As the National Football League deals with its labor dispute, the United Football League has continued moving towards its third season as an organized league. The first two seasons took place between late September and early November. As the labor issues heat up with the NFL, the UFL announced it was going to move up its start date to late August. That could be adjusted if the NFL comes to an agreement before then, but the UFL is clearly looking to get a boost if there is no NFL in early September.
As they have prepared for their season, one of the prominent decisions each year is the list of players to which each team claims rights. The players are not signed with the team, but if they elect to play in the UFL, a given team would initially retain their rights. You can view the complete Reserve Unsigned List (PDF), but it's worth noting two Bay Area alumni are on the list. The Las Vegas Locomotives have retained the right to former Cal star running back J.J. Arrington and UC-Davis alum center Jonathan Compas.
As the UFL moves forward and the NFL tries to figure out its labor mess, it will be interesting to see if any NFL players elect to play in the UFL. While normally I'd say it is unlikely given the injury potential, one has to wonder if the lack of paychecks could force some players to join the upstart league. It remains to be seen how much players would make in the new league, but it is at least something worth considering as we await some sort of final decision in the current labor malaise.