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The National Football League makes every effort to distance itself from gambling: It's not just that players, coaches and officials are barred from betting on games, but the league shies away from the mere mention of gambling during NFL broadcasts, and the league takes an active interest in stopping the spread of legal sports gambling outside Nevada.
The upstart UFL takes a different approach.
In an interview with Las Vegas Weekly, UFL Commissioner Michael Huyghue said the league is proud not only to be home of the Las Vegas Locomotives, but also to offer a product that bettors can wager on.
"We embrace gambling in our league," Huyghue said. "We think Vegas is the right spot, and want to make it the pinnacle headquarter franchise for our league. We don't feel we have to follow the NFL philosophy all the way through. That's what our owners invested in."
If Huyghue hopes to generate interest in his league among the millions of Americans who enjoy wagering on football games, those comments make sense. But if the reports are true that the UFL wants the NFL as an investor, talking about embracing gambling is not a wise idea.
