Albany,n.y. Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 I went to the Florida Tuskers vs the New York Sentinals game in "The Rent" Rentschler Field E. Hartford Connecticut Thursday night. The final score was 24-6 Tuskers, but it was more the gameday experience than anything else that I came for. As far as the game goes, it wasn't up to NFL standards, but it was entertaining. The Sentinals actually kept the game close and were driving for a go ahead TD late in the first half. That's when QB Quinn Gray went out with an injury and was replaced by Ingle Martin, who quickly threw an interception and cost them any chance of a halftime lead. The Tuskers ran out the clock and it was 10-6 at halftime. Two touchdowns later in the 2nd half would seal the game. Haslett called off the dogs & switched QBs in the 4th quarter. Now for all you fans who criticized Dick Jauron for punting down 10 in the 4th quarter, Ted Cottrell out Dicked, Dick. With about 5 and 1/2 minutes to go in the game, deep in his own territory, down by 18 points Ted chose not to lose bigger & punted. I arrived early in the parking lot, paid my $10 and drove in. When I parked my car, I wondered if I was at the right game. The stadium was all lit up and people were in the parking lot, but the only thing they seemed to be interested in were their kids, the peewee players who were all dressed up in their uniforms and ready to take the field. I got to the ticket window and sure enough, they were selling tickets for the night's UFL game. I decided, what the heck, and bought a $40 ticket that put me in row 7 at the 25 yardline. I then went back to my car & waited until 6:00 for the gates to open. Upon entering the stadium I started looking around for programs, since getting a program is always part of my gameday ritual. I saw a bunch of unopened boxes behind a program stand and went to the people at the gate and asked if those were the programs. They didn't know, but since the boxes were addressed to one of the guys who runs things they gave him a quick call & got permission to open them up. Inside were the programs-they only have 4 pages -a cover with the team logos, the date, stadium etc; two inside pages with the depth charts and rosters; and the back had a summary of the Sentinals last game and a preview of the game that night. At the bottom of the back page was the logos of the UFL sponsors (StubHub!, Motorola, etc) but no advertising. It didn't have any photos of players, but for its size was efficient. There were literally thousands of programs in the boxes. The guy handed me one and I asked for a few more, I left with 3. I then went to find my seat. It turned out that I was on the Tuskers side of the field, behind their bench. I sat down in my seat Sec 102 Row 7 Seat 1. It was cold and I was the only one in my section, so I got up to walk around a bit. When I hit the bathroom, I saw a guy with Tuskers gear on and asked him if he was with the team. He said no, but his son is. It turned out he's Rob Petitte's father. I talked a little football with him as we washed our hands and wished him luck in his son's dreams to get back to the NFL. Fortunately, his son was a guy who I had heard of and I could say, I remembered his son's days with Dallas. He mentioned that these players are hoping that their coaches make it back to the NFL & bring some players back with them. I went back to my seat to watch the pre-game warmups. After the teams finished there was about a half hour before the game and the peewees I had seen in the parking lot hit the field. By that point I had thought the peewees were being held there until halftime to keep them and their parents in the stadium for the game. When the game started I was the only one in my row, which seats between 15-20 people. Some came into my section before the game, but the only real crowd was in the lower center seats. Those went for $50, but I assumed they were mostly freebies. There were some freebies in front of me in my section too. A guy came in with his two kids and stadium tags indicating he didn't have to pay. They sat in the front row. Pretty soon Todd Sauerbrun, the ex-NFL punter keeps coming over to talk with them. I guess he's friends with the father, because he keeps coming back. Then he started giving the kids stuff. They ended up getting gloves, and even a UFL football from Sauerbrun. I decided to do a headcount and calculate how many fans were in the stadium, which has a capacity of over 30,000. It wasn't that hard, because, except for a few scattered souls, nobody was in the upper decks or endzones. Earlier they had upgraded the folks in my side out of the upper deck, but a few people remained there, at least in the first row center. Since the majority were in the good seats and I knew there were 21 or 22 rows, with about 50 people per row per side, I figured that 22 x 50 x2 was a good start. That's 2,200. Since it was about 75% full on the Sentinals side and about 60% full on the Tuskers side, that equaled about 1,485. Add in the people from the other parts of the stadium and the most that could be there was about 2,000, it was probably around 1,700. In the next day's edition the Hartford paper said over 10,000 tickets were distributed but only 5,201 showed up -the UFL box score says 5,201-What a joke! I wish the UFL had the guts not to pad their attendance figures. I noticed on TV that there were well