Las Vegas Locomotives

Las Vegas Locomotives

Founded	2009
Folded	2012
Based in	Las Vegas, Nevada
Home stadium	Sam Boyd Stadium (2009–2012)
Head coach	Jim Fassel
Owner(s)	Bill Hambrecht & Rob Ryan
League	United Football League
Colors	Metallic Silver, Locos Red, Black, White
Nickname(s)	"Locos"
League titles	2009, 2010

The Las Vegas Locomotives (called the Locos for short) were a professional American football team based in Las Vegas, Nevada that played in the United Football League. The team played their home games at Sam Boyd Stadium, home field for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Jim Fassel was the franchise's head coach, president, and general manager. The Locomotives appeared in all three UFL Championship Games, winning both the 2009 and 2010 iterations; the Locos were also the last of the four charter UFL franchises to remain in their original home city, to retain their original head coach, and to have played all of their home games at the same venue.

Franchise history

Las Vegas was one of the first markets to be considered for a UFL team, being mentioned as a location from the beginning. When the league released their tentative list of six markets for their inaugural season in early 2008, it included Las Vegas,

. When the league contracted to four teams prior to the start of the 2009 season, Las Vegas merged with Los Angeles, while New York merged with Hartford. Eventually, despite New York and Los Angeles being the larger markets, Las Vegas and Hartford were given sole rights to the teams, and Las Vegas never played a game in the Los Angeles metro area.

2009 season

Las Vegas was awarded a franchise for the inaugural season of the UFL in

to become the league's first champions.

Schedule

Week	Date	Kickoff	Opponent	Results		Game site	Attendance	TV
				Final score	Team record
1	Thursday, October 8	9:00 p.m. ET	California Redwoods	W 30–17	1–0	Sam Boyd Stadium	18,187	Versus
2	Wednesday, October 14	9:00 p.m. ET	Florida Tuskers	L 15–29	1–1	Sam Boyd Stadium	12,160	Versus
3	Bye
4	Friday, October 30	7:00 p.m. ET	at Florida Tuskers	L 24–27	1–2	Tropicana Field	11,354	HDNet
5	Wednesday, November 4	7:00 p.m. ET	at New York Sentinels	W 41–10	2–2	James M. Shuart Stadium	4,392	Versus
6	Saturday, November 14	9:00 p.m. ET	at California Redwoods	W 16–10	3–2	Spartan Stadium	4,312	HDNet
7	Friday, November 20	9:00 p.m. ET	New York Sentinels	W 41–7	4–2	Sam Boyd Stadium	13,306	HDNet

Championship Game

Date	Kickoff	Opponent	Final score	Game site	Attendance	TV
Friday, November 27	3:00 p.m. ET	Florida Tuskers	W 20–17 (OT)	Sam Boyd Stadium	14,801	Versus

2010 season

Prior to the 2010 season, head coach Jim Fassel added the title of general manager, replacing league-wide general manager

with a final score of 23-20.

Schedule

Week	Date	Kickoff	Opponent	Results		Game site	Attendance	TV
				Final score	Team record
1	Saturday, September 18	8:00 p.m. PT	Florida Tuskers	L 20–27	0–1	Sam Boyd Stadium	9,103	HDNet
2	Bye
3	Thursday, September 30	3:00 p.m. PT	at Florida Tuskers	W 20–17	1–1	Citrus Bowl	9,053	Versus
4	Friday, October 8	7:00 p.m. PT	Omaha Nighthawks	W 22–10	2–1	Sam Boyd Stadium	9,767	HDNet
5	Friday, October 15	8:00 p.m. PT	at Sacramento Mountain Lions	W 26–3	3–1	Hornet Stadium	19,000	HDNet
6	Saturday, October 23	12:30 p.m. PT	Hartford Colonials	W 24–21 (OT)	4–1	Sam Boyd Stadium	8,451	Versus
7	Thursday, October 28	5:00 p.m. PT	at Omaha Nighthawks	W 24–10	5–1	Rosenblatt Stadium	23,554	HDNet
8	Saturday, November 6	8:00 p.m. PT	Sacramento Mountain Lions	L 24–27	5–2	Sam Boyd Stadium	13,622	Versus
9	Bye
10	Saturday, November 20	12:30 p.m. PT	at Hartford Colonials	L 14–27	5–3	Rentschler Field	14,554	Versus

