UFL championship game

UFL championship game

Logo used for the first UFL championship game in 2009
First played	November 27, 2009
Trophy	William Hambrecht Trophy

The UFL championship game was an

Trophy, named for the league's founder and majority owner. The 2012 season of the UFL was cut short when the league ceased operations, and that year's championship game was never played.

Counting the Florida Tuskers and Virginia Destroyers as one franchise, the same two teams played in all three championship games, the Tuskers/Destroyers and the Las Vegas Locomotives.

History

On October 13, 2007, the United Football League announced it would hold its inaugural championship game over Thanksgiving weekend in 2008. The league had originally used the name "United Bowl" for the contest, but was unable to gain rights from United Indoor Football or its successor, the Indoor Football League, to use the name (the IFL continues to use the United Bowl name). In March 2008, the league chose Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada to host the 2008 title game on the day after Thanksgiving. When the inaugural season was postponed to 2009, the game was moved to the corresponding date in 2009 and kept in Las Vegas.

The

The second UFL championship game was held on Saturday November 27, 2010 at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska.^[2] The game site was not determined until after October 18, 2010 (after the 5th week of the regular season), with the UFL taking "advance ticket and merchandise sales, energy for all events prior to the season starting, and team record" into consideration for site selection.^[3] (After Omaha was selected, the league moved the game date to the Saturday after Thanksgiving to avoid conflicts with the traditional Black Friday Colorado–Nebraska football rivalry game, that year played in Lincoln.) The game was a rematch of 2009; both the Las Vegas Locomotives and Florida Tuskers finished the regular season with 5–3 records. Las Vegas once again won the title with a three-point margin of victory over Florida, with the final score being 23–20 in favor of Las Vegas.^[4]

Prior to the 2010 game, league commissioner

, including game attendance (both Destroyer home games attracted crowds above 12,000, while the Locos' lone 2011 home game drew just 6,100).

The 2012 game was cancelled outright, due to extensive financial and attendance shortfalls that forced the league to cease operations four weeks into the season. By regular season record, the Las Vegas Locomotives, who had compiled a perfect season up to that point, would be the champions.

List of games

Every winning team in bold.

Season	Winning team	Score	Losing team	Location	Stadium
2009	Las Vegas Locomotives (1)	20–17 (OT)	Florida Tuskers	Whitney, Nevada	Sam Boyd Stadium
2010	Las Vegas Locomotives (2)	23–20	Florida Tuskers	Omaha, Nebraska	Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium
2011	Virginia Destroyers (1)	17–3	Las Vegas Locomotives	Virginia Beach, Virginia	Virginia Beach Sportsplex
2012	No postseason

Appearances by year

In the sortable table below, teams are ordered first by number of appearances, then by number of wins, and finally by year of first appearance. In the "Season(s)" column, bold years indicate winning Championship Games.

Apps	Team	Wins	Losses	Win %	Game(s)
3	Las Vegas Locomotives	2	1	.667	2009, 2010, 2011
3	Florida Tuskers/Virginia Destroyers	1	2	.333	2009, 2010, 2011

Broadcasting

on color commentary.

William Hambrecht Trophy

The winner of the UFL Championship Game is awarded William Hambrecht Trophy, which is named in honor of Bill Hambrecht, a co-founder of the UFL, co-owner of the Las Vegas Locomotives, and current UFL commissioner after Michael Huyghue resigned. The 2009 edition of the trophy was an arcing silver star (resembling the star on the UFL's logo) emerging from an upward arcing base. A new Hambrecht Trophy was unveiled in 2010; it stands 38 inches in height, is topped by a 3D silver-plated UFL football, and features plaques honoring past and future UFL champions.^[7]

References