Hartford, CT will get New York's UFL team next season

Professional football is coming to Hartford, Conn. The longtime rumor has come true -- there will be a press conference this Tuesday at Rentschler Field to announce that the New York Sentinels will move to Hartford next season.

Chris Palmer, the former New York Giants QB coach and Cleveland Browns head coach, will be the team's head coach. He previously coached at the University of New Haven. The UFL Commissioner, Michael Huyghue, is also a Connecticut native.

Last year, the Sentinels went 0-6 in the league's first season. New York played alongside three other UFL teams: the Florida (Orlando) Tuskers, the California (San Jose/San Fran) Redwoods, and the Las Vegas Locomotives. Las Vegas beat Florida, 20-17, in the league's first championship.

Obviously, this is a big deal. How many times has Hartford stolen a professional sports franchise from New York? Even if it's just the UFL -- which appears to be marketing itself less as a competitor to the NFL and more as an alternative, not unlike the NCAA -- it's a major step for Hartford and Connecticut in general. Who knows, maybe this will pave the way for the Whalers to return to New England's Rising Star.

Here's the good news. The New York Sentinels played one game at Rentschler Field last year. Even though the game went head-to-head with UConn's memorial to Jasper Howard and Yankees World Series fever, 5,201 seats were filled out of the 10,460 tickets that were distributed. For a one-game appearance in Connecticut with plenty of distractions and little advance marketing, that's not bad. Also, UFL rules dictate that Rentschler will replace its natural grass surface with FieldTurf, a switch that UConn football coach Randy Edsall fully supports.

Time will tell whether the UFL will succeed. But the Commish is clear and confident about the direction he wants the league to take:

"If we have a complementary role for the NFL — you're not going to outdo that product — by developing talent and providing really good, entertaining football in non-NFL markets, we'll have two great elements. We don't have to be truly a minor league."

I believe that Hartford is a competitive, non-NFL market that is savvy about sports. It is certainly surrounded by enough pro teams (13 in NYC/NJ/Boston) and it's passionate about the UConn Huskies. If the UFL markets itself properly, I think the New York-turned-Hartford Sentinels will be a successful pro team here in Connecticut. Now, if we could just steal the Hurricanes back from North Carolina and recreate our Whalers...