UNITED FOOTBALL LEAGUE debuts on March 30 (UFL image).

If you can tune your ears to something other than the beer commercials, endless time-filling chatter on the sports networks and endless speculation on just what the heck has happened of Stetson Bennett, the Georgia star quarterback drafted by the Rams but has since disappeared, you may hear something else.
It’s a kind of low hum … a muffled drumming sound, getting louder and faster.

The wide world of sports we’ve known since the birth of black-and-white baseball broadcasts on your 10-inch Admiral is just about the give way to a whole new galaxy of professional athletics that Red Barber and Howard Cosell wouldn’t recognize.
Some omens …

The NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League) is reporting record attendance and is planning on expansion.

The USFL and XFL spring leagues have merged into one United Football League with robust TV support. The eight-team league will start on March 30 and there’s a lot of speculation that this might be the spring league that finally takes root.

Of course, with no teams in the three major media markets – New York, Los Angeles and Chicago – it might take a while to catch on, but persistence eventually pays off.

After a century and more of picking a national champion by voting, reading tea leaves and Kentucky windage, we’re finally getting a real college playoff, which will produce a real champion. It will increase fan interest greatly as well as betting action.

More on the shifting landscape of sports in my next column.