More details have surfaced regarding the XFL and USFL’s merger, which will produce a second operation called the United Football League. The long-rumored merger will produce a league that launches March 30, 2024, with the rebranded league housing eight teams and preparing to play a 10-game season.
Eight teams comprised each of the two winter-spring leagues in 2023, but the new UFL will see half the overall franchises cease operations. Spring leagues in the United States have waged uphill battles for generations, with financial issues taking down two XFL incarnations, 2019’s Alliance of American Football and the original United Football League (2009-12) this century. Thus, it is unsurprising to see the new league refuse to expand in terms of total teams.
The March 30 date falls in between the XFL and USFL’s 2023 starting points; the XFL officially returned in February, while the rebooted USFL’s second season began in April of last year. The XFL’s third try lost money, and the USFL showed interest in a merger shortly after its latest season. Five XFL teams and three USFL clubs will transfer over. Here are those teams:
- Arlington Renegades
- Birmingham Stallions
- D.C. Defenders
- Houston Roughnecks
- Memphis Showboats
- Michigan Panthers
- San Antonio Brahmas
- St. Louis Battlehawks
Houston previously housed XFL and USFL teams; the new one will keep its XFL moniker but use the USFL’s head coach (Curtis Johnson), ESPN.com’s Kevin Seifert notes. Four XFL head coaches and four USFL HCs will stay on. Former 49ers HC Mike Nolan (Panthers), ex-NFL OC John DeFilippo (Showboats), longtime Oklahoma HC Bob Stoops (Renegades), Super Bowl-winning DC Wade Phillips (Brahmas), former Jets tight end Anthony Becht (Battlehawks), former NFL wideout Reggie Barlow (Defenders) and longtime college HC Skip Holtz (Stallions) will begin the season as the UFL’s head coaches.
Phillips coached the XFL’s Houston team last season but will shift to San Antonio for this latest reboot. The Giants lost their assistant special teams coach, Anthony Blevins, in July for an opportunity with the XFL’s Vegas Vipers; they were one of the three XFL franchises that will not continue play in the UFL. Former Bills president Russ Brandon, who served as XFL 3.0’s commissioner, will work as the UFL’s president and CEO. Longtime NFL fullback-turned-FOX analyst Daryl Johnston, the USFL’s president, will lead football operations for the new league.
While the new UFL will keep spring football afloat in the U.S., moving down from 16 total teams to eight will decrease opportunities for players. Several XFL 3.0 and USFL 2.0 alums wound up in NFL training camps. The USFL produced two impact Cowboys special-teamers, with KaVontae Turpin earning All-Pro honors for his return work in 2022 and Brandon Aubrey (zero missed 2023 field goals in Dallas) on the cusp of matching that as a kicker.
Following the September merger report, Seifert adds federal regulators approved the merger Nov. 30. Training camp will begin Feb. 24 in Arlington, the site of last year’s XFL camp. The UFL will have each team practice in Arlington, per The Athletic’s Chris Vannini, before flying out to game sites each week (subscription required). Games will be televised on ABC, FOX, ESPN and FS1.
Give it up guys
No matter how many times you re-package it…sh_t is still sh_t.
only casuals don’t watch spring football..
But the Rock who’s co-owner says no!! lol
I mean obviously they see something there if they keep trying it…
we have some big-time players involved with it in
Fox, ABC, ESPN, Redbird Capital and the Rock.
It’s really big in Texas, thus why there’s 3 of 8 teams there.
i think casuals finally know that…
A.
UFL does not intend on competing with NFL like USFL 1970s
B.
UFL is does not claim to be something more extravagant than what it is, like XFL 2001. it is hard-nosed football by players trying to catch the attention of NFL scouts.
this is not Vince McMahons XFL
C.
UFL is played on traditional-sized NFL football fields.
The rules are not gimmicks, they are experiments that the NFL wants to see.
— Any rule-changes are ones that NFL wants them to experiment with like;
-the kickoff
– the “no-kick” extra-point system
– 4th and 15 instead of on-side kick
– and OT shoot-outs.
— little known fact is that the “X” in XFL stands for eXperimental football league,
and a bevy of NFL production and rule changes have been taken from XFL over the years.
D.
UFL is an “open-market” minor-league pool of free agent gems for NFL teams to fill depth on the d-line, find stars on special teams, and backup QBs who have recent game tape.
