Mark meet Mark

We all were elated to see someone with Mark Cohons background become the 13th modern day Commissioner of the CFL. We felt his background at the executive level with the NBA and Major League Baseball was just what the doctor ordered for the CFL. Now a couple of months into his new job Cohon hears about a possible first challenge for him and it comes another Mark the legendary Mark Cuban the owner of the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA.

The definition of Maverick is" one who goes against the grain and institutes policies or practices that are new or foreign to a regime or organization " and Mark Cuban fits that bill to a tee. He has been a constant thorn in the side of NBA Commissioner David Stearn with his wild off the wall antics and lack of respect for the establishment. He has been fined and suspended for these actions and maniacal statements and in general has been one who thrives on turmoil.Mark Cohon CFL Commissioner knows very well how disruptive and dangerous Cuban can be from his experiences with him during his tenure in NBA Commissioner David Stearns office.

Now the incredibly wealthy Cuban wants to go head to head with the NFL and start a new football league entitled The United Football League with teams in Las Vegas for one which he would own and other significant American and quite possibly Canadian Cities.

The Cities mentioned are Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver in Canada and in addition to Las Vegas in the States Atlanta, New York, Washington , Los Angeles have been thrown out as possible locations.

The NFL has warded off competitive threats from the USFL, The World Football League and the XFL who found they did not have the finances or the TV exposure to compete with the big boys in the NFL over a sustained period of time. and there were some very wealthy individuals involved in these three leagues.

So why worry about another threat ? The answer to that is very simple Mark Cuban is considered a billionaire and his entrepreneurial drive is second to none and his willingness to take on The Establishment is unbelievable .

As the story goes Cuban hopes to have an Eight Team league ready to go in the fall of 2008 and wants to be ready to compete for College graduates of 2o07 at a draft early in 2008 likely in mid
February. He has not divulged the names of any of the other supposedly ultra wealthy interested parties.but if they are the calibre of person like Cuban then the NFL and CFL should beware

The thinking is that none of the major American TV networks would align with The United Football League but there are enough Cable Networks throughout the States that Television revenue would not be a problem even though it would not come close to what the NFL is receiving from the Major Networks and that after the league proves itself the Major Networks will come on board. The stories go on to say the owners would have enough dollars to absorb heavy losses for up to five years according to an unamed source

It seems crazy but if there are other potential owners with the kind of money Cuban has ready to come on board they could lure some NFL free agents and graduating American College stars to sign on . The feeling is that Cuban would not have announced the potential forming of the new league without having his ducks in a row. As far as the CFL is concerned there are indications that the new league might ignore CFL contracts completely and go after the Canadian Leagues top stars with ultra lucrative offers.

Therefore it will be most interesting to see how Mark Cohan as the CFL,s head honcho reacts to what is almost certain to be a very interesting 12 months.Certainly he is a classy guy who with his administration experiences and promotional talents is the right guy to have at the helm of the CFL right now.The battle of the Marks could be something special.

There is another Concern for Cohon as well and that is from the NFL who hope to play a regularly scheduled NFL game in Toronto next year and with constant talk about the NFL expanding to 32 teams and Toronto considered a prime candidate for an NFL franchise a man like Mark Cohan is the perfect man to meet the challenge of keeping the CFL as a viable league.