Alabama Blackbirds
 |
|
| Sport | American football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2007 |
| Founder | Marvin Tomlin |
| Ceased | 2010 |
| CEO | Joe Cribbs |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Country |
 United States
|
| Official website | Official Site |
The United National Gridiron League (UNGL) was a proposed minor professional football league. The league was formed in August 2007 and was originally called the United National Football League. The league's inaugural draft took place January 8–9, 2009. The league had planned to begin the season on February 8, 2009 but, after a multiple postponements of the kick-off date, the inaugural season was pushed back to March 2010, because of financing problems.
On March 10, 2010, the league announced via an email to the media, that it was canceling the 2010 season and suspending league operations indefinitely. In the statement to the media, the league said, "We were very hopeful that this announcement would not have to be made (or at the very least we might have been able to delay our season start a bit), if we had been able to secure certain assurances and arrangements from the investor group we had been working with these past 4 months. Unfortunately, as of this past Monday, we were unable to confirm these arrangements which prohibited us, in good conscience, from announcing our league start date, along with the other announcements everyone was expecting regarding our player draft, camp report date, etc.."
The league pushed back its season three times. According to the UNGL's Web site, the start of the season had been pushed back from February to May because of a "dishonest commitment made by the league's primary investor. reported in February that the investor "suddenly withdrew its $15 million contribution." There has also been scrutiney surrounding the Salem team. The League originally struck a deal with the City of Salem for use of their Stadium in April 2009, then 10 days later canceled their season. Then in August 2009 the League announced that Salem would be home to a team in 2010. That was news to Salem officials, who learned about it when the press release was posted on roanoke.com.
Salem civic facilities director Carey Harveycutter said UNGL officials have not been talking with him about getting back in business with the city. CEO Marvin Tomlin's response, to the surprise of Salem officials, was "We are very interested in coming and playing in Salem, We haven't confirmed the facility yet out there in Salem, but we are very eager to talk. I just wanted everybody to know that this is where we want to come back to play."
An August 2009 news release said there will also be teams in Miami; Columbus, Ga.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Akron, Ohio, as well as teams in unnamed cities in North Carolina, Texas and Louisiana. Tomlin refused to say how many actual facility agreements he has with those cities for 2010.
Harveycutter called UNGL president Ben Eison on Friday August 21, 2009 after learning of the league's announcement. He said Eison told him Friday, "We're not announcing facilities; we're just announcing areas, and you should not read into it that they have contracted any facilities."
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Wikipedia