Every single one of these leagues has found talent off the shelf
QB Kurt Warner (AFL)
QB Tommy Maddox (XFL)
K Brandon Aubrey (USFL)
and have created their own legends that played across all the leagues like QB’s Luis Perez, Jordan Ta’amu, & Josh Johnson(NFL)
or current stars like RB Marc Thompson, DL Boogie Roberts, RB Abram Smith, ILB Scooby Wright, WR Jeff Badet, Punter Marquette King
E.
the bottom line is, if you live in Birmingham or Memphis or San Antonio or St. Louis then this is pretty awesome to go to and follow.
seems like it has a formidable group behind it , and is aiming for slow but longterm growth.
Why not bring back the European league? They want football games, give them to them.
that actually is in the works..
the overseas NFL games are creating a demand to bring back “NFL Europe”
another gem league that gave us Jake Delhomme
I’m not watching that
I kinda got reusing the names USFL and XFL for nostalgia when they started back up, but the UFL failed about 10 years ago (like this most likely will), try and come up with something new.
I suppose there is some comfort in knowing the Chinese aren’t the only ones capable of creating poor quality knockoffs.
I think as long as they don’t get ahead of their selves they can succeed . keeping it less teams helps with structure and money . I think it can be a good league but needs structure and consistency.
How can anyone justify the continued wasting of money on this garbage?
I think I asked that same question about half way through the 4th John Wick movie. These wannabee leagues have been left for dead as often as Wick.
I know some watch it, but I like the break from football. The season has felt so long up and downs games but still enjoyable every week. I get my fill of bad football when it is college.
April is a long ways off amigo.
They’re not doing the wknd after Superbowl kickoff.
UFL intends to compete with directly head-on with MLB Opening Day / UFL Season Kickoff being the same weekend.
March 30 kickoff
to me, early-season MLB is casual watching, so I’d rather watch a generic football game instead.. cuz like football is between 100 and 5,000 times more exciting than baseball in 2024.
though a lot of games were meh, the truth is both USFL & XFL had their fair share of highlights and epic moments.
it’s for the fans and players, after all, so not sure what’s not to like
UFC and NFL are my 2 fav sports .. so UFL just makes sense
I agree. I love watching NHL in the spring and summer time.
Nice to see the Michigan Panthers back in action! First USFL champs!
Philly snubbed for what
Im for a spring league but pick some states that don’t have professional teams or at least don’t have professional football teams
I think the nfl should move the draft up to end of March and spring league should be April May June. I think it’d be cool for college kids to play in the spring league if they don’t find an NFL home during or after the draft esp if they wind up with the local team.
Mandatory training camp is around end of July anyways
Oklahoma
Virginia
South Carolina
Alabama
Kentucky
Oregon
Utah
Arkansas
Kansas
Alabama
Could just use the college stadiums for games and build a fan base of college kids.
Great idea moving the draft to March. By then every team has their draft boards set anyways. The NFL just milks another month for hype purposes.
it already works that way.
they don’t need to be drafted to catch on with a team.
Dallas Cowboys star kicker Brandon Aubrey was playing in the USFL Championship for the Birmingham Stallions last June before receiving a call from Jerry Jones later that summer.
………He’ll be on the phone with Jerry again this offseason.. negotiating his multi-million dollar contract extension
—
between XFL & USFL over 150+ players got workouts with NFL teams last offseason.
a large batch of that latched on with practice squads, and a lucky few have been activated and seen NFL action.
it already works.
The more important part is NFL moving its draft from end of April to end of March.
By end of the NFL draft you’ll have guys drafted and UDFAs accounted for which some guys may opt to go to the spring league to showcase themselves hoping for a better offer during mandatory camp in July (which increases talent pool slightly).. I’m sure nfl will send scouts to watch a few guys on these teams who went undrafted and showing off stuff.
The spring league should take the first week of April do their draft. Get rosters set and shoot for 2nd weekend of April start (2 weeks worth of camp).
By mid June you’d have 10 games and 2 round playoff for a championship by end of June.
It’s more about realigning things so they don’t interfere with each other. April 28th falls right in the middle of the spring league season.
ya I just don’t think any of these guys would be ones that they’re going to draft.
these are guys that need an extra year or 2 of development in the UFL .
I’m not sure that many guys are going straight out of D1 to UFL that same spring
most college players wouldn’t be signing up until the year after they finish up at school.
most of the UFL guys are players who were UDFAs who got cut from NFL camps the year prior
whats intriguing is that this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as talent coming thru UFL
right now we mainly have mostly D2 players looking for exposure, with some former NFL vets and Spring Kings mixed in.
soon, we’ll see a lot of D1 guys giving it a shot.
let alone, what a deal with NFL to share practice squad players could bring talent- wise in the future
The Arlington Cemetary, The Birmingham Blues, The DC Lobbyists, The Houston Mosquitoes, The Memphis Humidity, The St. Louis Crumbling Infrastructure , The San Antonio Dust, The Michigan Sewage Backup.