Posted on 11/27/2008 8:50:22 AM PST by KevinDavis
After a hiatus of two decades, professional sports is returning to Casa Grande.
The fledgling United Football League, which is to begin play with six franchises in August, has chosen ground adjacent to the Francisco Grande Hotel & Golf Resort as the site for a $20 million training facility for three of the league's six original teams.
Eight playing fields, four field houses, locker rooms, a training and rehabilitation center, office space and other amenities are planned for the site. And while the facility is being built primarily for use by the new professional league, there will be benefits to the citizens of Casa Grande and Pinal County.
(Excerpt) Read more at zwire.com ...
We’ll see how this pans out for them.
The World Football League tried but couldn’t stay in business.
The United States Football League actually won an anti-trust lawsuits against the NFL, but ended up going out of business. I thought they had a good business plan, since they played in spring and early summer, so they weren’t head to head against the NFL. They planned to switch to a fall schedule, and go head to head, but went out of business before that could happen.
Remember the Xtreme Football League, or XFL? They played in 2001, I think is was. They were bankrolled by NBC and the World Wrestling Federation, but they too couldn’t make a go of it long term.
Is that anywhere near Macho Grande?
You have to fly over Macho Grande to get there. ATC always asks the pilot to confirm when they get over it.
How about that. That’s very near my hometown. I’ve seen this country club of which they speak. I don’t think even 20 mil could benefit it.
Casa Grande?! Why in hell would they pick Casa Grande?! The entire population of the city is half the capacity of most NFL stadiums. Sure it’s halfway between Phoenix and Tucson, but that makes it an hour drive one way to watch minor league football. If this is typical of UFL decisions this thing is doomed faster than the XFL.
DH is reading the wiki article to me as I type. The team won’t be housed there, it’s just a training facility. Which is good, because that league will play on Fri nites. And trust me, no one is going to give up their HS games to go watch some wannabes.
That’s kind of weird too. Having a practice facility where no teams will play. This whole thing seems to be shaping up into a long series of mistakes.
I’ll never get over Macho Grande.
I think the league that Herschel Walker and Jim Kelly played in had limited success and some others liked it like I believe Al Davis who thought Summer ball was a good idea.
I’m not sure why they folded but enterprises like that need to have a sound approach. I think they played some good ball.
It seems San Antonio was excited about having a pro-team with the NFL continually denying them a franchise.
Summer football had some serious problems, namely sunbelt June temperatures are not conducive to wearing football pads.
The USFL folded because they ran out of money. They limped along OK for a while but then they changed the overall strategy of how to operate the league. The new strategy was more expensive and they either needed to merge with the NFL or get a big settlement on the anti-trust suit against the NFL when they didn’t get it that was the end of the league.
And then there was the WLAF which was run by the NFL itself but folded in 2007. The only league really still operating these days is the CFL. Granted it is only in Canada and has different rules and is fairly minor league in comparison to the NFL but its the only other game in town so to speak. It also has a history going way back that rivals the NFL in that department.
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