less than 1,000 at the Sentinals game the week before at Hofstra on Long Island yet they announced the attendance at over 4,300. Why not be honest with people? Worse, so far the only time I've seen the attendance figures at a Sentinals game questioned was when the NY Post, in a little story on the California -NY game at Giants Stadium where they stated the attendance, announced at over 10,000 was more like 1,000 in the huge NJ facility. The guy writing the story in the Hartford Courant had to know there were a lot less than 5,200 people at The Rent, but since Hartford is trying to get an expansion team for next season, he chose to cowtow to the UFL & go along with their story. The one thing he was honest about was the halftime exodus. The paper did mention the stream of cars leaving the parking lot at halftime. By the second half, maybe 500 to 600 people were left. By the 4th quarter there were only a few hundred souls left to bear the cold, empty stadium. If they dropped their prices & did some promoting, they might have actually had 5,200 people there. To make matters worse, they offered free admission to all UConn students. Unfortunately, UConn isn't that close to East Hartford and that night they were having a tribute to someone big at UConn that kept most of the students who might have gone to the game on campus. Since the giveaways were all on the Sentinals side (they were throwing free tee-shirts into the stands) I decided to move there for the 2nd half. At halftime, I noticed boxes full of programs and took about 40 more. The 2nd half went on and I was able to move around quite a bit. As the game became one sided, the exodus continued. I stayed until the bitter end. As I left the stadium I took more programs, I ended up with about 120 programs. I expect the UFL to last 1 more season, because they get TV revenue (they have a two year deal), then pack it up. Their paid attendance is virtually non-existant (I'm one of the few to actually shell out full price). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Doug Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 Thanks for the write-up, but why did you take so many programs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trolls_r_us Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 it's too bad the UFL seems destined for failure.... We could use a REAL minor league football system to develop players Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaineMoxie Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 it's too bad the UFL seems destined for failure.... We could use a REAL minor league football system to develop players That's precisely the UFL's problem. They're not running it like a developmental league. Either they have to run it like a developmental league or they have to come up with some schtick - change the game slightly - like Arena football. Otherwise they're destined to fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albany,n.y. Posted November 14, 2009 Author Share Posted November 14, 2009 Thanks for the write-up, but why did you take so many programs? In case anyone I know wants some. Plus by the end of the game, I knew they were just going to throw them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussiew Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 it's too bad the UFL seems destined for failure.... We could use a REAL minor league football system to develop players And the opportunity for families to be able to afford to go out to a pro game occasionally. Especially in the high ticket areas like here in Dallas. I would definitely support a UFL team in this area - as long as Jerry Jones didn't have his fingers in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dog14787 Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 That's precisely the UFL's problem. They're not running it like a developmental league. Either they have to run it like a developmental league or they have to come up with some schtick - change the game slightly - like Arena football. Otherwise they're destined to fail. Being a JP Losman fan I have watched a few of the UFC games. For the short amount of time they had to prepare and without preseason I thought the games were well coached and well played for the most part. I even wonder If the Florida Tuskers just might give some of the cellar dwellers in the NFL a run for their money. The league in my opinion has a chance if the do a better job advertising, I noticed its hard to find much of anything on the UFC outside of the channels the UFC is aired on and if ESPN covers them at all I haven't noticed so it can't be much. The Idea of having another league for some players to continue their careers is a good one. We all know the competition is fierce to make it into the NFL and many a players who come from smaller schools never even get a chance to prove themselves. So I appreciate this thread and I'm sure the players that make up the league appreciate any recognition however lackluster to the league or the game it may be, it still gets the word out and it allows some of us who have watched some of the teams perform to offer up some good points and help spread the news. Give the UFC a chance folks, we all love Football just like the athletes who are out there trying to put on a good show and win a football game. Give the UFC a chance... