If You Play They Will Watch

That seems to be the adage when it comes to football but how much is too much.

It seems Americans can’t get enough football, from the Friday night lights of high school football to 12 straight hours on college football Saturdays and of course NFL Sunday and Monday. This year we’ve seen two upstart leagues trying to take a piece of America’s football pie as the United Football League and the Lingerie Football League have both commenced their inaugural seasons in 2009.

The United Football League is as the motto states “Where Future Stars Come to Play.”  They play a mostly traditional brand of football with a few minor changes to differentiate itself from the NFL. The UFL doesn’t have a so-called Tuck Rule and quarterbacks are allowed to intentionally ground from inside the pocket as long as the ball reaches the line of scrimmage. The other quarterback friendly rule the UFL employs is defenses must play with four down linemen and no more than five defenders may blitz (the linemen and a single linebacker), so blitzing is limited to protect the quarterbacks.

The UFL consists of only 4 teams, that will play a barnstorming schedule that take them to such cities as Orlando, Las Vegas, Hartford, New York and Los Angeles with the championship game taking place on thanksgiving weekend in Las Vegas.

What’s surprising about the UFL is their decision to play in the fall in direct competition with the NFL, College and high school football. Chief operating officer Frank Vouno says, “Other leagues [the USFL and XFL] played in the spring and we think that’s a mistake,” Vouno said.

“We think you have to play when people expect to see football and have an appetite for football on TV. We don’t want to go head-to-head so we’re going to play on weeknights.”

I know what you’re all thinking and it’s probably the most important question that needs to be asked about an upstart football league “Can I bet on the UFL?” You betcha, BetUS.com, Sportsbook.com and some others all offer lines on the UFL games.

The other league the Lingerie Football League started as a Super Bowl halftime alternative, the league features half-naked women playing tackle football. Really, a picture is worth a thousand words so here are 5,000 words.