Date	Kickoff	Opponent	Final score	Game site	Attendance	TV
Saturday, November 27	3:00 p.m. ET	Florida Tuskers	W 23–20	Rosenblatt Stadium	15,310	Versus

2011 season

Prior to the 2011 season, head coach and general manager Jim Fassel added the title of team president. Fassel assumed more authority over the team as part of the league's efforts to transform their original top-down business model into one in which teams are given more authority over their own operations. Among the reforms Fassel implemented was an increase in direct marketing and the establishment of the league's first team-run Web site separate from the main UFL Web site. The move initially doubled the team's season ticket base.^[2]

Despite the gain in season ticket base, the Locomotives drew only 6,500 fans to their first home game, which was a factor in the league deciding to cut their season short and cancel the Locomotives' two remaining games.

Schedule

Week	Date	Kickoff	Opponent	Results		Game site
				Final score	Team record
1	Saturday, September 17	7:30 p.m.	at Sacramento Mountain Lions	W 23–17	1–0	Hornet Stadium
2	Saturday, September 24	4:00 p.m.	at Virginia Destroyers	L 17–34	1–1	Virginia Beach Sportsplex
3	Bye
4	Saturday, October 8	5:00 p.m.	Omaha Nighthawks	W 30–10	2–1	Sam Boyd Stadium
5	Saturday, October 15	5:00 p.m.	at Omaha Nighthawks	W 13–6	3–1	TD Ameritrade Park Omaha
All times are Pacific Time.

Date	Kickoff	Opponent	Final score	Game site	Attendance	TV
Friday, October 21	8:00 p.m. ET	Virginia Destroyers	L 3–17	Virginia Beach Sportsplex	14,172	CSN Mid-Atlantic

2012 season

The increasingly poor attendance at Sam Boyd Stadium jeopardized the Locomotives' future in Las Vegas. Hambrecht openly considered relocating the team to

, but the team returned to Sam Boyd Stadium for the first two games in 2012.

By the start of the 2012 season, the Locomotives proved to be the best team on the field in the UFL, decisively winning their first two contests against Virginia and Omaha. However, the Locomotives' off-field problems were becoming even worse. According to official figures, only 2,500 fans arrived at Sam Boyd Stadium for the first contest,^[5] followed by a paltry 601 fans at the start of the second contest,^[6] the worst attendance for a league of the UFL's caliber in modern professional football history. In both cases, the actual attendance was reportedly even smaller. Both games were held early on Wednesday evenings, which may have held down attendance. With already low attendance numbers dropping further across the league, the UFL suspended operations four weeks into the season, never to return.

On January 16, 2013, the majority of the Locomotives' roster filed a class-action lawsuit against Hambrecht for unpaid salaries. The lawsuit was ultimately successful, although Hambrecht still has not paid the salaries. ^{[citation needed]}

Season-by-season records

UFL Champions

Season	Team	League	Regular season				Playoff results	Awards
			Finish	Wins	Losses	Ties
Las Vegas Locomotives
2009	2009	UFL	2nd	4	2	0	Won Florida Tuskers ) 23-20 (OT)	Championship Game MVP - DeDe Dorsey
2010	2010	UFL	1st	5	3	0	Won Florida Tuskers ) 20-17	Chase Clement
2011	2011	UFL	2nd	3	1	0	Lost UFL Championship Game (Virginia Destroyers) 17-3
2012	2012	UFL	1st	4	0	0	Season cancelled
Total				16	6	0	(2009–2012), includes only regular season)
				2	1	0	(2009–2011, includes only playoffs)
				18	7	0	(2009–2012, includes both regular season and playoffs)

Opponent	Wins	Losses	Pct.
Virginia Destroyers	4	5	.444
Hartford Colonials	3	1	.750
Omaha Nighthawks	4	0	1.000
Sacramento Mountain Lions	4	1	.800

Home, away and neutral records

Location	Wins	Losses	Pct.
Home	4	3	.571
Away	5	2	.714
Neutral	2	1	.666

Logos and uniforms

In the inaugural 2009 season, all teams were to adopt color schemes from the UFL logo. The Locos were given silver as their primary color. They would wear silver helmets on both road and home, with silver jerseys at home and white on the road. The Locos also wore blue pants.

For the 2010 season, teams were able to change their colors. The Locos kept the silver, but replaced the UFL blue with

red. In an attempt to "match with their environment", the Locos adapted the main color scheme of the stadium into their uniforms, emulating the colors of UNLV. The Locos had red jerseys at home and white on the road, with silver pants.

References