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ (not THAT RJ) Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 UFC? Why should I give it a chance when even its boosters can't get the initials right? Being a JP Losman fan I have watched a few of the UFC games. For the short amount of time they had to prepare and without preseason I thought the games were well coached and well played for the most part. I even wonder If the Florida Tuskers just might give some of the cellar dwellers in the NFL a run for their money. The league in my opinion has a chance if the do a better job advertising, I noticed its hard to find much of anything on the UFC outside of the channels the UFC is aired on and if ESPN covers them at all I haven't noticed so it can't be much. The Idea of having another league for some players to continue their careers is a good one. We all know the competition is fierce to make it into the NFL and many a players who come from smaller schools never even get a chance to prove themselves. So I appreciate this thread and I'm sure the players that make up the league appreciate any recognition however lackluster to the league or the game it may be, it still gets the word out and it allows some of us who have watched some of the teams perform to offer up some good points and help spread the news. Give the UFC a chance folks, we all love Football just like the athletes who are out there trying to put on a good show and win a football game. Give the UFC a chance... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dog14787 Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 UFC? Why should I give it a chance when even its boosters can't get the initials right? you got me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ (not THAT RJ) Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 you got me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 In the next day's edition the Hartford paper said over 10,000 tickets were distributed but only 5,201 showed up -the UFL box score says 5,201-What a joke! You must have been the 1 on that figure. Thanks for the write-up, but why did you take so many programs? EBay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dog14787 Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 You must have been the 1 on that figure. EBay. Yup, EBay makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkady Renko Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 They need to fix those ugly uniforms. I understand the idea of playing at the same time as the NFL so that players aren't wiped out by the time they could catch on with an NFL team, but there's just too much other football to watch right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dog14787 Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 They need to fix those ugly uniforms. I understand the idea of playing at the same time as the NFL so that players aren't wiped out by the time they could catch on with an NFL team, but there's just too much other football to watch right now. I wondered about that also, seems like it would make more sense to introduce the new league to the public during the off season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 Play in the spring/summer. If you are going to play football that few people care about, at least play in nice weather. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 I was listening to a local radio sports guy (Jason Page) who has a show on ESPN radio. He had Michael Huyghue (pronounced "Hyoog"), who is the Commish of the UFL, and who was previously with the Lions, Jags, NFLPA, and worked as an agent. He said that the league was put together hurriedly for a fall exhibition, but will be having a full season come Spring. They don't want to compete head-to-head with the NFL, and the Thursday night game was a prime example, since SF and Chicago were playing at the same time and taking attendees away. The league is looking-into putting a team in Hartford (I live in Hartford County) and I hope that the attendance doesn't deter them from doing so as I'd probably buy seasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dog14787 Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 I was listening to a local radio sports guy (Jason Page) who has a show on ESPN radio. He had Michael Huyghue (pronounced "Hyoog"), who is the Commish of the UFL, and who was previously with the Lions, Jags, NFLPA, and worked as an agent. He said that the league was put together hurriedly for a fall exhibition, but will be having a full season come Spring. They don't want to compete head-to-head with the NFL, and the Thursday night game was a prime example, since SF and Chicago were playing at the same time and taking attendees away. The league is looking-into putting a team in Hartford (I live in Hartford County) and I hope that the attendance doesn't deter them from doing so as I'd probably buy seasons. I hope it works out for you Doc and you get your season tickets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 I hope it works out for you Doc and you get your season tickets. Thanks, but no biggee if it doesn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
True Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 Thanks for the write up. The NFL DOES have a dev league, its called the CFL. It reformed Ricky Williams. B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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