012; radio deals for Omaha and Sacramento continued, however, with Nighthawks games airing on KOZN and the Mountain Lions being split between KHTK and KTKZ.

Schedule

The eight-week 2012 UFL schedule (4 home and away games for each team) was originally announced on August 1, 2012. 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). The Championship Game, which was originally scheduled for November 16, was also moved to December 1, skipping over the crowded Thanksgiving rivalry weekend (which the UFL had not done in 2009 or 2010) and allowing teams to have a two-week break between the end of the regular season and the title game, which would have been a first for the UFL. Two other firsts were also included in the schedule: no bye weeks were scheduled during the regular season, and each team was given an unbalanced schedule (3 games with two teams and 2 games with the third team).

Because of the suspension of the season on October 20, 2012, no games were 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.

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

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

Standings

References

References

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2. [http://uflaccess.com/pr-ufl-2012-schedule/ 2012 UFL Schedule]
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16. and arranged to pay for all of its players to return to their homes.Smith, Michael David (October 20, 2012). [http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/10/20/ufl-calls-off-its-season/ UFL calls off its season]. ''ProFootballTalk.com''. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
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20. [https://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-05-01/sports/38954639_1_the-ufl-united-football-league-back-pay United Football League founder attorney wants lawsuit seeking back pay for players thrown out]{{dead link. (November 2024)
21. [http://bigstory.ap.org/article/nevada-judge-orders-ufl-pay-dispute-arbitration Nevada judge orders UFL pay dispute to arbitration]. ''Associated Press'' (June 4, 2013). Retrieved May 14, 2014.
22. Heitner, Darren (March 7, 2013). [https://www.forbes.com/sites/darrenheitner/2013/03/07/seventy-eight-football-players-file-lawsuit-against-united-football-league/ Seventy-eight football players file lawsuit against United Football League]. ''Forbes''. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
23. Garofoli, Joe (July 15, 2013). [http://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/Employees-of-UFL-Sacramento-team-sue-Paul-Pelosi-4667148.php Employees of UFL Sacramento team sue Paul Pelosi]. ''San Francisco Chronicle''. Retrieved July 15, 2013.
24. [http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-a-sign-of-things-to-come-another-team-playing-at-raley-field-20120717,0,1367074.story A sign of things to come: another team playing at Raley Field?] ''KTXL''. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
25. while the [[Omaha Nighthawks]] again played in [[TD Ameritrade Park]].[http://www.ketv.com/news/sports/Nighthawks-tickets-not-yet-on-sale/-/9674600/16435984/-/item/0/-/60yf2qz/-/index.html Nighthawks tickets not yet on sale: Omaha football team ironing out agreement with TD Ameritrade Park]. ''KETV''. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
26. the team ultimately played its two home games at [[University of Nevada, Las Vegas]]'s [[Sam Boyd Stadium]] in [[Whitney, Nevada. Whitney]] after discussion and negotiations with [[Cashman Field]], a [[Minor League Baseball. Triple-A baseball]] stadium formerly home to the [[Las Vegas 51s]] (rebranded as the Las Vegas Aviattors and left Cashman Field in 2019.Forster, Chad (August 1, 2012). [http://lasvegas.cbslocal.com/2012/08/01/the-las-vegas-locos-to-return-for-a-4th-season/ The Las Vegas Locos to return for a 4th season]. ''KXNT''. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
27. but only for the first two games.Carp, Steve (September 22, 2012). [http://www.lvrj.com/sports/locos-settle-debt-hastily-prepare-for-ufl-opener-170809406.html Locos settle debt, hastily prepare for UFL opener]. ''Las Vegas Review-Journal''. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
28. Dale Kasler, [https://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article54798225.html Ex-NFL coach fighting owners of defunct Sacramento team over $1 million in back pay], ''Sacramento Bee'' (January 14, 2016).
29. Florio, Mike (July 30, 2012). [http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/30/dennis-green-sues-the-ufl/ Dennis Green sues the UFL]. ''ProFootballTalk.com''. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
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32. Harris, Joe (October 18, 2012). [http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/10/18/51404.htm Marty Schottenheimer Sues UFL Founder]. ''Courthouse News Service''. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
33. Grossi, Tony. (28 October 2016). "Alzheimer's disease won't prevent Marty Schottenheimer from attending 30th reunion of Browns 1986 season". [[ESPN.com]].
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35. Dougherty, Pete (July 26, 2012). [http://blog.timesunion.com/sportsmedia/cbs-sports-network-to-air-ufl-games/10262/ CBS Sports Network to air UFL games]. ''Times Union'' (Albany, NY). Retrieved July 26, 2012.
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37. [http://sacmountainlions.com.ISM3/std-content/repotd-content/repos/Top/News/Sacramento%20release-9.28.12.pdf Source: Sacramento Mountain Lions]{{Dead link. (September 2018)
38. [http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/10/4899540/brian-banks-ufl-linebacker-wrongly.html Brian Banks, UFL linebacker wrongly convicted in 2002, in Sacramento for game, news conference] {{Webarchive. link. (2012-10-24 . ''Sacramento Bee''. Retrieved October 10, 2012.)
39. [http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=4461057 "UFL Sets 2012 Schedule,"] press release from UFL via OurSportsCentral, 8/1/2012
40. [http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=4485173 "UFL Announces Revised Schedule for 2012,"] press release from UFL via OurSportsCentral, 9/6/2012
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42. Jones, Jason. [http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/29/4864932/its-take-me-out-to-the-ballpark.html It's take me out to the ballpark for football] {{Webarchive. link. (2012-10-02 . ''Sacramento Bee''. Retrieved September 30, 2012.)
43. Dewey, Todd (October 4, 2012). [http://www.lvrj.com/sports/sparse-crowd-sees-locos-roll-172604831.html Sparse crowd sees Las Vegas Locos roll over Omaha]. ''Las Vegas Review-Journal''. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
44. Robinson, Tom (September 6, 2012). [http://hamptonroads.com/2012/10/ufl-defending-champs-win-their-first-home-game UFL defending champs win their first home game]. ''The Virginian-Pilot''. Retrieved October 6, 2012.
45. [http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/11/4901171/pair-undaunted-by-missing-game.html "Pair undaunted by missing game checks,"] {{Webarchive. link. (2013-08-24 from ''Sacramento Bee'', 10/11/2012)
46. Pivovar, Steven (October 13, 2012). [http://www.omaha.com/article/20121012/SPORTS/710129864 Nighthawks dominate in front of 3,563] {{Webarchive. link. (2013-01-30 . ''Omaha World-Herald''. Retrieved October 13, 2012.)
47. Pivovar, Steven (October 18, 2012). [http://www.omaha.com/article/20121017/SPORTS/710179831/1001#nighthawks-again-grounded-by-locos Nighthawks again grounded by Locos] {{Webarchive. link. (2012-10-21 . ''Omaha World-Herald''. Retrieved October 18, 2012.)
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49. and 3,500 for Week 2.[http://www.omaha.com/article/20121003/SPORTS/710039809/1001#locomotives-steamroll-nighthawks "Locomotives steamroll Nighthawks,"] from ''Omaha World-Herald'', 10/4/2012