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2012 UFL season
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2012 UFL season
The 2012 UFL season was the fourth and final season of the United Football League. Four teams began what was originally scheduled to be an eight-game schedule beginning September 26, 2012. The league ceased operations on October 20, 2012, after four weeks of extensive financial problems and dismal attendance figures. At the time of the cessation, the Las Vegas Locomotives had compiled a perfect season to date.
The league originally stated it would resume the season some time in spring 2013, but the majority of two teams' players filed legal action against the league that winter to claim unpaid salaries, and the league did not set up the necessary agreements to continue by the time spring 2013 had come along. One of the four teams (the Virginia Destroyers) allowed its business license to lapse and folded; the assets of the other franchises were stored in a warehouse in Florida, with the league being left in limbo since the suspension.
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 and arranged to pay for all of its players to return to their homes. 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.
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.
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2012 UFL season
The 2012 UFL season was the fourth and final season of the United Football League. Four teams began what was originally scheduled to be an eight-game schedule beginning September 26, 2012. The league ceased operations on October 20, 2012, after four weeks of extensive financial problems and dismal attendance figures. At the time of the cessation, the Las Vegas Locomotives had compiled a perfect season to date.
The league originally stated it would resume the season some time in spring 2013, but the majority of two teams' players filed legal action against the league that winter to claim unpaid salaries, and the league did not set up the necessary agreements to continue by the time spring 2013 had come along. One of the four teams (the Virginia Destroyers) allowed its business license to lapse and folded; the assets of the other franchises were stored in a warehouse in Florida, with the league being left in limbo since the suspension.
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 and arranged to pay for all of its players to return to their homes. 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.
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.