Mark Cuban believes in the spirit of competition

May 31st, 2007 | Posted by PostmanR

Let us get a few things straight: Mark Cuban has more money and more business savvy than me. When he was an undergrad at Indiana, he cheated the system and took graduate level business courses. When I was an undergrad at IU, I slept in late and rarely did laundry.

But when I hear he wants to start a league to rival the NFL, well, I’m more than a little skeptical. From Blog Maverick:

1. There is obviously demand for top level professional football. That is exactly what the UFL hopes to be someday, an equal of the NFL, if not more.

2. The NFL wants and needs competition. They have grown so big and powerful that every move they make is scrutinized by local or federal officials. A competitor allows them to point to us and explain that their moves are for competitive reasons rather than the move of a monopoly.

3. They just extended their CBA. Their CBA structure is not designed for a competitive environment. Competition for top players, even if the UFL gets just a few, increases prices at the top end for all teams. Every star will get paid more, but still have to fit under the cap. That forces teams to use more low cost players, at the expense of signing the middle of the roster. That gives us access to quite a few very, very good NFL players. The downside is that it will significantly impact small market NFL teams and its unclear how the NFL would respond to that and what the impact would be on the UFL.

4. There are a lot of markets that are bigger than some current NFL markets that do not have teams that would love to have a pro football team.

5. There are a lot of smart people involved in the UFL

6. Its a great TV product.

Although I don’t necessarily whole-heartedly disagree with any of these tenants, I think the thought process here is a little misguided. What about the AFL? You know, the Arena Football League? The league that got a sweet deal with ESPN a few months back? The league that plays it schedule opposite the NFL’s? Where does your UFL fit in here? In the fall with the NFL? No way you can go head-to-head and survive in the TV market. I know the Arena League isn’t exactly Football As We Know It, but that’s probably why it’s been decently successful.

Although, I guess if anyone could pull this off, it’d Cuban. But, I don’t know, he should probably go spend his money on something more concrete. The Cubs, anyone?