UFL teams are playing out the string, starting Thursday night, when the undefeated Florida Tuskers take on the California Redwoods at AT&T Park in San Francisco.Friday night, the Las Vegas Locomotives -- who will face the Tuskers in the UFL Championship Game on Nov. 27 -- tangle with the winless New York Sentinels in Las Vegas.
OK, the Tuskers have some motivation to stay unblemished while the Sentinels would like to pick up a victory. The games also are important to the players individually in their quests to be picked up by NFL clubs at season's end.
However, the UFL's championship at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas game already has been set, with the Tuskers facing the Locomotives, who earned a berth in the game with a 16-10 victory over the Redwoods last Saturday.
The clubs that will battle for the UFL's first ever championship will be featured in separate tune-up contests in the final week of regular-season play. But that's just a sidebar.
The possibility remains that the title game could have an interesting twist -- a team playing in its home stadium against an undefeated club.
Not exactly as if the New York Giants had played the Super Bowl against the 18-0 New England Patriots at the Meadowlands.
Not even like the Giants' home loss to the Patriots in the final regular-season game that season, an inspired victory for New England that preserved its perfect campaign to that point.In fact, the UFL has very little in common with its more established counterpart. That will continue when the Locos take the field in the championship game. No NFL team has ever played a Super Bowl on its home turf.
The closest instance came in January 1980, when the Los Angeles Rams lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers close to home at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. The Rams, when they were Southern California residents, played at the Los Angeles Coliseum and later in Anaheim, Calif.
Home-field advantage, though, is virtually non-existent in front of sparse UFL crowds. It's also much more likely to secure the Locos' unique distinction in a four-team league that uses one of its club's stadiums as the title-game spot.
But at least it's something -- maybe, a chance to ramp up Vegas fan excitement -- for the UFL, which, so far, has yet to stand out in any way.
The league, over a month ago, moved Friday's home game for the Locos -- who were originally scheduled to play their final contest at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles -- back to Las Vegas.
Some people, based on this story in the Los Angeles Daily News, were just finding out. Needless to say, the UFL isn't the most visible league and, by its own admission, has purposely stayed away from a PR onslaught for financial reasons.
The league's championship game, however, at least offers a chance for the UFL to build its fan base in Las Vegas, where home fans -- the ones that do show up to see a champion crowned -- will be offered a unique opportunity.
